Goschi Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Did anybody notice that if you raise just one arm and leave the other one dependant, the skin of the raised arm/hand gets extremely (!) pale (almost white) compared to the dependent arm after only 3-4 seconds...?Maybe this is a pretty normal mechanism in everybody (also healthy people) but I only realised it now... It looks freaky, to be honest... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corina Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 I think it's common, at least in me haha. I have that same thing with my legs. While seated my legs turn purple. When I raise them they turn pale. You may want to try raise just one leg haha it freaked my husband out when he once saw that. I don't think it's normal in healthy people (tried once with my hubby) or at least not as obvious. When I'm in acute danger of fainting I lie down with someone holding my legs up, this is the quickest way to make me feel better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goschi Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Hi Corina! Do you have it with your arms too...?And what do you mean exactely by "raising" legs? Just raise them as ballet dancers do? Do you bend your knee, when you raise your leg?When I sit down, my legs are pale, also when I lay down or walk around - they only turn red (rather mottled red/white/yellow) when I stand motionless in place for too long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjensen Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 My arms/legs do this to. I never noticed it before I became sick. I also see the veins get very large, and then shrink. I look like I have varicose veins (mild) standing, though I do not. All of this came with the illness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goschi Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 I am very sorry to hear you have these symptoms too, gjensen... Are they for you a kind of "marker" too - to more intense these phenomena occur, the worse you feel in general? Did you get any of explanation from docs what this "Thing" could represent...?Best wishes!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katybug Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 My arms do this. I also have to be careful not to hold my arms up, for example, I have to hold the bottom of my steering wheel so my arms stay below my heart, because my arms get pins and needles and then go numb. Not enjoyable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjensen Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Goschi, not necessarily. However, my very worst times according to memory was also the most noticeable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corina Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Goschi I have it with my arms too. Like Katie mentions though I can't keep them up for very long. For me my hr jumps up when I hold my arms up, pretty easy workout don't you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goschi Posted May 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2015 Corina - again, we see, how different we all are... I have no problems at all with raising my arms for a longer time (except them getting pale, but that doesn't "hurt"). And my HR even goes down (!) when I raise my arms - maybe because there's more blood available for the other upper parts of my body...?The closer we look at each and every symptom of our diseases, the more I believe that there is something going on with us that has literally nothing to do with what medicine has "found out" about POTS/dysautonomia over time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelloz Posted May 4, 2015 Report Share Posted May 4, 2015 I think this is very normal although more pronounced for us due to the blood pooling making hand and arms looking darker than most. I had a magic trick book when I was very young. One of the tricks was to tell a friend to hold one hand up while you have your back to them. Then you wait a bit and have them put it down. You turn around and tell them which hand they had up. The trick was to pick out the hand that was paler.I too have the bulging blood vessels. My husband will get this when it is very hot, but mine is frequently since the dysautonomia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goschi Posted May 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2015 angelloz, thanks! I actually thought it should be normal to a certain extent for every (healthy) person. (btw, thanks for the magic trick - I will try it out as soon as possible and tell my friends I only have the ability to do this magic since I have POTS - which is not even a lie! ;-)) Again thanks everybody for their responses! I wish us all ongoing progress with loosing the pronounced colour changes in our limbs!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigskyfam Posted May 4, 2015 Report Share Posted May 4, 2015 Same. I also get shortness of breath when I raise them. When I dry my hair, prime example Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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