Medical

I have a condition called Raynaud’s Syndrome/Disease/Phenomenon. Likely, there are a few of you out there that have this too.. 20% of the adult population I’ve read. The condition does not affect me year ’round – thank goodness.

I’ve had this for, I don’t know, 10+ years. When I’m experiencing it, I joke that my fingers have died.

In times of cold-ness and/or stress, the blood seems to drain, and my fingers ‘die’. They feel numb. Holding on to anything cold, like a beverage, while they are ‘dead’ burns like hell. Even running them under warm water when they’re dead hurts like hell.

They can stay dead for 5-30 minutes. I have no real control over that.

When they are ‘coming back to life’ they turn dark purple and they throb, tingle, and you guessed it.. hurt like hell.

The doc prescribed a blood thinner – which I’m not really sure is helping much. But there’s not any other treatment for it. Just prevention.

‘Stay warm’. ‘Move to a warmer climate’. ‘Avoid stress’.

Also, Raynaud’s affects my toes. So that’s fun. /s

I’ve invested in wool blend socks, I’ve tried several versions of hand warmers, gloves, mittens, etc. etc. etc. I’m still looking for the perfect solution.

I use to say Fall was my favorite season. But that’s not a thing I say anymore. I have no interest in playing in the snow. And sadly, I’ve built my last snowman ages ago.

Enjoy the cooler weather if you can. I’ll have to live vicariously through you all.

-krisgo

*I say it’s only gonna get worse, because it’s becoming the colder seasons here in St Louis.