Ellen’s condition has affected every aspect of her life
A woman has opened up about the painful reality of living with a condition that forces her to wear six pairs of socks just to keep her blood circulating. Ellen Fitzgibbins has Raynaud’s – a condition that has affected every aspect of her life, from her hobbies to eating.
Raynaud’s, a common condition, is triggered by cold temperatures, anxiety and stress. However, for some, it is also linked to underlying autoimmune disorders.
For 25-year-old Ellen, the symptoms can be so severe that she can’t even take food from the fridge without wearing gloves. Sadly, she has also had to give up her passion for playing football.
Diagnosed with Raynaud’s in 2019, her health challenges didn’t stop there. She later developed severe gluten intolerance and was diagnosed with coeliac disease, an autoimmune condition, in 2021..
“My earliest memories are of being very sensitive to the cold,” the fitness trainer, from Winchester, told NeedToKnow. “[Now], if I am eating something [chilled], I won’t hold the bowl or container directly in my hands. 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. Even everyday showering becomes overwhelming sometimes, as I will have an attack in the shower when the rest of my body is warmer, or as soon as I get out of the shower and become cold as soon as the water stops running.
Revealing she avoids using the heating due to financial concerns, she recalls when she first began noticing problems. It all started after moving into a cold student flat. She said: “It was an old three-story house with mold and damp.”
“I was on the third floor and the heating didn’t work on that floor. We [my housemates and I] became quite unsociable – we would take to staying in bed as opposed to getting out in the cold.
“My way of coping was to stand in very hot showers – but this also led to chill-blains [inflamed skin] as I couldn’t feel how hot the water was and how quickly my skin was heating up.”
During football matches, she said her condition became more evident. She said: “I would get a stinging sensation in my hands and feet. I always found the cold very hard to cope with but a lot of the time, I was told to get on with it and be braver.”
At one point, the condition flared up so bad that one of Ellen’s toes turned black with an infection and she rushed to the doctor for help. The digit went black from an infection and she rushed to the doctor for help. She said: “I got antibiotics to treat the infection – they knew it wasn’t deep enough to be permanently damaged and made me come back for a check-up to make sure it was healing.
“My blood pressure was very low so they [doctors] didn’t want to give me any medications that would affect that. It has never gone that colour again but there is a lot of scar tissue – it is the first toe to get infected or be painful during a flare-up.”
She added: “I think that stress was the trigger for both my Raynaud’s and autoimmune conditions – stress of exams and studying and working at the same time, whilst also being emotionally stressed.”
Although Ellen now has answers, her health conditions still impact her daily life. She needs to be cautious when consuming cold foods and adheres to a strict diet. Additionally, rising energy costs have added to her challenges with Raynaud’s, leaving her caught between managing her symptoms and cutting expenses.
For anyone who suspects that their aversion to the cold could be a more serious underlying condition, Ellen recommends taking the health charity SRUK’s online test. This will direct you to the appropriate support with her urging not to be afraid to ask for help.
