When Amanda Katz started running outdoors in the winter in her early 30s, she noticed something strange. Gloves that other runners swore by just didn’t seem to prevent her hands from freezing. A few of her fingers and toes would turn pale; when they warmed up again, they’d throb and tingle. “I would come home almost in tears,” she tells SELF.
It wasn’t until she visited a podiatrist for an unrelated issue that Katz, now an NYC-based strength and running coach, found out why. Noting the white and bluish hues on her hands and feet, he told her she likely had a condition called Raynaud’s syndrome.
What is Raynaud’s syndrome, and who gets it?
In people with Raynaud’s syndrome, sometimes called Raynaud’s disease or Raynaud’s phenomenon, exposure to cold temperatures, stress, or other triggers causes tiny blood vessels in the fingers and toes (or, sometimes, the nipples, nose, earlobes, or kneecaps) to spasm and constrict, blocking blood flow. The affected areas turn white and then blue and may stiffen as they’re deprived of oxygen, Amanda Sammut, MD, the chief of rheumatology at Harlem Hospital and an assistant clinical professor of medicine at Columbia University, who has Raynaud’s herself, tells SELF.
Afterward, the affected areas are often red and painful: “When the blood begins to flow back into my fingers, it feels like they’re being smashed in a door,” Sarah Wassner Flynn, a runner and coach with Raynaud’s in Rockville, Maryland, tells SELF.
It looks pretty scary (and can hurt like hell), but is it serious? Usually not: The vast majority of cases are what’s called primary Raynaud’s which isn’t linked to other illnesses. Experts aren’t sure why it occurs, but it’s more common in women than men, and family history may play a role.
In some cases, though, Raynaud’s occurs secondarily to other health conditions, often autoimmune ones like scleroderma or lupus, Swosty Tuladhar, MD, a rheumatologist at Summit Health, tells SELF. Often, it’s the first symptom of these underlying issues, Dr. Sammut says. This type of Raynaud’s is more likely to lead to serious complications like frostbite or gangrene. So if you notice these signs, it’s a good idea to talk with your primary care physician or a rheumatologist, who can do tests that assess the severity of your Raynaud’s and diagnose or rule out other conditions.
In total, Raynaud’s affects about 5% of the population, and symptoms often strike first in your 30s or earlier, Bashar Kahaleh, MD, chief of the division of rheumatology and immunology at The University of Toledo Medical Center, tells SELF. Regardless of which type you have, its effects can range from annoying to downright debilitating, especially for people who enjoy running, skiing, or other outdoor activities in the winter. Some athletes go to considerable lengths to cope: Runner and sports dietitian Holley Samuel, RD, CSSD, even moved to a warmer climate for a while, in part, to ease symptoms.
