Raynaud's Syndrome vs Phenomenon vs Disease? [Why Are My Toes Cold?]

This is Tom Bredecki, and today I'm talking about Raynaud's syndrome, Raynaud's disease, Raynaud's phenomena. What's the difference between all of them? How do you diagnose it? What are the best treatments? I'm going over all the research and what I do for my patients personally that I believe has the best amount of effect, and we're starting now. There are a ton of videos online essentially titled, How I Cured My Raynaud's Disease. They're very popular. We're going to go over these home remedies. What I notice with my patients is most people do not diagnose this correctly. Raynaud's syndrome, Raynaud's disease, and Raynaud's phenomenon, there's a lot of overlap. This can affect the fingers. It can affect the feet. It's a discomfort and color changes. What happens is the blood vessels constrict. When there's stress like cold, like weather changes, like anxiety, lack of sleep, your muscles spasm. You have smooth muscles in your arteries going down to your fingers, your toes, where you're most susceptible to temperature changes. They essentially clamp down. This makes them painful. They essentially turn blue, then white, then red when the blood flow refills again. I said red, white, and blue, but not necessarily in that order. It's more common in cold countries. The more north you get, like Canada, states like Michigan, much more common than say Florida or like Mexico, for example. You get tingling, numbness, pain in the affected area. It can last 10, 20 seconds. It could last a few minutes. For some people, it could be severe where they could get gangrene or ulcers in the secondary Raynaud's disease stages. You can get throbbing, swelling. In some severe cases, people have to have heart procedures such as a sympathectomy. And while Raynaud's disease does not directly affect the heart, it is a vascular condition and it does put stress on your vascular system. Raynaud's phenomenon specifically is a term used interchangeably with Raynaud's syndrome or Raynaud's disease. This refers to a condition where blood flow to the fingers is reduced and it's not associated with anything else. Raynaud's disease is known as primary Raynaud's. That means you just get the finger and the toe clamping, no extra stuff. Raynaud's syndrome, on the other hand, is also known as secondary Raynaud's. This means your Raynaud's disease is associated with an autoimmune condition. So these are lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and you could have other ones as well. This is a genetic thing, so it can be passed down through family. There are some associations. The more north you get, the more autoimmune conditions you get statistically. The closer to the equator you get, the less autoimmune conditions. And coincidentally, I go over this in my vitamin D videos. Is it a coincidence? But the more you go up north, the less vitamin D you have, the more deficiencies. And there's also links connecting all of these with a vitamin D. It's too tough to connect all the dots here, but there are some coincidences that might be worth taking advantage of. I get these mixed up all the time. Basically, there's primary and secondary. Most people are primary. It's a vasospastic attack in the smooth muscle in your arteries that clamps down. It is associated with autoimmune conditions. It's present between 3% to 20% of the population. The reason it's so hard to nail it down is most people struggle with this, but they don't necessarily need to go to a hospital. They don't go to a doctor. Their names are not written down. Probably closer to 20% of the population. Does the cold affect your fingers and toes? That could be a lesser version of Raynaud's or a more severe version. Women are five times more likely to get the spasming cold fingers, cold toes. It usually starts when you're about 15 to 25 year old females are usually when it starts. Although certainly as you get older, 60, 70, 80, you're more susceptible to stress, more susceptible to cold. Your body mass decreases. Family history, especially secondary Raynaud's, autoimmune diseases, they're genetic. There's a gene called HLA-B27. That could be something worth taking a look at, but it's connected with more autoimmune conditions. Specifically, connective tissue disorders associated with Raynaud's are scleroderma, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, occupational exposure, working with vibrating tools like construction work, certain chemicals, certain irritants can increase the risk of Raynaud's disorder. Climate. Living in a more northern climate, a cold climate, more winter, more rain, that could do it. In healthcare, most people don't come seek the help of a doctor. There are some medications that can be used, but in more severe cases, you could actually get an