Monday, April 27, 2009

Raynaud's with Sjogrens

Another condition I get associated to Sjogrens is Raynaud's Phenonemon. Again, it is not unusual to get this with any autoimmune disease. Women are affected nine times more than men.

Raynaud's is named for the French physician Maurice Raynaud, who first recognized the condition in 1862. The disease causes an interruption of blood flow to the fingers, toes, nose, and/or ears when a spasm occurs in the blood vessels of these areas. Spasms are caused by exposure to cold or emotional stress. Typically, the affected area turns white, then blue, then bright red over the course of the attack. There may be associated tingling, swelling, or painful throbbing. The attacks may last from minutes to hours.

I am lucky in that I get very mild cases of this from time to time. (mostly winters) On a couple occasions I have had the painful tingling and swelling go up my arms and into my facial area. This has happened when I was extremely stressed. Most of the time it consists of a few fingers throbbing, tingling, and turning a bluish white for a few minutes. This happens when I get cold.

1 comment:

erbegu6580 said...

I coincidentally had my first Raynaud's experience like a week before my first rheumy appointment. I looked up the symptoms online and I was like, of course! It's all connected! Luckily it only happened twice, both times being extremely cold nights where my mittens just weren't thick enough to insulate me from the frozen steering wheel.