hyper-sensitivity to cold temperatures

[ROSEANNF]

My husband is 52 has high blood pressure and has cellulitius that has not reaccured now for about 5 years. When the weather gets cold or if he goes in the cold ocean water he reacts with imflamation to his fingers and the bottom of his feet.  He will get large bumps in different areas of the bottom of his feet or his fingers, that swell quickly become hard and are very painfull.  They sometimes take a long while to go away.  His primary doctor says that his is just hyper-sensitive to cold but we are wonder if there is something else this is related to.  Maybe arthritis? Medication?  He also has similar reactions when taking any kind of penicillin medication. Thank you

[ROSEANNF]

Thank you for the information, we will check into this options.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

The symptoms that you are describing can be due to cold allergy .In this swelling,itching and hives may develop after exposure to cold. To check whether your husband is having it or not,pls get a cold allergy test done from an allergy specialist. Cold urticaria is diagnosed by holding an ice cube against the skin of the forearm for 1 to 5 minutes. A distinct hive should develop if a patient has cold urticaria.

Cold urticaria can persist for so many years(usually it goes after5-6yrs), Sometimes cold urticaria is a symptom of another problem, such as cryofibrinogenemia, cryoglobulinemia, or syphilis.So please contact a dermatologist/immunologist to get a more confirmatory diagnosis.

Hope it helps.Take care and pls do keep me posted on how you are doing or if you have any additional queries.Kind regards.