Raynaud's phenomenon

[Aisha]

Has anyone around here suffered from Raynaud's in their lifespan?

It actually do exist on me, i suffered from it as far as i can remember_around the age of 7 or 8 i had the first attack. My hands & feet are very sensitive to cold, i need to wear thick socks & gloves most of time. It's got worse when i came to the UK as it's colder here. I used Nifedipine for few months and then Prazosine for a month, but both were helpless, they didn't even tickled it. If i exposure to cold they will get blue and then will notice swollen, even if i'll warm them afterwards the swollen won't go away easily_it takes days_ and they will be very itchy especially in bed. All of this was the year before cancer.
Surprisingly i read a lot about the fact that vincristine on of the drugs can make it even worse_I had 2 mg of it in all my 14 cycles_ or can trigger it. Just wanted to check if anyone has any further infomation or has been thru something similar. As Raynaud's phenomenon can be one of the side effects that docs never mention to patients, even though it's rare to report such case after receiving the chemo. this is an example:
 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15543016?dopt=Abstract
What might be worse and let me worried is gangrene,
http://www.springerlink.com/content/m77m6222046j338x/
Few day ago i had swollen in my little toe, it got worse that upset when i wear my shoes it affected the way i walk, i didn't experience such a thing before. it's got a lot better now, but that sounds scary to some extend.

[Larisa]

I had it for a long time. Fortunately, it is not very severe in my case and I don't take any medications for it. I usually go "only" through white - greenish-blue stage, no swelling though. If I get back to a warm place, it quickly goes away. But I can imagine what chemotherapy can do to those small blood vessels and how much worse it can get... I bought nice shearling mittens for this winter and I am very happy with them. We had a snow storm a couple of days ago and I had to scrub my car, which I left at the train station, from the ice and snow when I came back from work. It was cold and windy, but I finished the job still feeling my fingers! - what a big achievement!
Keep warm!

[Tara]

Aisha,

I do know from experience that it is a real condition - my husband has it.  His hands and feet have always been cold, but in the winter of 06 - he started exhibiting severe signs of raynaud's.  They gave him blood pressure medication in order to help, but he didn't notice a difference.  He wears gloves and even wears battery powered socks when he is deer hunting.  He uses the 'hot hands' packs as well.  His hands and feet both turn white, then yellow then blue.  I've never noticed any swelling though. 

[Aisha]

Thanks Larisa & Tara for sharing your experience..
Interistingly, what push to post about raynaud's is the pain i had in my toe, but it turned to be something completely different. Yesterday i was washing my feet and noticed a little swollen in between the 4th & 5th toes which wasn't there the day before, tried to squeeze it. it contained some yellowish sticky fluid, i drained it and put a piece of cotton so it can absorb anything still there. I went to the chemist and get some anti fungal powder as the cream or the spray may make the infection worse as it a bit deep in the skin after the fluid being taken out. I guess athletes foot is nothing to do with chemo, but for raynaud's issue i'll talk to my onc and see what he thinks.
Thanks God the infection has not spread elsewhere and i think is a minor one and will heal up very quickly. It's already dry today.

[Cathy]

Aisha,

As a nurse I am worrying about your foot!  The yellow, sticky stuff does sound like an infection.  I really encourage you to have your doctor look at it.  With an immune compromised body, these things can really get away from us and turn into something more drastic.  So, to ease my concern, please call your doctor!

Always,
Cathy

[Aisha]

Thanks Cathy for your advice. it does mean so much to me, i did see my GP about it. He said it sounds like it healed and there is nothing to worry about, but he told me too i should have called him earlier_ as soon as i felt the pain. I know I do behave weird sometimes, being thru all of this made me careless, perhaps seeing a doctor for any reason just drives me around the bend. I wanna stay away in a world where there is no diseases, no pains, no troubles....etc, only endless happiness with my family.
Hugs