Does cold weather affect your feet and fingers?

Can it be treated with drugs?
There are some drugs available that can dilate the affected small blood vessels. This group of drugs is called calcium channel blockers and includes nifedipine, amlodipine and felodipine.

There is evidence that biofeedback techniques can also alter the sensitivity of the small blood vessels. With this technique people are taught to visualise their fingers and toes as feeling warm.

Vibration white finger
Raynaud's symptoms can be caused by long-term exposure to intense vibration from machinery, such as a chainsaw or drilling equipment. This vibration causes constriction of the small blood vessels in the part of the body involved, leading to nerve damage. Smoking and cold exposure may trigger or aggravate symptoms.

Unlike Raynaud's, it is mainly men who suffer from vibration white finger (also known as hand-arm syndrome). The condition can develop insidiously over many years and by the time it has been recognised the damage may be irreversible. Sufferers experience pale-blue fingers, which are painful, numb and tingling. The symptoms may extend up the arms, and are at first intermittent then constant. The condition is recognised as a preventable industrial injury.

Chilblain pain
Although less serious, chilblains are no less painful than Raynaud's. They are itchy, painful reddish-purple swellings occurring on the fingers and toes after exposure to the cold. They are more common in children and the elderly, and are a result of excessive narrowing of blood vessels under the skin in cold weather. They are painful in the cold and intensely itchy in the warm. They do disappear without treatment but tend to recur. Proprietary treatments have not been proven to work, so prevention really is the only way. Like Raynaud's, this is achieved by wearing many layers of warm clothing, including socks, gloves and thermal underwear.