How many here have Raynaud's

Reading about the blood vessels in the CCSVI study made me wonder if there was maybe a blood vessel issue and MS was either the response to it or triggered by it.

They claim Raynaud's is an autoimmune blood vessel disease. I was wondering if anyone else here had it. I'm a limbolander, so can't claim my issues are MS related. But I do know they're inflammation related. The patterns are there - flare ups with fevers, illness, vaccines and heat exposures. Things are relatively calm and mild if I can avoid those four biggies.

On my one parent's side where we now have 4 or 5 consecutive generations of neuro problems of various sorts, those who didn't have neuro problems usually had strokes. I've also read that when MS is inherited from the father's side, the tendency to develop it is far higher than if it's inherited from the mother's side. Also, it's a recessive inheritance pattern.

I really should go back to school and finish that molecular biology degree. The whole thing has me so intrigued. I could spend my life studying it, if I could be guaranteed to earn a living and pay back the loans.

[SarahL2491]

I have it but don't take anything for it.

off topic, anyone else having trouble seeing daily logs?  I had to go looking for this one, have not gotten any new updates on MS forum in 4 days?

Did I hit a wrong button somewhere?

[jensequitur]

I have it, but I don't take anything for it either.  I've tried a couple of different medications, but nothing makes a difference.

You should check out this article by Julie Stachowiak -

http://ms.about.com/b/2011/10/25/a-ccsvi-breakthrough-i-think-so.htm?r=facebook


"Dr. Robert Fox's team at Cleveland Clinic figured out a way to look directly at the veins in question without causing too much distress to the patients. They simply waited until those people were dead.

They then cut out the veins, fixed them with silicone and looked at them with their eye. They touched them and cut them open and poked around. And they found some pretty funky stuff, let me tell you.

To sum it up - there were veins from 7 people with MS and 6 people without. When the group measured the thickness of the vein walls - what has been looked at to date, there was no difference in the veins of both groups. Some people in both groups had thickened vein walls, making the venous opening small.

However, when they cut those veins open and looked at them, there were all sorts of bizarre things in the veins of 6 out of 7 of the people with MS. I attended the live presentation at ECTRIMS 2011 and it was a little "graphic," but researchers showed pictures of flaps, and deformed valves and weird membranes - all of which could impede blood flow through these veins. These were only found in one of the people without MS."

That to me is very interesting.  I have Reynauds.  I have phlebitis in my left leg.  I've had a blood clot in my right leg.  There's got to be some connection between that and autoimmune disorders.

[kelly97]

I agree - all of this IS very interesting.

I don't have a diagnosis of Raynaud's, but based on all that I've read about it, I think I have it. Where the soles of my feet, toes, and fingers turn red, blue, white, etc. I always thought that it was normal, that everyone was like that - apparently not.  I remember my fngers were blue in 6th grade and the lunch lady asked if I was alright and wanted to send me to the school nurse. I just looked at her confused, just saying that they were cold. Aren't they supposed to look like that when they're cold?  

Kelly  :-)

[jensequitur]

What I get is no blood in the fingers, especially the first and last fingers of my right hand.  They'll feel numb, but not MS numb.  Around the edges, the flesh will be perfectly normal, and then there's a line and the flesh beyond is completely bloodless.  I also get this in my feet, but the line isn't quite so sharply delineated.

I like the Wikipedia article on this one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raynaud's_phenomenon

[beachcomber13]

I had never heard of Raynaud's before this. Reading the description, I would say that I do not have it. I have poor circulation, and my hands and feet are always cold to the touch, but they are not as bad as that.

[jumpinjiminy]

I first got it in my teen years. My parents thought I'd been frostbitten at some point, but I hadn't been. Then later, I found out it was called Raynauds. I saw the wiki, and found it interesting this could be the first sign of an autoimmune disease and precede the dx by 20 years or more. That would be me to a 'T'!

I think my parent with the tremors and numb toes might have it, but swears it was from getting frost bitten. Lol.

[Deb61]

I was diagnosed with Raynaud's a long time ago.  My hands are white and painful when cold.  When I vacuum my hands tingle and vibrate long after I stop.  I live in Texas, so it's not as much as an issue as many of you find it.  

Many people actually have Raynaud's--some more severe than others.  It's really not that uncommon.  It's more common in women than men and is often seen secondary to other diseases--especially arthritis.

I do think, though, there could be a connection.  I also have other vascular issues--migraines.  My neuro says that the white matter lesions are not due to migraines because the white matter lesions caused by migraines don't give the symptoms that I have--optic neuritis, double vision, spasticity, TN, etc. (LOL, I did ask him about this last visit).

Deb

[SarahL2491]

what tools did your neuro use to dx raynauds?  mine went on what I told him, just curious

[rendean]

Yes to Raynaud's among the other things.