I have Raynaud’s disease. When we learned about it in nursing school in 2009, I suspected that I might be in the early stages. My hands would get cold and pale from time to time. By 2016 my hands looked like classic Raynaud’s, and my PCP officially diagnosed me based on this picture:

She ran some tests to see if there was an autoimmune origin, but they all came back negative. She said the only treatment is blood pressure medication, but if it didn’t bother me much, then just try to stay warm.

So that’s what I’ve been doing. It’s gotten worse as I get older. I have assorted microwave rice packs, heated blankets, special gloves, and all sorts of other aids to try to prevent cold attacks. Some situations almost always cause an attack – the grocery store frozen aisles, an icy Diet Coke with a cold turkey sub (my favorite lunch), driving in the car in winter, and vacuuming in the evening. But they occur other times too, with no apparent cause.

The index is white and numb. The ring finger is recovering, and the middle finger has recovered and is extra dark.
Totally numb in the grocery store (gloves removed for pic)

My blood pressure already runs on the low side of normal, so we were hesitant to try BP meds. We tried sildenafil (Viagra) prn last year and I thought it might have helped, but it didn’t seem to make a big difference.

This year the attacks were especially intense and frequent. I don’t know if my recent weight loss affected them, or if general aging is to blame (I will hit the big 40 next month). I was spending an unreasonable amount of time managing my cold hands, trying to coax blood return while strapped to electric hand warmers and being buried under blankets.

Black spots are where circulation recently returned.

I decided it was time to try the calcium channel blocker. I wanted good data so I would clearly know if it was helping. I started tracking my attacks in December before calling my PCP for a prescription. She started me on a half dose of amlodipine. After a week I was seeing such good results, I asked her to let me have a full dose. Look at this chart!

The attacks are milder, shorter, and less frequent. There were a couple times this week that I thrust my hands at Ben and bragged “Feel them! They’re kind of warm!” Icy fingers are my normal state. Warm hands felt so bizarre!

I’ve been tracking my blood pressure too and haven’t seen any big change. It still ranges 92-105 systolic. I only have to be careful about standing up quickly. There have been a few woozy times, but no actual fainting.

This is amazing. I hope it continues to work. I hope I can take a med break from medicating in summer, when the attacks lessen naturally. I wonder if the Raynaud’s reaction is partly psychological, and if I can train my body to stop overreacting to cold/vibrations in certain situations while on the med. That would be awesome. For now, I’m just happy that I’m not spending 75% of my day with my hands stuck under a heater anymore. Science and medicine!