AT THE WATER’S EDGE:

And this little piggy went “ow, ow, ow” all the way home…

This winter, I’ve noticed a new phenomenon that is occurring in conjunction with my Raynaud’s attacks.  You can read about my discovery of Raynaud’s Disease and The Mystery of the White Finger here.  It seems that over the past couple of years, it has gotten a lot worse.  Not only do my fingers and toes turn white much more often (I literally just have to step outside for my toes to turn white), it’s becoming more painful, too.  Especially with this latest development.  I’ve started noticing what I can only call “bruises” on the bottoms of some of my toes — most notably on my two toes that have been most affected by Raynaud’s this year.


In actuality, these bruises started appearing last year, though I didn’t connect it to Raynaud’s at the time.  Last winter, I had joined a gym — for a brief stint.  I thought it would be a good option to workout during the winter months.  Lo and behold, we had no winter last year, and thus I found myself ever-inclined to skip the gym in favor of doing something outdoors.  However, there was also a month or so when I was hesitant to go to the gym for another reason: I was getting sores on my toes.  I figured that it had something to do with my shoes and/or the elliptical machine I had been frequently using.  They were small, round, reddish and felt like a bruise.  Over time, they went away.


I did not rejoin the gym this year, so when the same sores started developing on my toes again, I finally made the connection to Raynaud’s.  I realized that last year, every time I went to the gym, my fingers and toes would suffer a Raynaud’s attack (I blame the cold floor in the room where I changed clothes).  It would typically take about 10 minutes on the elliptical before the blood would start flowing and I could begin to feel my toes again.  This year, two of my toes are almost always numb if I’m walking outside or driving — and it’s really hard to warm them up in either situation (even with the heat on full blast at my feet in the car — my little piggies need to get out of their shoes to warm up, but I don’t want to take off my shoes will driving or drive in my socks, either!).  I literally have to sit down and rub my feet or put them in warm water to bring the color back and get rid of the numbness and/or pain.  It’s getting kind of ridiculous…


Anyways, back to the bruises.  I don’t know what they are.  Or exactly what’s causing them.  For all my Googling, the closest thing I can find is chilblains.  Some of the images I have found look similar to my toes, but others do not.  According to Mayo Clinic, chilblains “occur in response to sudden warming from cold temperatures.” That would make sense with the Raynaud’s.  However, chilblains are supposedly inflamed and itchy — mine are neither.  It just feels and looks like a bruise.  I have an appointment with my rheumatologist in a few weeks, so I’ll see what he thinks.  In the meantime, I’m just going to keep a close eye on things to make sure it’s not getting worse and try to take good care of my poor little piggies!