I’m not sure exactly when I noticed it. Looking back it was around the time that I developed my strong attachment to my fleece. Those who know me have probably noticed that my fleece is like my second skin. Inside or outside, I pretty much always have it on. To try and lessen the dirtbag appearance I even bought a second fleece in a different albeit similar color.
So back to the “it”. It primarily happens when I searching through the freezer at the grocery store or when I jump first jump in the shower. My fingers go white and throb. In the shower it’s the weirder because my hands will be bright red from the heat while my fingers are white. Sometimes my nail beds go blue. I brought this up when my friends took me out for my birthday dinner and I got some strange looks. Then again we had all had a glass or two of wine by that point.
So weird, but not weird enough to warrant a visit to the doctor. Who goes to see the doctor for cold fingers? In the meantime, I searched for vampire bites. I’m kidding! Well sort of. In general my fingers are like ice although the rest of my hands are fine. Just call me Alex Elliot Cullens. I will soon be relocating to Forks and appearing in any future Twilight saga books. I wonder who will play me in the movies?
Yesterday I went in for a physical. While I’ve seen my doctor a few times for ear infections, it’s been two years since I officially had a physical. I showed up with my short list of questions that basically were about my big triathlon in July. Then I got to fingers. I told her that I knew this sounded nuts, but my fingers are always cold. Remember my second skin the fleece? That’s why I like wearing them so much because I can stick my hands in the pockets to warm up. They’re at the perfect level and oh so cozy! Plus whenever my hands are cold, I’m cold too.
She felt my hands and while I couldn’t get her admit that they most certainly felt like Cullens’ hands* she did comment on how cold they were. After a few more questions and an examination it turns out I have Raynaud’s Phenomenon. While it sounds almost more exciting than being a vampire, it is in fact no big deal. I just need to wear gloves with fingers when I’m exercising outside (I did have some problems with my tri on Sunday being able to get my shoes on and off because my fingers were so cold**) until it gets much warmer and also obviously wear gloves when my fingers are cold…or invest in a few more fleece; preferably ones that are distinctively different colors less it looks like I wear the same one every day. Given the choice between continuing to look like a dirtbag with my hands shoved in my pockets or a weirdo wearing a v-neck shirt with gloves, I choose the former.
And that should end all my medical woes. I was given a clean bill of health. Everything looks good and I feel really good.
*The vampires in Twilight are all ice cold to the touch.
**So this explains some of my difficulty with my transitions. The rest unfortunately appears to be “user error”. I did drop about 4 minutes from this same race last year though on my overall time and about 3 of it was in the run alone!
And finally a link from Wikipedia because you know it’s just such a reliable source!
A. Elliot’s Lesson Learned: If you have ice cold fingers and don’t see any vampire bites, it may be Raynaud’s Phenomenon
