Gardening with Raynaud’s syndrome: a condition that affects circulation in fingers and toes

The other night, I hurt my hand mildly before improv practice and arrived late. I told my team about it as I took off my mitten. They screamed when they saw my hand. “Yeah,” I thought in satisfaction, “I have a legitimate injury.”
I took off my other mitten and they screamed again. Both my hands were bright red and purple. “I have bad circulation,” I muttered. I guess I don’t get glory points for an injury after all.

Raynaud’s prevents proper blood circulation in fingers and toes, and I pretend I don’t have it. My mother has it, and her fingers can turn pure white in the winter. Mine has gotten worse as I’ve gotten older. My toes can turn white if I don’t protect them properly, but I mostly see the effects in my hands. When they get cold, they turn a dark purple, almost dead-looking, which heals to a swollen red that lasts for weeks. If my hands get intensely cold, even for a minute, I get chilblains, an affliction of Victorian orphans. My knuckles or fingertips turn bright red and swell to twice their size, and get itchy when they’re hot and painful when they’re cold. (It’s a cool party trick to hold up pinkie so swollen that it looks like the other one belongs to a baby. Except when the people at the party actually care about you they get worried.)

Out of 25 people who work at Natureworks, FOUR have Raynaud’s. That is more than I’ve ever met in my life. One works in the office, and one was smart enough to become a houseplant expert, but a landscape crew leader and I work outside a lot. I genuinely do not know how Lisa, the landscaper, survives out there. But I will share with you the things that have worked for me.

1. ​Don’t let your fingers and toes get cold. It’s not stupid advice, ok. The absolute best prevention is keeping your hands and toes warm. That means not gardening when it’s too cold, or going inside at the first tingle of cold in your fingers. It also means not being lazy when going from the house to the car; wear a pair of mittens! One minute of exposure is enough to make me suffer for days, personally, and it’s probably the same for anyone else with circulation problems. When gardening, wear gloves or mittens, and don’t be shy about using hand warmers. You can even buy or make mini microwaveable handwarmers to reduce waste.
2. Around the house, wear fingerless gloves. My mom does this and is trying to convince me to do it. I should, since I’m in a room that is comfortably warm but my fingers are decidedly cold.
3. Keep your hands and feet moisturized. When I get chilblains, they last forever if I don’t moisturize. The best thing I’ve found for them is Burt’s Bees Farmer’s Friend. Applying it twice a day usually helps. It keeps your skin in great condition and better able to ward off the bad effects of getting too cold.
4. Medication. My doctor put me on Amlodipine for the cold months. It’s a blood thinner, I believe. It mostly just staves off the most dramatic effects of poor circulation. I still have to wear mittens and use lotion.

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As you can possibly tell, I am writing to also remind myself to do these things, since they are easy to forget. Once summer rolls around, this will not be a problem and I can be outside like a normal person—but still wearing gardening gloves. Everyone should wear gloves when gardening. There’s an infinite number of things your could accidentally touch out there, and some of them you don’t want on your skin.
Raynaud’s is no joke (talking to myself again, here). It can lead to arthritis in joints that are constantly too cold. Stay safe out there!