Reynaud's AKA Ice Cold Hands and Feet (and ears and nose)

At my annual check up at the doctors, I mentioned that my hands and feet are constantly freezing. I could be fine, nice and toasty, or feeling pretty okay but my hands and feet feel like it's this

My doctor said it's what is called Reynaud's Phenomenon or Reynaud's Disease. I heard of the term before from my friend, Amy. She mentioned it could be Reynaud's when I posted about how my hands were freezing.

What is Reynaud's Phenomenon (sounds better than "disease")?

The U.S. National Library of Medicine says Reynaud's is "a condition in which cold temperatures or strong emotions cause blood vessel spasms. This blocks blood flow to the fingers, toes, ears, and nose." I even found this nifty image to share with all of you that shows the blood vessels constricting and turning the fingers purple.

By NHLBI authors. via Wikimedia Commons

This last week with the cold front that came through causing Montana to have the coldest windchill on earth that day, not exaggerating!, and the stress in my life, made my hands and feet freeze! I wore gloves, soaked them in warm water, did exercises with them to get the blood pumping... and still my hands looked closer to the right hand picture. 

Everything I read said that it doesn't hurt. I would like to take a moment to say that this is

I don't know about the rest of you with Reynaud's Phenomenon, but my fingers and toes HURT SO BAD! They sting, they burn, they tingle... and then go numb. I am torn about the numb part. I'm happy my fingers don't hurt anymore, but I kind of need to be able to feel them to be able to work.

So in case you were wondering why I was absent this last week in blogging, this is why. Because I swayer to you, in a southern drawl, that my hands are turning to ice cubes as we speak.

I hate Reynaud's Phenomenon!