Reynaud's Disease, My Cold Weather Companion

Definition

By Mayo Clinic staff

Raynaud's (ray-NOHZ) disease is a condition that causes some areas of your body — such as your fingers, toes, the tip of your nose and your ears — to feel numb and cool in response to cold temperatures or stress. In Raynaud's disease, smaller arteries that supply blood to your skin narrow, limiting blood circulation to affected areas.

Women are more likely to have Raynaud's disease. It's also more common in people who live in colder climates.

Treatment of Raynaud's disease depends on its severity and whether you have any other health conditions.

So, there is the definition and correct pronunciation for the malady. The daily reality is often much more dramatic, more painful and limiting than that short excerpt presents. My own symptoms are worse than that, but not as bad as some sufferers experience. As I age, the symptoms appear more quickly at exposure to cold, become more pronounced, more difficult to reverse. While it has heretofore not been particularly painful, I am becoming more uncomfortable as winters pass.

Raynaud's disease is more than simply having cold hands and cold feet, and it's not the same as frostbite. Signs and symptoms of Raynaud's depend on the frequency, duration and severity of the blood vessel spasms that underlie the disorder. Raynaud's disease symptoms include:

• Cold fingers and toes
• Sequence of color changes in your skin in response to cold or stress
• Numb, prickly feeling or stinging pain upon warming or relief of stress

During an attack of Raynaud's, affected areas of your skin usually turn white at first. Then, the affected areas often turnblue, feel cold and numb, and your sense of touch is dulled. As circulation improves, the affected areas may turn red, throb, tingle or swell. The order of the changes of color isn't the same for all people, and not everyone experiences all three colors.

That's why it is sometimes called the red, white and blue disease. Sounds patriotic, doesn't it? Again, the symptoms can be trivialized and minimized. But, RD can be a precursor or complication to other conditions, such as Lupus Erythematosus not to mention a difficult medical issue to live with. And that numb prickly skin upon rewarming? Rewarming and the reperfusion of blood can be excruciating to experience.

Types of Raynaud's

There are two types of Raynaud's. It can either be:

• primary: when the condition develops by itself (this is the most common type)
• secondary: when it develops in association with another health condition

The causes of primary Raynaud’s are unclear. However 1 in 10 people with primary Raynaud’s will go on to develop a condition associated with secondary Raynaud’s such as lupus.

Most cases of secondary Raynaud’s are associated with conditions where the immune system goes wrong and starts attacking healthy tissue, such as:

• rheumatoid arthritis: when the immune system attacks the joints causing pain and swelling
• lupus: when the immune system attacks many different parts of the body causing a range of symptoms, such as tiredness, joint pain and skin rashes

Secondary Raynaud’s can cause a more severe restriction of blood supply so it does carry a higher risk of causing complications such as ulcers, scarring and in the most serious of cases of tissue death, which is known as gangrene.

Who gets Raynaud’s?

Raynaud’s disease is a common condition. It may affect as many as one in every nine women and 1 in every 12 men. (It is hard to be entirely sure as rates can differ widely from area to area depending on how cold the temperature is).

Primary Raynaud’s usually begins in your 20s or 30s. Secondary Raynaud’s can develop at any age depending on the underlying condition it is associated with.

I have primary Reynaud's Disease, having several occurrences of it in my 20's and 30's. Now, though, in my 50's, I have an occurrence every day in the winter where I live. Any weather below about 55 causes my hands and feet to turn white. I often have the vasospasms while I am in the house during really cold weather. It is always a blessing to spend time in warmer weather during the winter. I hope to do that every winter from now on. Become a snowbird instead of a white winter dove.

For more information on RD, contact: http://www.raynauds.org/

Content in blue above from The Mayo Clinic site:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/raynauds-disease/DS00433

Diseases you have never heard of

microscopic view of Vitamin C, Google image

In nursing, I have encountered names for diseases that don't exist; that is, they are mispronunciations of real diseases. I am keeping a list of these because they are so charming, and sometimes, just plain funny.

My maternal grandparents called influenza 'hen-flew-end-ways', a primitive way to remember how the name sounded without really remembering it. And, said quickly, it almost sounds right.

A nursing instructor of mine was confused when her grandfather told the story of a ship he was on being quarantined in New York Harbor because of an outbreak of 'speedle-ma-jesus'. After years of head scratching and questioning, it was discovered to be spinal meningitis.

I often hear of 'Oldtimers' for Alzheimer's, but a recent twist was 'All-timers'. Because, the patient said, it never went away.

One patient confused me when asking about grafts from gadivers. Turns out she meant cadavers.

I would love to have the time to travel and ask the questions that would add to my list. I feel that it would paint a portrait of health care, education, regional influences and superstition.

Swine flu

Google image

Well, the swine flu is making it's second run on Pacific Northwesterners.  Shoulda been over by now, but, it seems, the best may be yet to come.  My community has two dozen stricken hospitalized, fiver of whom are in ICU.

Unlike seasonal viral influenza, this guy seems to go after young people, from late teens to twenties.  It is speculated that it finds a host in the people who have not had exposure to similar viruses in the past, therefore less resistance to H1N1.

So, even though it is nice and summery out there, avoid large crowds in an enclosed setting, like closely packed air conditioned places.  Keep your hands clean, washing or gelling frequently, especially after shopping, opening doors, or using a public pen or charge pad or ATM.  Keep your hands and pencils away from your face; mouth, eyes, nose, cheeks.  If you use a spice shaker at a table, wrap it in a napkin or gel after, especially if you are then going to eat finger food.  Use straws when drinking from a reusable glass, lest it be inefficiently cleaned.  

If you are around someone in public who is coughing, has a runny nose, looks flushed or not well, leave and wash your hands.  If you are a captive of the circumstances, put on a mask.  No kidding.  If you go to a health facility with symptoms like that, they make you put on a mask. Since the other person probably wouldn't take the suggestion well, protect yourself and put one on.  In the unlikely event that someone asks, tell them 'darned allergies'.  

Masks are available at any health facility or to purchase at Wal Mart, Walgreen's, etc.  Get one that protects you from germs and virus, not just dust and pollen.  Those are known as 'nuisance' masks, and won't protect you from H1N1 or any other critter.  Ask the pharmacist or pharmacy tech.

We are not out of the woods on this flu season yet.  Protect yourself.  I don't wanna see ya in the hospital...