ulcer, gangrene. So I see older people that struggle with this and potentially a portion of this is Raynaud's that can be contributing. The focus in Raynaud's is on genetics, treatment modalities. Let's first start with the medications and hospital and physician treatment. The most common treatment, calcium channel blockers like nifedipine, alpha blockers, vasodilators. There are creams you could buy that you could put on your fingertips. For me, it's not the most practical. There are easier solutions we're going to go over. And in severe cases, there are now prostaglandins, endothelial receptor antagonists. Again, these are more advanced treatments. If you're watching this video, you probably want easy to use home remedy. And for me, they're actually more effective in most cases, unless you have a more advanced secondary Raynaud's phenomenon. But things you want to start off with, if you drink a lot of alcohol, if you smoke, those are the two easiest things you can control. And specifically, this applies to anything but obesity, diabetes, health conditions, liver problems, kidney problems. They all make you more susceptible. The more you can do to reverse all of these things, the healthier you will be. I have guides on a lot of those, especially the diabetes. Get yourself in as good a shape as possible. But we're going to go over the top 15 home remedies. I watch a lot of videos. The videos themed are how I cured my Raynaud's. Can you cure it? It's hard to say for sure, but these people seem to think so. I go over it with the most common videos and stories share in my patients as well. And we look at the research. Number 15, ginkgo biloba. This is a herbal supplement that may help improve circulation. Some people use it. Some people claim it works. Not a lot of direct evidence. Let me know what you think on that one. Number 14, magnesium supplements. The reason this is so low on this list is because it's an indirect supplement. This is more of a long-term 66 plus percent of people are said to be deficient. Magnesium is involved in 600 plus enzymes can help with blood vessel health. It is more of a supportive treatment, but very, very important. I would say, watch my magnesium videos, consider supplementing with magnesium. I do it for me, for most of my family. It's easy. It's safe for 99.9% of people. And it makes a big, big difference. That is one that can indirectly make a big difference for your health. Men want to take about 400 milligrams per day. And women want to take about 300 milligrams per day of magnesium. There's a lot of different types. Magnesium chloride, magnesium threonate is a new one. Magnesium glycinate can help you sleep. Oxide can help with indigestion, some stomach problems, but is not the best absorbed. And citrate is well absorbed and can help with some diarrhea type issues or constipation. Check out my video on all the magnesium secrets. But overall, magnesium is very safe. It's all natural. It used to be found in our diet, but not anymore because of processed food. And it's not in our water anymore. So we're really deficient in it. 13, vitamin D. Again, this is an indirect one, but the more north you get, the more autoimmune disorders, the more Raynaud's and the more vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is helpful with everything. It's proven heart benefits, proven vascular benefits. This is undeniable at this point. It helps in circulation. It's related to cold. There's a geographic relationship. You can't say for certain. A study recently showed that 78% of the world is deficient. And that's looking at 308 studies, 8 million plus people, 78% deficiency according to blood levels. This is something to strongly consider. Watch my vitamin D videos. See which ones to take. Again, something me and my family do every day. I'm spending a disproportionate amount of time on this because it is so important for your overall health. But 50 to 90% of people are deficient in the same areas where Raynaud's disease is very common. It helps with a ton of things. Recommendations are about 800 to 2000 international units, but I personally take about 5 to 10,000 to keep at the normal recommended levels. I have a whole video going over how to use this, what the dosages should be and what the toxicity levels are. Check that below. 12, garlic. This is known for the blood thinning and vasodilating properties, but it is not a primary treatment. Garlic, some people say it works. Tell me what you think. 