Chilblains?

Hello there,

I'm usually on the UC page...but I find myself facing a new "fun" thing with my body!  Since Dec. I've had really bad swollen purple painful toes, was referred to a derm. and she simply told me I have chilblains and they were from my feet being cold.  She sent me for a Cryglobulin test as well, but made no fuss over it, therefore I wasn't the least bit concerned...all I had to do now was keep my feet warm (silly but simple!)  3 weeks later I got a call that she wanted me to go for more bloodwork because my cryoglobulin test came back positive...of course the person who called me had no idea what that meant!  She sent me for a ANA, and after seeing her on Tuesday I've found out that too is positive!  So she has now done a biopsy of my worst affected toe...and I have to wait 2 weeks

when I asked her what it was we were hoping for from the results, she replied Lupus because it was easy to treat!?  I already have IBD...now maybe this...or what!?  Of course you always have to get on the computer and Google things...could be anything from Lupus-Cancer....and I'm trying really hard not to think about it and freak out!  Has anyone else here dealt with this...or lucky enough to have more than one autoimmune disease?  Any help/feedback would be soooo appreciated.

Thanks for listening

Paula

Paula, I have Raynaud's - discoloration in hands/feet from lack of blood circulation. My hands are worse, but the same thing can happen to your feet. I was later on diagnosed with Lupus --- kind of a natural progression. Hope this helps. Jenny

Hi Pmac,

If you do a google search for cple (chilblain pattern lupus ) or chilblain lupus there will be some info there. I was diagnosed with this after having a biopsy done. It is quite hard to treat as conventional treatments tend to not work as well with cple. Having said that, some forms of cple remain relatively minor. A lot stay as simply skin problems, some have joint probs too. It can progress to systemic lupus in some cases but once diagnosed they would do regular checks and spot any problems early. This is a pretty rare form of lupus, when i first joined i asked about it and no one had this form. Not sure if any new members have or not? If there are any specific questions about cple, symptoms,treatments etc please ask away.

Hi Pmac,
Most of the time the worry and not knowing is worse than anything else. I'm only 33 so I know exactly how you feel. But things are never as bad as they first seem. Hang in till you get the results of your biopsy. Take care x