UPDATE to several comments that came up here - and to further complicate the issue
:
Following Jimmy's link to vasospasm, I moseyed on over to Wikipedia and revisited the page on Raynaud's. Although Wiki often has good info, I usually make my references to Mayo instead, since that site is less likely to change quickly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raynaud%27s_phenomenon
So anyway:
**The Raynaud's page is where it notes Beta Blockers (I take those) as one of the causes of Raynaud's - that must be where I found it - as well as caffeine, smoking, etc.
**MS is not on
their long list of diseases that seem to be related to Raynaud's either.
**The pics are great there (I think someone already linked those earlier).
**It CAN be as dangerous as frostbite - even potential gangrene.
quote from Wikipedia
Pathophysiology
Chronic, recurrent cases of Raynaud phenomenon can result in atrophy of the skin, subcutaneous tissues, and muscle. It can also rarely cause ulceration and ischemic gangrene.
And another interesting thing I learned there:
Erythromelalgia is the opposite of Raynaud's where the ends turn red hot from heat rather than cold. Erythromelalgia (the opposite of hot and warm extremities) often co-exists in patient's with Raynaud's)
(Of course, the hot, red condition mentioned goes along with the contention that MS patients tend to get overheated and flushed, and the oft made suggestion that MS patients get "red heads", too.
I do NOT have those problems, however.)
My latest experience: On Saturday I had to spend about 10 minutes working outside when it was 20 degrees F. My hands almost froze, turned allover red and numbish, and my whole body (core temp) was shivering.
Still no Raynaud's! No whiteness at all! Just the normal, allover reddish cold fingers that normal people get from exposing them to cold temps.
On the other hand (my right one, actually), last night I had a BAD, painful case of Raynaud's as I used my fingers to break up cold, fresh veggies for a salad -- while standing in my warm kitchen.
Now, before we all jump up and scream, "Yes! Yes! I KNEW it would turn out to be vascular, and therefore related to CCSVI...!!" I'll add a quote from one of my posts in the CCSVI Forum.
In my humble and respectful opinion:
So...if we decide that Raynaud's DOES have a connection to CCSVI, and if they finally confirm once and for all that everyone with CCSVI has MS, and everyone with MS has CCSVI, and no one else has either one, then that means that everyone with Raynaud's must have both MS and CCSVI, and then we won't need all that Doppler/MRI/MRV/spinal tap testing to dx us with either of them after all? That IS what it would mean, wouldn't it?
The problem with our determination to find more and more links between our varied symptoms and CCSVI...too many discoveries like that would therefore make it less and less likely that CCSVI is connected to MS.
Once we link CCSVI to all the symptoms we share with the general population, it will no longer be unique to MS.