Woman's Feet Turn Yellow Due to High-level Stress Caused by a Debilitating Condition; Know All About Raynaud's Syndrome

A young woman’s feet have turned completely yellow, along with her suffering burning pain triggered by high stress due to a health condition.

According to doctors, 25-year-old Ellen Fitzgibbins from Manchester has to wear six pairs of socks at a time and gloves indoors to keep her symptoms at bay, as she suffers from Raynaud's disease, a condition that narrows blood vessels eventually stopping blood circulation and causing debilitating pain, numbness, and pins and needles. Experts say the symptoms of the condition can last from minutes to hours.

The syndrome can be activated by cold, anxiety, and stress but is also linked to underlying autoimmune conditions in some patients.

Ellen's symptoms sometimes get so severe that she is not able to even walk to her refrigerator to get food without wearing gloves. She has also given up playing her favourite sport—football—as the cold became too hard to cope with. Ellen says once the condition became so bad that her toe turned black due to poor circulation. “My earliest memories are of being very sensitive to the cold. [Now], if I am eating something [chilled], I won’t hold the bowl or container directly in my hands,” said Ellen, a fitness trainer.

“I will either wrap it in a tea towel or tissue or hold my hand in my sleeve. I wear multiple layers even indoors; it is normal for me to have three pairs of socks [or up to six] and two jumpers on at any given time,” she added.

After Raynaud’s diagnosis, Ellen had to battle other health conditions as well. She began suffering from severe reactions to gluten and was diagnosed with celiac disease as well. “I think that stress was the trigger for both my Raynaud’s and autoimmune conditions—the stress of exams and studying and working at the same time, whilst also being emotionally stressed,” she said.

According to her doctors, Ellen now has to be careful when it gets cold and when eating cold foods, and she follows a special diet due to Celiac disease.

Raynaud’s syndrome is a disorder that affects small blood vessels in your fingers and toes and also affects blood vessels in your nose, lips, or ear lobes. Raynaud causes you to have episodic spasms, called vasospastic attacks, in response to cold temperatures or stress.

According to experts, during a Raynaud’s attack, the arterioles and capillaries in your fingers and toes tighten more than they should. As a result, your skin in the affected area turns white and then blue. This colour change happens because your blood lacks oxygen. Your skin may also feel cold or numb.

As your blood vessels relax and open up again, your skin may look red or feel tingly. An attack usually lasts around 15 minutes.

Raynaud’s syndrome is an exaggerated version of a normal body process known as vasomotor response, which means your blood vessels open up and tighten to help your body respond to its environment.

If it is cold outside, blood vessels near your skin’s surface constrict to move blood to veins deeper in your body, allowing your body to conserve heat. Raynaud disrupts this normal body process and causes your blood vessels to constrict more than they should. This interrupts your normal blood flow and limits the oxygen available to your fingers or toes.

Colour changes

Feeling cold or numb

Feeling warmth, tingling, or throbbing pain

Skin ulcers and gangrene

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