I don't know if this info might help anyone here...but particularly the girl who said she was 16 and spoke with her pediatrician about it...my 14 year old son was suffering from many of the same symptoms. A listing of his symptoms would include: cold feet that even fleece socks wouldn't warm up; the purple blotchiness on his legs and sometimes on other parts of his body, too; the bright red/pink skin on his legs and feet when he gets out of the shower; pain in the knees, lower legs, and ankles; pain in his back; headaches; gets lightheaded "throbbing" feeling in head after exercise of almost any kind; unable to gain weight; exhaustion after not much physical exertion - to the point that if he ran at all, he'd usually have to come in and take a nap; and shortness of breath after minimal physical activity. He also had a sensitivity to heat, and we had to be really careful because he would develop heat exhaustion pretty easily (vomiting, nearly passing out, etc.) even when all the other kids in our family had no issues at all with heat.
These symptoms started presenting when he was about....7. And they just progressively got worse over the years. By the time he was 13, they were really affecting his quality of life.
We discovered a remedy for every one of these symptoms, although the blotchiness of the skin is taking longer to clear up. What happened was this: His younger sister had terrible eczema, so I was eliminating various known allergens from our food while I tried to identify an allergen that may have been causing her skin condition. I got around to removing gluten. Presto! The change did NOTHING for her eczema (probiotics and borage oil cured her of that later...), but the chronic pain my son had had in his ankles, knees, legs, back - that doctors had simply said was from "growing" or "playing too hard" (what? the kid couldn't even run..but whatever...) completely disappeared in less than 24 hours. Within 2 days, he was RUNNING. Normally. Within about a week, he could run for extended periods of time, without suffering exhaustion or that terrible throbbing in his head. He could run and bike and other things for extended periods of time without shortness of breath or needing a nap afterwards. And he is slowly starting to gain weight.
Evidently, for people who are intolerant to gluten (there are people who actually have celiac disease, and then people who are "just" intolerant), eating gluten-y foods (gluten comes from wheat, barley, rye, and oats, although you can now purchase gluten-free oatmeal) causes an inflammation in your body. This causes the pain in the joints and also means that your body cannot absorb the nutrients from your food. This will cause inability to gain weight. Another major thing it causes is anemia, because your body isn't absorbing enough Iron. So, the anemia (which means your cells aren't getting enough oxygen to all parts of your body) can cause symptoms like shortness of breath, easy exhaustion, etc.
He's feeling tremendously well now (and it's so awesome to see him get to run normally - he used to have to hold his feet and ankles as stiff as possible when he ran because of the pain it used to cause...).
It's very easy to remove gluten from the diet and the internet has loads of information on every single food product out there so you can find out if it contains gluten or not. His legs still seem blotchy, but it isn't as pronounced and the color isn't as dark. It seems to be normalizing, but slower than the other issues.
P.S. There are easy-to-access articles online discussing how many people have been misdiagnosed with Lupus (an autoimmune disease - for which Raynaud's is often a symptom) who turned to actually have celiac disease. But because of the inflammation, gluten problems can mimick an autoimmune disorder.
It's easy to do, and can't hurt you to try (removing gluten from the diet isn't going to cause any problems even if you turn out to not be intolerant).
Best wishes!
Hello! I have the same problem; my hands are always cold and when it is particularly cold it hurts to clench my fists, my feet are cold 90% of the time and sometimes it feels like they are ice. My feet go purple, sometimes to the extent that you could say they look black. I'll sit down and my feet will go cold and my legs will start to ache up to my knees and when I stand up they get really hot as though I can feel blood rushing through them. If I get a hot shower, my skin goes red and blotchy and sometimes it hurts. I have been to the doctors 4 times due to this as it does become a real pain, especially now my arms are beginning to get like this. For some reason, my feet never turn purple when I'm telling someone about it; my partner of a year still hasn't seen my purple feet, but especially when I'm just walking around the house bare-footed, they look terrible.
My doctor diagnosed me with 'cold sensitivity', or otherwise known as 'intolerance to the cold'- basically I feel cold when other people don't, my body is intolerant to it. He also said that it could perhaps be that the blood doesnt flow as much as it should around certain areas of the body and my nerves are slightly more sensitive than they should be in these areas.
These are basically the questions you need to ask yourself if you think you are intolerant to the cold:
If you get these, I'd go see your doctor, as I'm going back soon as I'm hoping there's a form of medication he can prescribe me.
Hope I was of some use x x
i went to the school nurse but she said it was fine if it wasn't hurting, but people ask me why they are like that and i don't know what to say!
oh my gosh you don't know how relieved i am to know that i'm not the only one with this problem. i get purple blotches all over my legs all the time, i thought i might just be because i am quite pale but then i looked online and i'm thinking it may be because i have a bad/slow blood circulation. I am 13 years old and I can't wear short socks, shorts or skirts because i feel so self concious about it and lots of my friends have questioned me about my legs. Apart from getting a tan i don't know what else i can do! (not that i tan very easily).
If anyone has any tips on how i can stop this from happening please tell me :) thankyou
my legs sometimes gets blue/purpleish (when i am cold or warm) with white spots. i always just thought it was because i am so pale. well now my fingers and toes tingle and fall asleep. i get it alot and its starting to scare me because i have a lot of signs that point to Raynuads and lupus. i am looking for anyone that has the same problems that can help me figure out what this is. i am worried and curious at the same time. i know a doctor has told me its because of bad circulation in my legs and feet also sometimes hands. please write back if you have raynauds or lupus.
thank you
It isn't exactly easy, but it really does work for me.
I take a shower at night, because the warmth from the shower causes quick temperature change. If you sleep through the night your legs will have time to accumulate.
Then I wake up early before my day starts and do a little workout to get my blood flowing. This usually helps prevent it. You could try covering it with Sally Hansen leg airbrush. But if you keep warm and get your blood flowing it usually doesnt spring up.
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Peace,
Holly