Whoever can stop my chilblains itching will have my eternal gratitude

[Ohyoubadbadkitten]

I am getting rather desperate! They are caused by severe raynauds (for which I can't take medication for as it had the unfortunate side effect of landing me in hospital) I have a lovely crop of them at the moment. I wear warm slippers and warm boots but my circulation is so crap that my feet remain purple always.

Have tried steroid cream but not a good idea as they occasionally ulcerated so I don't want to thin the skin? Tiger balm just makes them smell nice. Urine just makes them smell yuk.
Any other ideas please? Whoever solves this can have free weather forecasts whenever required!

Thank you Emily. I have no idea why my post was so illiterate!

Ouch it sounds painful

Mine went away, as did the reynaulds, when I started on levothyroxine for my thyroid

Maybe your gp is a bit better than mine and has tested your thyroid though?

My mum swore blind that hitting them with a bible stopped itching.

I have no idea why, we are as atheist as you can get

you have my sympathy. I find it helps to wear two pairs of socks. Also keeping your torso warm with extra layers helps circulation to the extremities.

I get chilblains on my hands and tips of ears as well.

Apparently small children can't get chilblains in this day and age (1980's!) said the GP then looked at my feet!

Now at the grand old age of 32 I don't think anything really helps. I managed to get through the last couple of freezing winters with only a couple of attacks, then got pregnant last year and had them until nearly May!

As a child I was always smothered in Snowfire, not sure how effective it is but it smells divine!

You have my sympathy too. Fortunately, I outgrew them in my mid-teens, but I can remember the misery associated with them.

The treatment I most remember was putting my feet first into really cold water for a couple of minutes and then into really hot water and then repeating the process a few times. My grandma taught me to do it. Can't remember whether it helped, but I remember doing it ...

Ok girls you might not like this................................

Be Warned.

Urine is the only thing that I find works

should say mine.

I have terrible cirulation due to a spinal injury

Have chilblains pretty much all year.

Seriously the only thing I have found to help.

Sorry

please don't pee on your feet, don't put your feet in cold water and then warm or hot either it will cause the blood vessels to make them worse

• salt warm water foot bath and snowfire and lots of massaging and sheepskin slippers and if you can put a small sheepskin rug on the bottom sheet where you leave your feet when sleeping

Generally I'm not very woo, and recommending homeopathy is about as woo as it gets, however...

I suffered from chillblains as a child and someone gave me Apis Mel and it cured them completely. I then recommended them to a friend similarly afflicted and she was cured also. Make of that what you wish...

Chillblains are small patches of flesh that have been deprived of oxygenated blood. The vessels spasm so new blood cannot be delivered and the tissues use up all the oxygen available and start to die.

Itching is the most basic form of pain.

You need thermal socks and also thermal shoe linings, either sheepskin or the mettalic backed ones. Trainers are good as the thick sole protects the foot from the cold ground.

To stop them itching you can try a chilblain cream or a warming cream (cant remember name of cream, sorry) that pharmacists sell, it isnt just for chilblains though. But a lot of it is the discomfort of tissue that has nearly been destroyed and tbh your better off trying a strong painkiller such as co-codamol than a topical preperation. You cant take co-codamol with other paracetamol based medicines eg lemsip.

Thank you all :) I've never heard of snowfire.sounds worth trying as does the APIs Mel. If it works who cares how!
Fluffy, never thought of itching as bring a basic form of pain. Interesting. They do get very painful as they heal. Esp if I stub them!

I do my best keeping them warm. Unfortunately at work its a bit trickier, I think its doing playground duty in the damp that makes them worse even though im always the one looking like a Michelin man.

Interesting merci about the thyroxine. My thyroid.is.supposedly ok.

Sorry about the odd typos. Was mning in b&q whilst waiting for about 300 years with some hardboard while dh went to look for other stuff.

I did once try the hot cold water approach. That gave me a really impressive bunch!!!

As a teenager just after the Battle of Agincourt I was off school with hideous chilblains; couldn't get or bear anything on my feet. Eventually my GP prescribed a course of leeches glass ampoules of alcohol. No idea what it was called, but it worked brilliantly.

That sounds interesting, were they for drinking or rubbing in?
Am going to try snowfire.

I wonder if a pain relieving gel or cream might help? Something like diclofenac gel or one with lidocaine in it. I had lidocaine cream prescribed for me after having DS2 when my poor battered fanjo was painful and it was blissful. I kept the tube afterwards and used it successfully for all sorts of minor pains and itches. You can get diclofenac gel over the counter - not sure about lidocaine cream, but you could ask the pharmacist.

Ps Vagisil cream is a mild lidocaine cream, used for relieving genital itching. Not as good as what I had prescribed but still effective.

Something with lidocaine might be a good idea. Thank you. I normally take anti-inflammatories orally but Ive had to come off them temporarily.

I think a decent strength lidocaine gel would be prescription only and works best on mucus membranes eg mouth, vagina. If you use it on skin you need emla cream really.

You have to bear in mine your dealing with ischeamia (tisssue death) more than an injury where the immune response has been triggered by a foreign body eg glass, incision. Ime this takes longer to heal as the chemical signals are not being sent out to attract the immune system to clean it up nor is your blood supply up to healing things rapidly.

If you do playground duty have you tried long johns? I have worn them since I was 31 and it's made such a difference. You can get thermal tights too.

A vitamin C supplement wouldnt hurt either.

I could wear my thermals -that's an idea. I could change into them just before I go outside.

If I'm going to go down the vit c route, would a good all round multi vitamin be a good idea? I don't normally take them but I have been pretty poorly over the past few months (cardiac issues and not getting on with the prescribed drugs) only just getting back on my feet. also got inflammatory (psoriatic) arthritis which is a bit grumpy at the moment so all round I could feel better! Feel like rather a moaner at the moment.

I agree wholeheartedly with PrisonerofWaugh. It's Apis Mel all the way for me!
I've also found the cream Eurax effective. I swear by them both. Apis Mel is available from Holland and Barratt in pilule form, about £5 a pop. If I have a sudden flare up, I smother them in Eurax, wrap them up with Tubeguaz (no seams) and get the Apis Mel down my neck FAST! Good luck!

My grandma told me to wee on mine and once in desperation I did and I does work. But! Eucerin has urea in and does wonders for mine. To prevent, I now stock up on feet warmers I discovered in Japan they don't get hot but somehow keep you feet at the right temp. Sorry no link my brother sends me them, worth a google though.

Rather funnily now that the snowfire has arrived all my chilblains have gone. Perhaps I need to just order random cures every time I get a crop.

Rather about my whinge on my last post. Was having a gloomy day.

ARE YOU STUPID!? That is awfull, that is the cause of chillblains.

Every winter I would get annoying chillblain....until by luck I found out that if I stop consuming dairy and gluten products I would not get the chillblains during that winter....no matter how cold it was;) Don't ask me why it works....I just know that it does for me! Maybe give it a shot and have a chillblain-free winter!!!!