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Hi. I am a 34 yr old female that was diagnosed with primary Raynaud's in my early 20's after the birth of my first son. At the time of diagnosis, I was living in Northern Vermont during a very frigid winter. The symptoms were very bad (ulcers, purple feet, etc) because at the time I wasn't taking measures to protect my feet with wool socks while indoors. I would walk around barefoot and just endure the numbness in my middle toes and the ulcers. Once I understood my diagnosis, I began to improve somewhat but not completely. Summertime was truly the only time when my feet would return to normalcy. Eventually, I moved to a warmer climate but I would still see flare ups as the weather would cool. I have been tested for secondary causes and all the blood tests came back negative. This was as recent as this year. As I have gotten older, the condition has spread to my fingers. I am currently on Norvasc to help with symptoms and I take a vitamin regimine. I used to walk frequently and that really seemed to help quite a bit. I also have found that a gluten-free diet has been extremely helpful with many of the arthritic issues, especially in the morning(my feet used to feel like they were on fire when i would put pressure on them as i got out of bed). Even with all these healthy changes, I am still baffled by the other side of my raynaud's...temperature sensitivities all through the year(even in summer), overheating in buildings(if it is above 70 degrees) where i will get extremely flushed(like a hot flash of sorts) and I also don't sweat very much. I know that all the literature that I have read seems to only indicate the bodies response to cold temperature/items but I have always theorized that if your circulation is not working properly one way, it will show itself in other ways. I know that I am not the only one that experiences this but it would be nice if there was any literature or studies or ANYONE that has dealt with this. Any advice on this would be extremely helpful. I apologize for the lengthy post. Thanyou.

Welcome to the forum, jennyrocket, and it's good to hear that you have found ways to help manage your symptoms.

Your flushing could be as a result of the Norvasc or the vitamin regimine (or a combination of) and also, there's another condition that is not uncommon to have occur simultaneous with Raynauds and it's called erythromelagia. A good site for this condition is epodiatry.com.

If your flushing continues or worsens, I would suggest a visit to your PC.

I hope you find our site helpful!

Karen

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I will persevere & live strong.

Secondary Raynaud's to Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Hashimoto's thyroiditis.