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RAYNAUD'S PHENOMENON
A report in the British medical journal, Lancet, shows that a simple ointment used to treat heart pain can protect people with Raynaud's phenomenon, their hands turn white and hurt whenever they are in the cold.
When your body temperature starts to drop, your brain sends signals along nerves to shut blood flow to your hands and the skin turns white. Skin temperature drops and when it reaches 59 Fahrenheit, your brain is supposed to sends signals to open up blood vessels in your hands, causing fingers to turn red, burn and itch. It's called the hunting phenomenon and it's normal, but some people have Raynaud's phenomenon. The blood vessels in their skin do not open at 59F and hand temperature drops rapidly toward freezing and skin turns white and hurts.
Nitroglycerin ointment treats angina, heart pain from closed arteries leading to the heart. When applied to the forearm, it opens blood vessels leading to the hands. If you suffer from Raynaud's phenomenon, wear gloves under mittens and ask your doctor about trying nitroglycerin ointment.
1) Lancet 1999(November 13);354:1670-1675. 2) Murray Hamlett, M.D. Army's Research Institute.
Checked 8/9/05