11, flavonoid rich foods. Flavonoids are antioxidants. They're found in berries, bell peppers. And a great story about a bell pepper is, I did not know this, but vitamin C, which is a very important vitamin, is actually higher per content in red bell peppers than it is in oranges and citrus fruits. People give oranges all the credit for vitamin C, but it's really bell peppers that have the most red bell peppers specifically. But anyway, flavonoid rich foods support vascular health. They're very well proven. Number 10, fish oils and omega-3 fatty acids. Fish oils are very important for circulation. We want an equal balance of omega-6 and omega-3. But what happens is in society today, we have about 25 times the inflammatory omega-6 and only one of omega-3. So we want to bring that back into balance, decrease that inflammation. It's not studied directly in Raynaud's, but it is very vascular beneficial, decreases inflammation. And hey, guess what? Inflammation stresses your smooth muscle in your arteries and clamps down potentially. Omega-3s are so important. You want to eat these at least once or twice a week as a supplement. If you're not eating cold water fish, you want 1,600 milligrams per day as a male, 1,100 as a female. You want to get at least 50% EPA and DHA. The problem is we have a ratio about 25 to 1 of inflammatory fats compared to the omega-3 fats. We need that ratio to be about 1 to 1. This big scam is that a lot of these supplements have a lot of the bad fats in it, not the good fats. So make sure at least 50% are EPA and DHA. Ginger. Ginger is another home remedy that people say they use directly. It may improve circulation and certainly has warming properties, but it is not a frontline treatment. Tell me what you think. Is that one out of place or it should be higher? Number eight, avoid caffeine, alcohol. I'm going to put smoking in here. I already mentioned it. These substances constrict blood vessels. They exacerbate symptoms. They prevent you from sleeping, mess up your health. They secondarily and primarily irritate your Raynaud's. If you have Raynaud's and you're doing any of these, cut it out. You're going to be a lot healthier. I love drinking wine and beer when I was in college, but the reality is it's a poison. It messes up your REM sleep and it suppresses your melatonin. There are so many studies now how even one night of poor sleep and poor alcohol, the next day your blood sugar is higher. You're more tense. You have more anxiety. Your sleep cycle is thrown off. One thing that I talk about is in my sleep video is melatonin. How to curb some of these side effects. Check out my sleep videos down below. This is something to consider if you are having serious blood flow or vasospastic problems. Number seven, stress management techniques. Me personally, during COVID, the more you're alone, the more stressed you are. Go talk to a friend, hang out with your family, socialize, get involved in the community, go to church. All these things can help. Meditation, exercise. There's so many things to decrease your stress. Just start doing some of them. All this stuff can help make a difference, but the lower your stress level, the less things that can trigger your Raynaud's attacks. Six, regular exercise. Strength training, cardio. This is the single most proven thing for our health. If you exercise, it's more important than all diet, all medications out there, but it's not talked about as much. All the attentions on medications. You want to focus on exercise, strength training, cardio. I have a lot of great videos, including our 30-day health transformation course. Five, a healthy diet. In the 1950s, we used to eat about 2,500 calories per day. We were slimmer and our food had exponentially more nutrition in it. Get the obesity rates around the world. It's not just North America and the United States, which is a myth. Europe's actually a little bit higher. South America's getting up there. The world overall, Asia, Oceania, and even Africa is getting up there. So everyone is getting more and more obese. So look at these statistics. Since just 2000, it's gone up from 30% to 42.4%. And even the severe obesity rate has doubled. So it's going up. And what about COVID? When COVID started, the rates shot up even more rapidly. So this problem is already horrible and it's only getting worse. People are getting higher rates of diabetes. Everything I'm going to talk about here is more relevant than ever. Now, 70, 80% of our diet is processed. Less magnesium, less vitamin D, less antioxidants, less B vitamins, less everything. Lack of that stuff is not good for arterial health. Raynaud's diseases are going up as a result in the population. Something to consider. I just did a video on L-citrulline and L-arginine. I compared the two, but essentially both of them make nitric oxide that opens and dilates your blood vessels. This is found abundantly in foods that we eat. All these amazing natural supplements like citrulline, arginine, creatine, they're all found in our meats, our nuts, our seeds, our vegetables. But as we eat a higher and higher percentage of processed sugared foods like breads, cookies, cupcakes, we're getting less and