Doctors are often dismissive when Raynaud’s sufferers describe the pain they’re having in their extremities when they get cold or stressed. “Keep warm,” the doctor might say. Or simply, “Move to a warm climate.” For Jody Collins, such flippant responses didn’t apply.
The 62-year-old native Floridian lived and worked in Miami her whole life, until she retired to Arizona. “When I was in high school, I noticed that my fingers would turn colors, and not just in cold weather,” she told the Raynaud’s Association. “For example, if I was holding a cold drink, they would turn white at first, and then when the blood started to flow back, they’d turn red or bright pink, and then back to my normal color. Same for my toes.” The painful response also frequently happened with damp, cold weather, she noted.
Although the weather in south Florida rarely got very cold, Jody said it happened often enough that she sought help from a vascular specialist at Miami Heart Institute. “He performed a series of tests,” Jody recalled. “I remember having electrodes put around my fingers with Velcro©. He determined that I had primary Raynaud’s syndrome. I had never heard of it. There was no Google then.”
Based on the doctor’s diagnosis, Jody limited her college applications to the southeastern region of the United States. “I knew I’d still have Raynaud’s reactions wherever I went but it would happen less frequently where it wasn’t so cold.”
Once she learned about Raynaud’s, she heard about others who had the condition. “We learned that a friend of my grandmother had it – a much worse case – and she wore little white gloves most of the time,” said the former attorney. “For me, it was mostly an inconvenience.”
In Arizona, the winters are colder than in Miami (with occasional snow). “Either because of that or because I am getting older, my fingers and toes turn white more often,” Jody says. “It happens in the very air-conditioned grocery store, or when I’m chilled after returning from a long walk or a workout. There’s one finger that always turns white ahead of the others, and more often.”
From the Raynaud’s Association, Jody has learned about others who have it and the products and strategies that help them. “I bought a pair of very thin thermal socks to go under thicker socks, and those actually work really well, even by themselves without the extra layer.
“Nothing really helps my fingers, though. “I heard shaking my hands as though you’re getting water off may help drive the blood back in, but I’m not sure that really works,” she added.
Nonetheless, Jody considers herself fortunate. “Many people have it far worse than I do. For me, Raynaud’s is mostly an inconvenience and something to be aware of. But when it lasts a long time – if I’m outdoors awhile, or just chilled for some reason – and the color doesn’t come back right away, I start to get a little anxious.”
Living in the South has helped to keep the severity of her Raynaud’s episodes at bay, she believes, but it’s not a panacea. “It’s frightening when it first happens. It’s painful. It might signal a worse problem. It needs to be taken seriously no matter where you live,” she concludes.
These profiles are part of our ongoing Member Spotlight series. For more information about our Member Spotlight feature and stories like this one from Jody Collins, here’s the original post: Introducing Member Spotlight! To tell us your story for possible publication, please submit your story on our Tell Us About You Form.
