I seem to get these every winter. All my toes. Each one. They drive me nuts. Along with the heel pain, joint and muscle pain... Socks, keeping the heating on, staying in (as much as possible), nothing seems to work. (I haven't seen a Rheumy since Feb this year.)
The chilblains along with some of the other bits (repeated mouth ulcers, and the old neck pain) make me wonder if this could be something else coming to join the party...
The primary cause of chilblains is poor circulation so it probably does need looking at by a doctor.
Have you tried wearing a bodywarmer to keep your core temperature up? I know it sounds strange - but that is equally as important as keeping your feet warm I also found I had less of a problem with cold feet wearing thick socks and Birkenstock-type sandals than closed shoes which constricted my toes.
Do you remember liberty bodices? I remember they kept us all warm at school which was always freezing.
I certainly do. In the sixties we were well trussed up for the cold!
I remember them - not sure if I had one though. During my first 11plus exam we got to stand up every 15mins to warm ourselves at the tortoise stove as the only available heating which I'm sure warmed the ceiling better than us! That was during that wondrous winter of 1962/63 ...
Ahh .. yes remember it well!
Bit younger than you, 11 plus 1966. That ´62/63 winter though. Do you remember making slides on the playground that stayed icy for days? At my grammar school it was horrible bottle green knickers and knee socks. Later thick woolly tights were allowed. I can remember my mother buying her first pair of tights, horrible American tan colour of a thick denier.
We had a very small steeply sloping playground - school only had 30 pupils altogether and the loos were at the top of the slope so it was well gritted - or should I say "ashed"! I remember my first pair of tights - very like that!!!!! With a crutch that tended to be half way to my knees!!!
I had chilblains every year when I was at school. My maiden aunt in the Isle of Man, where I spent my summers, told me to dip my feet into my warm urine. It may have worked but you can imagine my response at that age!! Although I live in Cyprus now I still suffer from cold feet and wear warm socks in bed during the winter months, and have an electric blanket.
School! We had bottle green knickers with pocket for hanky and the maths teacher had chilblains on her nose! X
We had bottle green knickers and a pair of ‘linings’ underneath. I usually just wore the linings which were just normal pants. We did PE in the green knickers and we were always forgetting the big green pants, so we had to borrow them from someone not doing PE at that time! I remember rushing round trying to find someone.
Indeed! Especially the little rubber buttons on them. How cosy they were. 😊
The last time I had chilblains was during my years at primary school (1962-1970) when we were in short skirts, knee socks and Clarke's leather shoes, warm on top with anoraks and frozen below the knees, walking to and from school in all weathers, ice and snow not excluded. Excruciating at night when the circulation began flowing again under the eiderdown!
I've never exprienced them since my school days. I used to dream of being able to bring warm slippers to school.
Going back even further, and back to chilblains, I used to have them through school and after I went to college. My remedy was to wait until they were really hot and itchy and then stick both feet in cold, cold water. My reasoning was that, if getting your feet really cold and then toasting them when you got home produced chilblains, doing the reverse might cure them. And in my case, it did. I only remember doing this twice but it was a long time ago!
Good heavens! A bit drastic!
I suffered as a child for years with hands and feet until my parents put in central heating…, it helped to never let my feet get cold for a minute … luckily grew out of them … I feel for you …I remember the itching and pain …. keep warm all the time.,,, good luck !
Like others here, I used to suffer miserable winters as a child at boarding school. Hands and feet covered in itching, weeping chilblains, no central heating of course, freezing draughty dorms and classrooms. I still have poor circulation but I'm an old lady now, warmer and wiser! And I have central heating! Making sure my hands and feet never get really cold makes all the difference. Can only suggest bedsocks, wrist warmers, boots, sheepskin mittens (mittens much better than gloves). It has really helped.
