Preventing Chilblains???

[Grillamo]

Hey,

I have had chilblains every winter for the last 3 or 4 years, they are not much fun as im sure you know, and wondered if anyone has any tips about preventing/easing them?

Ive read all of the NHS stuff and done what they have said but ive never managed to stop them coming. This time of year i only take my socks off to change them or have a bath (DH can just put up with it !) Apart from my dad tellin me to piss on my feet (which just sounds like an old wives tale) ive had no real feed back.

Ive started to feel the end of my toes going numb when im out (and sometimes in) and so think they are on the way so if anyone has any ideas how to stop it or lessen it please can you help?

Either that or ill seriously consider peeing in the washing up bowl and soaking me tootsies!

Thanks

x

Hi - I get chillblanes every year too

I try and keep my feet warm, but forget until it is too late! My fingers, nose and toes get cold very quickly (Reynauds).

To prevent this, I always wear socks in bed, around the house and have sheepskin slippers. At the moment, that is not enough, so I am making sure I get up and move around every half hour, as keeping still makes them cold too. I am keeping the rest of me well wrapped up too as it is easier to take layers off when I am too hot than to warm up again. The worst thing is my feet going cold when I go to bed - sometimes I have a shower last thing to make sure I am warm before I get there (if I put too much bedding on, it aggravates the hot flushes).

I always where a hat and scarf outside in the winter, before it gets cold!

The best thing I have found for treating it once it happens is sudocrem. It takes out the sting and redness. The chemist gave me a cream based on chillies - it was rubbish and got everywhere .

I have a fabulous crop, had them since the end of September. (And got them in the summer too) I've decided the best way to prevent them is to chop your toes off. Hope that helps!

Thank you both,

Will def try the sudocrem and the walking about, but i think id rather try the piss on the toes before i chop the little bugers off! hehe

x

dh reckons I might regret that solution come the spring!

This is my second year of getting them, bloody horrible things! and the only thing I found helped last year was putting Germolene with the local anasethetic on them.

I fnd exercise helps - I think it improves my circulation.

Exercise? I was hoping you kind folks would tell me to have long hot baths and chill out and im told to chop my toes of an exercise! Wheres the fun in that! hehe

But yeah exercising sounds like a really good idea, ill give it a go

Balmosa cream works for me, reducing incidence and as a treatment - I get it from Amazon

I wish I knew the answer to this! For me, the only thing that works is never, ever let your feet get cold - I managed this last year by wearing wool or cashmere socks all the time, Ugg boots warm slippers in the house, and furry boots outside the house. I didn't get any chilblains at all. But it wasn't easy and this year I have failed. I think even one session of letting them get cold and the chilblains arrive to stay for the winter!

Me too. I don't find sudocrem or germelene effective. Doc told me sunbed a are good as put heat into them, thou not too often, and this is before they appear so maybe a good tip for next year. Get to your chemist and ask for some snow fire. It's magic stuff and the only thing I have found to take that sting out.

If you sit down at a desk or computer for any length of time, a heated footrest is a godsend. www.amazon.co.uk/Fellowes-Heat-Slide-Foot-Rest/dp/B006LLR99M this isn't mine, but it gives you an idea of what I'm talking about.

The other thing I've been recommended after getting frost nip and chilblains as a consequence is to get two basins big enough for your feet. Fill one with hot water, one with cold. Spend 20-30 seconds in one basin, then swap your feet into the other one for the same length of time. Repeat several times. This gets your capillaries in your toes opening (from the heat) and closing (from the cold), which helps the blood to get moving better down there.

Oh, in case it wasn't obvious, I use the footrest in socked feet, not with shoes.

Oh wow, I really want one of those heated footrests AndiMac...how much of an old lady am I going to look at work though!?

Who cares? Everyone will be jealous, trust me.

They definitely will Andi, our office is in a really old, freezing building. Actually thinking about it maybe that's why I get chilblains. How professional would it look if I kept a pair of Uggs under the desk? Very, methinks

Ugg boots. All. The. Time. Old pair as slippers. New pair for outdoors. Great job!!

Witches can you still get snowfire!!!! I've had chilling from around the age of 9, snowfire was the only thing that helped alleviate the pain when I was a kid but I thought it was discontinued years ago???

As well as not letting feet get too cold try not to let them get too hot, its this variation in heat that seems to bring them on in me now. I also avoid constricting foot wear e.g. tights and narrow toed shoes as this was always a sure fire way of making my feet freeze and bringing them on.

They really are hellish but over 20 years I have gone from swollen, tortuous, weeping feet every winter to just the odd itchy toe for a few weeks each year, so there is hope!!!

Chilblains not chilling!

Yes nigella, I've just got a new stick from the chemist. If u can't find any pm me and I'll send you some. It's the only thing that takes that awful sore itch away.

Oh Witches that's so kind!!!! I will have a search next week and let you know how I get on - nest of vipers indeed

From a Podiatry point of view, I'd advise thermal long johns (I wear them so no laughing), thermal socks, fleecy linings in your shoes or boots, and no smoking. Smoking damages the little blood vessels in the feet so it makes chillblains worse.

Dont ever put your feet near a fire, the radiators, the heater in the car, hot water bottles, electric foot warmers, foot spas etc.

Apply plenty of moisturiser to the skin daily as dry skin does seem to find it harder to heal than moisturised skin.

Haha indeed! Yeah let me know, it's no trouble.

Snowfire is still available, my mum bought me a couple of sticks last year!

It works and smells divine.

I got told by a nurse years ago that her chilblains disappeared forever after her first pregnancy, last year (whilst pregnant) I had them until May and this winter they're worse than ever the bitch giving me false hope

I have Raynauds and had awful chilblains, the year before last they were so bad I struggled to walk, it was really awful. After that the GP took me seriously and prescribed Nifedipine and it has made a real change. I have to take them 3 times a day and if I forget one I can tell because everything goes numb!

I think its best to think about keeping all of you warm, rather than thinking about just trying to keep your feet warm, it makes a big difference. I always wear a vest or two, wear fleecy tights (again, or two) under your trousers, then knee high socks too, put fleecy or sheepskin insoles in every pair of shoes, wear a scarf as part of your outfit so you always have one on, always a hat when you go out.
The warmer you are as a whole then the better chance you have of keeping your feet warm.

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!!!!