Raynaud’s Syndrome And Chiropractic

Introduction

Today we have a special guest post from my lovely wife, Brittany. I asked her if she would share her story of Raynaud’s Syndrome and chiropractic. For a little background information, Raynaud’s Syndrome (Disease) is considered a rare disorder of the blood vessels. I personally believe it has more to do with improper functioning of nervous system affecting the blood vessels than the vessels themselves. It most frequently affects the the fingers and/or toes and causes the blood vessels to constrict when a person is cold or experiencing stress. This results in less blood flowing to the fingers and toes, which often turn white or blue. It can often be painful when blood flow returns to the affected digits. You can find some more information about Raynaud’s Disease on MedlinePlus.

Raynaud’s Syndrome Experience

I started having problems with Raynaud’s when I was about fifteen. Growing up in the warm climate of California, my high school didn’t have a cafeteria that was big enough to hold the entire school body. Actually I’m not sure it could have even held one grade level. So pretty much everyone ate lunch outside. During the winter, this wasn’t much fun. My hands would get really cold and turn bluish-purple. My best friend used to say that they looked like dead people’s hands. That was the first stage. After that, the tips of one or more fingers down to either the first or second knuckle would go white and numb. My hands would curl up and straightening my fingers was difficult. I was always grateful that we had our period of silent reading right after lunch because it gave me enough time to get the blood flowing back into my fingers so I could hold a pencil. I could feel kind of a cool rush and then all of a sudden my fingers would turn pink again. I never worried about it too much. It was just this weird, annoying thing that my hands did and I learned to deal with it. Rubbing my fingers, holding them in warm places on my body like my armpits or between my legs, and running warm water over them all helped to get the blood moving again.

My mom however was worried when I was heading off to college in Utah that it was going to be a problem and took me into a specialist. The doctor listened to the description, told us that it was Raynaud’s Syndrome, gave me some pamphlets that told me all the things I had already figured out about how to deal with attacks, and said to be careful and try to avoid things that would trigger an attack. That can be kind of difficult when even doing something like carrying in a gallon of milk from the car, cutting up raw chicken, or holding a cold drink can set things off.

Go forward a few years. I was married to Dr. Schuneman, DC and we were living in Iowa. He was attending Palmer College of Chiropractic. He had finally convinced me to go in to the clinic and give chiropractic a try. One of the things on the patient history form was whether or not you had Raynaud’s. When my intern, Jeff, was looking things over, he asked about it. “You have Raynaud’s?”

“Yes,” I said.
“Were you formally diagnosed?”
“Yes. Just before I went to college.”
“When did it start?”
“When I was about fifteen.”

Jeff didn’t say anything more about it then. I think it was at the next visit when he did the report of findings that he said “I can’t promise anything, but sometimes Raynaud’s is a reaction of the sympathetic nervous system. There is a good chance that in clearing up some of the nervous interference that your Raynaud’s will either go away or at least be less frequent.” I was stunned. No one had ever said there was something that could be done for it. From what the specialist had said, it was just something I’d have to deal with all my life.

Chiropractic has done a lot for me with other problems like stiffness in my neck and shoulders and trouble sleeping. But probably one of the biggest things it has done is enable me to do more without having my fingers go numb. After starting regular chiropractic care, I don’t think I had one full-blown attack the whole time we were in Iowa. I could carry milk in from the car without my fingers going numb. Am I completely “cured”? No. I’m still more sensitive to cold and I still have to be a little careful about keeping my hands warm. Very, very occasionally I will still have an attack. But things are so much better than they used to be. I get a little emotional when I think of it because I am so very grateful. I am so grateful to have met Jeff who knew that chiropractic might help with this.

Conclusion

I want to thank Brittany for sharing her experience! Interference with the nervous system can affect any part of the body. When you remove the misalignment of the spine and restore proper function of the nervous system amazing things can happen. While there is no guarantee, chiropractic has helped millions of people function better! Come and see what chiropractic can do for you.