Funnily enough I had my first one since my schooldays last week. I used to come in and toast my toes in front of the electric 3 bar heater and Dad used to march straight over and turn off 2 of the bars.🤣
Chil blains have reared their head with me since being on prednisolone
My husband has really bad chilblains ,he's tried everything. Podiatry say warming cream? thermal socks and never let feet get cold and then plunge into hot water!.
it’s so not funny but your comment did remind me of my Granny, who made it to the ripe old age of 99, telling me as a child not to sit on the stone step or I’d get chilblains in my bottom! Good job I had no idea what she was talking about! 😆
I used to get really bad ones as a child. We lived in a draughty house where the only heating was a coal fire in the living room and school was a draughty school with inadequate heating. I had medication from the doctor for a while. I took it every morning and it made me feel so strange I used to sit on my dad's lap and have a cuddle until the feeling wore off. It didn't help the chilblains and I didn't take it for very long! It was drummed into me not to put my feet by the fire or on a hot water bottle. I stopped getting them once I started living in warm spaces with minimal draughts but I still couldn't bring myself to put my feet on a hot water bottle until quite recently!
I had awful chilblains as a young teen (1963, freezing boarding school, liberty bodices and all!). Christmas holiday, my old Nana mixed up equal parts eucalyptus and camphorated oils (purchased in little bottles from Boots the Chemists) and told me to rub it on my feet night and morning. Bingo! Pain relief instant, and no chilblains ever since. Worth a try.
hiya! i have raynauds, full on problems with the blood vessels in toes, fingers, (sorry) nipples, only once my nose spasming and obstructing blood flow due to a disregulated response to cold. then, when it is warm again, the disreg allows for a rush of warm back in, and the capillaries can't handle it, and the breakage causes chilblains. heh. I'm told. i know damp cold being em on. for me, about any change in temperature at all brings em on. the best sock I've found for maintaining an even temperature are the ones with teddy bear lining within. the brand I've been buying is WYTartist, because they seem to stand up to both washing and wearing. my feet don't sweat in them, even when they are feeling warm. there is space in the fleece for air to circulate, i think. right now, i cannot prevent the raynauds fully, but i haven't had any chilblains on my toes for three years. soooo good. it's been mostly trial and error, finding things that work. I've had things that worked for a while, then stopped. including the medicating i take to lessen the raynauds. I've nearly lost body bits due to chilblains. as it says on here, "never delay seeking advice...". if you are already dealing with lots of things that you are left to manage, make sure you get proper help with the new thing so you aren't just trying to adapt to something unadaptable.
never had chilblains, so what should I look out for please x
Have a look at this -
mayoclinic.org/diseases-con...
Or this-
cks.nice.org.uk/topics/chil...
Thank you xx
Since playing in a Spring snow with no gloves at 12, once the temperature goes below 50, I have to wear gloves. And playing in snow from then on was excruciatingly painful. Even in the Summer getting frozen food causes painful spasms in my hands. My feet were also affected, but not as much as my hands.
My nurse neighbor called them chilblains. It's like the stage prior to frost bite. But, no one else ever told me that's what it was.
Since I began smoking at 13, was it from smoking? (I stopped smoking at 26.) Was it the autoimmune disease, Raynaud's Disease?
Last year, I asked my Rheumatologist. He said chilblains causes redness and swelling. And that's what happens to me. My fingers swell and get red. So, the gloves come out in Fall and I always wear socks even to sleep unless it's very, very hot.
That day when I was 12, my hands were killing me. I went to my friends house and we warmed them up in HOT water. Apparently, not good. This article explains it somewhat.
iflscience.com/chilblains-v...
Certainly sounds like Raynaud’s -
I get chilblains , horrible things, very painful and itchy, don’t know how to get I’d of them but I do try to keep my feet as warm as possible .
Anti inflammatory gel is very effective when used on unbroken skin , we got them every year whilst at the farm with the horses in freezing conditions.
Is anyone else atypical ?
Pain (what else?)
Crazy conundrum
Does anyone else have problems with pain in knee with pmr?
