Why are my hands cold?

Symptoms:

With the first sign of 6

cold your fingers and hands become ‘dead’ and change colour from white to blue to red.

You’re a long-term 6

sufferer with migraine headaches and you’ve recently changed your tablets to a new treatment. Since then your hands and feet feel very cold.

Recently you’re

6

feeling the cold. You’ve put on weight, your hair is getting thin, and your skin is becoming coarse. Cold hands are becoming a problem.

It could be:

Reynaud’s phenomenon, a 6

fairly common disorder that affects the arteries in the hands and feet when they temporarily become narrowed due to what’s called a vasospasm. An attack is triggered by stress or sudden exposure to the cold.

Your migraine treatment.

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Look at the list of ingredients on the packet to see if there’s ergotamine. If so, this is a probable cause because it can trigger vasoconstriction of the blood vessels in your hands and feet.

Hypothyroidism, an

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underactive thyroid gland, making it more difficult for a person to tolerate the cold. This condition runs in families.

Stop it:

Be prepared to wrap 6

up not only to keep your hands and feet warm but also your core. So use layers on your body and always wear a hat in cold weather, gloves and thick socks.

Talk to your

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pharmacist and together change your migraine treatment to an alternative which doesn’t contain ergotamine.

Make an

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appointment to see your doctor for thyroid function tests to see if you need treatment with thyroid hormone, which you’ll have to take for the rest of your life.