Chilblains Anyone?

Last year I had an issue where I was getting swollen/irritated toes that after visiting a doctor was determined to be chilblains. It got bad enough once that I had to stop mid tour and apply tape around my toes to prevent it from rubbing against my boot and causing pain. The doctor perscribed a cream (verapamil) that I applied to my toes to increase bloodflow (my understanding at least) and after a week or so the swelling went away. Fast forward to this year and now 3 of my toes are swollen and even though I've been applying the cream I can't seem to get the swelling to go away.

I guess it is caused from cold feet but my feet don't really feel cold too often and I use Intuition liners so that should help. Maybe I should try heated socks and see how that goes but the price scares me, especially if there's a decent chance they won't solve my problem. Anyone experience this and have any solutions that worked to get your toes back to normal?

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Originally Posted by rudy

Last year I had an issue where I was getting swollen/irritated toes that after visiting a doctor was determined to be chilblains. It got bad enough once that I had to stop mid tour and apply tape around my toes to prevent it from rubbing against my boot and causing pain. The doctor perscribed a cream (verapamil) that I applied to my toes to increase bloodflow (my understanding at least) and after a week or so the swelling went away. Fast forward to this year and now 3 of my toes are swollen and even though I've been applying the cream I can't seem to get the swelling to go away.

I guess it is caused from cold feet but my feet don't really feel cold too often and I use Intuition liners so that should help. Maybe I should try heated socks and see how that goes but the price scares me, especially if there's a decent chance they won't solve my problem. Anyone experience this and have any solutions that worked to get your toes back to normal?

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I had chilblains on my fourth toe on one foot. Swelled up to twice normal size. My understanding was that it was a combination of too much cold and damp, and going quickly from cold to hot. Mexico and sandals was my treatment, and I’ve since paid more attention to keeping my feet dry, sometimes powdering (Gold bond) them lightly before skiing, taking extra dry socks on extended trips, wearing heated socks (Hotronics) on the coldest days, and avoiding barefooting it out to the sauna. It hasn’t come back.

I have been managing chilblains for 5+ years. The key for me is to avoid the hot tub (outdoors) during winter months. As Kootskier said, going from cold to extreme heat is the cause and should be avoided.

Interesting on avoiding heat as changes from hot to cold was never mentioned to me, only to avoid cold temps as much as possible. With that said i really don't spend much time at all in hot tubs nor saunas even tho I do like both. Have plans to tour tomorrow and lifts on Sunday and then 3 days next week in Taos with my kids competing in a comp one day which will be a fair amount of standing around getting cold feet. Hoping for the best...

Several years ago had them in my last three fingers of right hand while taking an innocent bike ride in March when it was cooler than I thought. GP misdiagnosed it as something else. Sent me to neurologist who diagnosed immediately and said he himself had gotten them 30 years previously while ice climbing. Furthermore stated that he got them every fall since then without fail. Wasn’t thrilled about that so now take extreme care in the fall and winter. When I come in from snow clearing the driveway on a cold morning I immediately run some warm water over the fingers and hand. Haven’t had a repeat episode since. Maybe get heated boots or sox. Hope this helps.

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Originally Posted by rudy

Interesting on avoiding heat as changes from hot to cold was never mentioned to me, only to avoid cold temps as much as possible. With that said…. 3 days next week in Taos with my kids competing in a comp one day which will be a fair amount of standing around getting cold feet. Hoping for the best...

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I’ve got some other nerve problems in a foot but cold feet really kill me.l and make the pain worse. Got some orthotics for some shoes to help the pain but this weekend put them in some sorel boots and made a nice barrier from partying outside in the snow in 3 degrees. Worth a try if you can figure it out quickly.

Have you ever had mild frostbite or had your feet cold and wet for prolonged periods of time? That's the usual cause. As a vascular sugeon I had a collection of patients I saw every winter for sores on their toes. The usual medical advice is a corticosteroid cream or ointment to reduce the inflammatory component, and oral drugs to open up the blood vessels. The latter are various blood pressure pills and viagra and the like have also been recommended. IME none of them seem to work very well. The patients did come back every year despite the fact that I wasn't able to do much for them. That was fine with me because I got to meet some interesting people with great stories--Battle of the Bulge, Chosin Reservoir, Indo--Chinese war in the Himalaya, electrical lineman in the Sierra, Bataan death march (it's not always cold). This was in Sacramento, so it doesn't take subfreezing cold to trigger the yearly recurrences. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

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Originally Posted by old goat

Have you ever had mild frostbite or had your feet cold and wet for prolonged periods of time? That's the usual cause. As a vascular sugeon I had a collection of patients I saw every winter for sores on their toes. The usual medical advice is a corticosteroid cream or ointment to reduce the inflammatory component, and oral drugs to open up the blood vessels. The latter are various blood pressure pills and viagra and the like have also been recommended. IME none of them seem to work very well. The patients did come back every year despite the fact that I wasn't able to do much for them. That was fine with me because I got to meet some interesting people with great stories--Battle of the Bulge, Chosin Reservoir, Indo--Chinese war in the Himalaya, electrical lineman in the Sierra, Bataan death march (it's not always cold). This was in Sacramento, so it doesn't take subfreezing cold to trigger the yearly recurrences. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

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Thanks for the reply, much appreciated. In regards to your question I've never hand frostbite (even mild) or cold/wet feet for any prolonged period of time. After 2 days of skiing the past weekend and the toes are essentially the same maybe even slightly better. The first 1/4 mile of my skin on saturday I was sure I was going to regret my decision to skin (due to the extra movement/aggravation of going uphill) but then everything settled into place and I completely forgot about it. Probably didn't hurt that I had compeed pads and tape on the toes to prevent rubbing issues. Didn't use any tape on Sunday riding lifts and as of today the toes are actually less sensative then they were last week. Sounds like the answer is just to ski more along with applying the cream a few times a day...

As said above doesn’t have to be freezing, simply not keeping you paws toasty is enough to trigger an onset. Unfortunately it only takes a little bit of feeling to cold to start the onset