less of these natural supplements that are stimulating our blood vessels to relax. So as our levels drop, potentially we're more and more susceptible to Raynaud's syndrome. It's something to think about because this is becoming more of a problem. Number four, keep your core warm. That means wear a sweatshirt, wear jogging pants, wear socks, wear a coat. If you live in a cold area, keep yourself warm. Now I know in today's high inflation environment, probably heating your house at like 80 degrees is probably not what you want to do, but you got to keep your body warm. It will significantly cut down your Raynaud's attacks. Use gloves and socks. So when I was a kid, I used to deliver newspapers and I would get Raynaud's. My fingers would throb, they'd turn purple and red. I thought I had frostbite. I was such an idiot back then. Why didn't I just wear gloves? I make all my kids wear gloves. And as a result, it keeps their fingers warm. They don't have any stress there. So get ahead of it. Just be smart. Number two, avoid the cold exposure. If you're doing all that kind of stuff, but you live up north, I'll tell you a story. Me and my whole family last year, we were all sick. We were all having skin problems. We all had dry skin, sore throats, everything. Within like two days of getting to Florida, the sun was out, the water was warm. Everybody immediately felt better. It's like we went from sick to instantly cured. My entire family, four kids, wife, me, everybody felt better. If I could write you a prescription to move from Michigan to Florida, I would do so. And for my Florida patients, I'm coming to be a doctor there as soon as I can. I promise. In the north, the tricky part is from about November to about March, the sun is south. So you're not getting a lot of rays, especially in North America, in Europe, in Russia, northern China. And this is why I mentioned a lot of these illnesses like autoimmune illnesses, osteoporosis, the vitamin D deficiency symptoms. They're seen in a lot greater quantities in these areas above 35 degrees north and below 35 degrees south. But below 35 degrees south, there's not a whole lot of population in the world. It is actually possible to use a sun lamp. Now there's a lot of brands out there. And I looked this up. The studies aren't very conclusive. That means nobody really paid to do the studies, how much you need for how long, but they recommend, you know, five minutes, three to four times a week. That's all you need to convert your skin to your level, to your kidneys and get your vitamin D. That basically means your seven dihydrocholesterol level can be converted by five minutes with this lamp to pre vitamin D3 to get your normal levels. Now there's no real studies verifying this. So tell me what you think. They are about 600 or more dollars. So they're not the cheapest thing in the world. Number one, warm water soaks. This is where you have to be safe, but water conducts energy much quicker than air does sticking your fingers or your toes into warm water can significantly help the attack. If it's not going away for a minute, two minutes, just soak your feet, soak your fingers, but you have to be careful. If you have peripheral nerve disease, peripheral neuropathy, don't burn yourself with hot water. This is an easy solution. If you do get a Raynaud's attack, just get your fingers in some warm water, your toes in some warm water. You will feel better. That's the quickest, the easiest thing. Alternatively, there are some creams that you can put on your fingers, but the water just does it just as good for most people. But here's the real big secret. You have to get to the root cause. I kind of mentioned those secondary supportive treatments. The healthier you are, the more you get rid of your diabetes, the more you help your heart, the more you lower your body weight, the less hard your vascular system, your heart has to work. The best ways to do that are strength training, cardio, sleep. For a lot of people, the better you sleep, the less anxiety, the less stress you have. There's actually a great study that showed people who sleep more than seven hours have much lower blood sugars, stress, and anxiety than people who sleep less than six hours. And that's like proven across the board. I think that's undeniable. Finding sleep strategies as well as exercise strategies really gets to the root cause. That's probably one of the things that make the biggest difference, keeping warm gloves or moving to a nice warm area. That's more important than supplements. Supplements can help. So vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, all that stuff can help, but it's not always the answer. Focus on the fundamentals. Check out our 30-day transformation course. It focuses on how to do all these things, how to get your health in order. Check it out.