Many people dread the winter cold, and for good reason. They have Raynaud's and it will worsen over these winter-months in the more extreme seasonal temperatures. Raynaud's Syndrome is a condition where the circulation to the extremities; mainly the hands and feet, is severely restricted; causing symptoms such as discoloration of the fingertips (white, blue, purple, red), pain and soreness, tingling and itching, and numbness and deadness. Raynaud's may accompany other conditions such as Rheumatoid Arthritis or it may occur without there being an underlying diagnosed condition. The main causes of this are poor circulation and inelasticity/constriction of the blood vessels not allowing them to expand in order to allow greater blood supply to that particular part and thus heat and colour.
People tend to tolerate it in misery, while doing their best to always keep their hands warm in order to prevent the fingers being severely affected.
Luckily there are quite a few natural helps in existence. So, what are they?
From your local-health food store or natural pharmacy :
- Boost your circulation:
- The No.1 Herb for this purpose is Ginkgo Biloba. Almost all its capacity to help certain health conditions is based on its ability to boost circulation and blood supply to any affected part. Please note that for people resident In the Republic of Ireland, this herb is not available in retail outlets. Although it is freely available in the UK and in Northern Ireland.
- Also, use the Schuessler Cell Salts. I recommend Kali-mur and Ferrum-Phos. For the chilblains themselves use Calc-Fluor. The New Era Tissue Salts brand does a combination remedy mixture called Combination M designed for circulatory disorders. the label on the box also mentions that it helps Varicose Veins, but even if you do not suffer from those, you can still use this combination.
- Take Vitamin E which will imrove your circulation and has a natural blood thinning effect. It also helps stress, skin, hormones - you can't lose. But be mindful not to take more than 400 iu a day max.
- Exercise more
2. Improve the elasticity of the blood vessel walls.
To improve the elasticity of the blood vessel walls. Take Vitamin C. Also, take Rutin. How will you know if that is a factor in your case ? It may be, if you tend to bruise easily and bruising takes a while to heal. Also if you have easily burst blood capillaries that are visible on the skin. And the most obvious sign of all is varicose veins.
If you have Raynaud's and you are a smoker, I strongly advise trying to give it up as this is not helping you at all. More on giving up smoking later......
If you have Raynaud's, extremes of temperature will affect you badly. Although you will be tempted to place your hands and feet on radiators and heaters to bring them back, do not. The best thing you can do is try to keep a balanced lukewarm temperature all day whether you are indoors or outdoors. If it becomes extremely cold and your fingertips deaden and become white, do not heat them immediately afterwards. Either place them in cold water or do nothing. Although placing them in cold water is the exact opposite of what you might like to do , it is both homeopathic and effective. Believe me, it will restore the circulation without the rebounding painful after-effects. Usually, if you heat them too much after having been exposed to cold, as soon as you get all the blood back into them you may then get swelling, or pain and soreness.
Avoid very hot baths and showers. Keep the temperatures when bathing more even.
I would recommend constitutional homeopathic treatment to resolve it permanently and prevent it recurring. But if you are not in a position to see a homeopath or do not feel like pursuing this method and are suffering from chilblains associated with Raynaud's, try getting hold of the homeopathic remedy Tamus 6c. Take only one tablet a day for a short period. And see if that helps. There are of course many other homeopathic remedies that deal with Raynaud's but individualised remedy prescriptions get the best results.
There is also a good topical cream for relief of associated chilblains by Nelsons simply named: Nelsons Chilblains Cream. Try that.
