Very strange reaction to cold

[Roselover]

I know there was another thread on Raynaud's, but I wanted to share a strange expereince I had last night and I don't really know why it happened or if it is even related to Raynaud's.

Yesterday was in the 90's and I was begining to not feel so good so my husband got me a hot water bottle filled with cold water. It helped cool me down, but when I put it on my legs something really strange happened. I laid it on my shins only for a few minutes... my feet began to throb like they were freezing. I took it off and my legs and feet kept throbbing. I even had to put a blanket over my legs to warm them up and stop the pain. I think my big toenails turned a little purple.

Isn't this strange? I thought it would help constrict the veins and help me feel better in the heat, but that's not what happened. It wasn't ice just cold water and I hadn't had it on there longer than 2 minutes!!!

Any ideas????

~Roselover

[corina]

Hi Roselover,

I can't help you with this, but I wanted you to know that I'm very sorry to hear you're having this trouble. My cardio thinks I have Raynaud because of my purple/black hands (sometimes) and it seems it's more common on POTSpeople (that's what he told me). I'm not officially diagnosed but I don't need that. It doesn't give me any pain (so far ).

Hope you're doing okay by now,

warm wishes,

Corina

[Lisadelivers]

I was actually diagnosed with Raynaud's before POTS. It could be 90 degrees, but if I was doing laundry and grabbing the wet, cool clothing out of the washer, my fingers would start to go numb and cold! I had also noticed that getting out of the shower my toes felt like I was standing on cotton balls because they were going numb. With all of the other symptoms of POTS, I thought I was totally loosing my mind. My family, friends, and even doctors and physical therapists almost had me convinced that I was just suffering from extreme anxiety and depression (and of course laziness!). I went about 2-3 years with symptoms before getting my POTS diagnosis. I always assumed that the Raynaud's was part of POTS or somehow related. It just makes sense since they are both vacular related. I also have my own theories of other problems I have that may be related to POTS -or the underlying cause of it. Whatever that may be. I think my brain is majorly messed up!!!!

Lisa