'My cold fingers were caused by a disease'
About 15 years ago, Tim Holt-Wilson noticed a "gradual degeneration" in the warmth of his fingers.
The 66-year-old, who lives near Eye, in Suffolk, had already been diagnosed with the autoimmune condition Scleroderma - which caused stiff skin and inflammation - but he noticed how cold his fingers became.
It turned out to be secondary Raynaud's disease - a condition that affected extremities such as the hands or feet during cold temperatures.
Mr Holt-Wilson has found ways to cope with his conditions and shared his experience for February's Raynaud's Awareness Month.
"I hadn't heard of Scleroderma before then, but I think I had heard of Raynaud's before... but I never thought that was on the path of my life," Mr Holt-Wilson explained.
"It's like with all these illnesses you never think when you're younger, 'Oh, that is the trajectory of my existence, that's going to frame my life'.
"You just reformulate yourself."
According to charity Scleroderma & Raynaud's UK (SRUK), Raynaud's is a common condition that affects up to 10 million people in the UK.
When someone with Raynaud's is exposed to the cold, blood vessels in their extremities constrict far more than someone without the disease.
This may result in the skin changing colour from white to blue, and then to red, which could be painful, especially when the blood vessels return to normal and circulation was restored.
Primary Raynaud's is the milder and most common form of the disease.
Secondary Raynaud's, however, is caused by an autoimmune condition and often needs careful monitoring for complications like ulcers or sores.
Speaking about triggers, Mr Holt-Wilson explained: "It can happen, for example, in the supermarket when you go near a [freezer], you can feel it in your whole body.
"Or when you're holding your [car] steering wheel.
"But I've had cold fingers for a lot of my life, but never really figured it was part of this scleroderma syndrome.
"I think anybody who suffers from this has got their own techniques for dealing with it."
Mr Holt-Wilson explained his Scleroderma meant he lost the effective use of four of his fingers, which have twisted around at right angles to his palm.
To manage his Raynaud's, he kept his core temperature and his wrists and hands warm.
"Even in summertime, I sometimes wear mittens or particularly wrist warmers," he added.
"They are very helpful because they keep the tendons warm on the back of the hand."
Mr Holt-Wilson is also able to take a drug called Sildenafil that relaxes the blood vessels and increases blood flow.
He described it as a "miracle" for when he undertook geological work outside.
For Raynaud's Awareness Month, SRUK is urging the public to take a 60-second online test to find out if they have Raynaud's.
"It helps the SRUK get a picture of prevalence of this illness out in the public and it helps research," Mr Holt-Wilson continued.
"They're the only UK charity dedicated to helping sufferers so they increase awareness and understanding, and hopefully contribute to research and cures."
SRUK originally aimed to reach 10,000 people with the test, but more than 31,000 people have taken it since the campaign launched last November.
The charity hoped the test would become the largest citizen science project of its kind into Raynaud's.
Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Man's double hand transplant is 'space-age stuff'
'I used to be scared looking in the mirror'
'I can feel my body turning to stone'
Scleroderma & Raynaud's UK
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Locals walk to find cure for rare autoimmune disease
BOARDMAN, Ohio (WKBN) — Locals took a step toward finding a cure for a rare autoimmune disease on Saturday. About 150 people took part in the 22nd annual Stepping Out to Cure Scleroderma Walk at Boardman Park. The walk is hosted by the Lower Great Lakes Chapter of the National Scleroderma Foundation. It's the chapter's biggest event of the year to raise money and awareness for the disease. 'It's a rare autoimmune disease, and there are many different cases and journeys. Everyone's journey is different, and what it does — there's two different cases. It can attack the internal organs and also your skin as well,' said Dionna Bartos, executive director for the Lower Great Lakes Chapter of the National Scleroderma Foundation. The money raised through the walk will go to advance medical research, promote awareness of scleroderma and provide support for patients and their families. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Eating this popular fruit daily may support postmenopausal heart and metabolic health
Eating fresh mango every day may help to boost women's postmenopausal heart and metabolic health, researchers said Tuesday. They found that eating about 1.5 cups of the sweet fruit a day for two weeks significantly reduced blood pressure and cholesterol among postmenopausal women living with obesity. Both blood pressure and cholesterol are key indicators of heart health. 'Risk factors like high blood pressure and unhealthy cholesterol are key contributors to cardiovascular disease, but a nutrient-rich diet that includes fresh fruit, like mango, has long been shown to help reduce those risks,' Dr. Roberta Holt, an associate researcher at UC Davis, said in a statement. 'This study shows that even short-term changes — like eating fresh mangos daily — can make a measurable impact on chronic disease risk in certain populations.' Holt was a co-author of the research which was published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Nutrition Association. The study was supported through an unrestricted grant from the National Mango Board, although the board had no influence over the study. To reach these conclusions, they examined the health of 24 women between the ages of 50 to 70 years old who were overweight or obese. Before the study period, the authors instructed them to refrain from eating mangos. Over two weeks, the researchers collected baseline measurements, measurements when consumption began during a second visit to their lab, and then more measurements at the third visit. The women ate mangos in the mornings and the evenings. Two hours after consumption, their resting blood pressure dropped and there was a reduction in average arterial pressure. After consuming mangos every day for two weeks, their total cholesterol was slashed by nearly 13 points and their bad cholesterol dropped by the same amount. A smaller follow-up with just six participants from the initial study examined insulin and sugar levels after eating the same amount of mango with 83 grams of white bread. The researchers found the women's blood sugar levels rose significantly less after eating mango than after eating white bread. Insulin levels also responded more favorably to mango. Although mangos are high in natural sugar compared to other fruits, they also provide crucial vitamins and other nutrients. Additional research is needed to determine the effects of mango consumption of heart and metabolic health, but the benefits could aid the 1.3 million U.S. women undergoing menopause: a period when the risk of heart disease rises significantly. Women spend up to 40 percent of their lives in this life stage, and nearly half of American women are affected by cardiovascular disease. 'Post-menopausal women face distinct metabolic changes that can impact their risk of developing cardiovascular disease,' said Holt. 'These findings help to identify targeted dietary strategies, like eating fresh mangos daily, to aid this at-risk population and support cardiovascular wellness and potential reductions in chronic disease risk.'
Forbes
4 days ago
- Forbes
Funding women's health innovations is a massive economic opportunity.
Women's health now includes conditions that affect them exclusively, differently and ... More disproportionately. That includes everything from endometriosis and menopause to heart disease and Alzheimer's. Unprecedented advances in medical science mean women live longer, yet they die in poorer health than men. The reasons are structural and systemic. The health system continues to be shaped by outdated definitions, insufficient research, and lopsided funding, according to the recently released Accenture and Springboard Enterprises' 2025 State of Women's Health report. What is needed now is not just more lip service, but a realignment of investment priorities—private, public, and philanthropic—that recognizes the full spectrum of women's health. 'Women's health is still vastly misunderstood,' says Alice Zheng, MD, MBA, and a partner at Foreground Capital, a venture fund focused on women's health. 'There's opportunity in almost every place you look.' NIH funding and VC investments In 2024, healthtech startups raised $28.5 billion in venture capital. Of that, just $1.6 billion went to femtech, products and services focused on women's health. That's about 6% of the pie. Meanwhile, of the $43.7 billion in research grants distributed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2023, only $3.5 billion—8%—was directed toward women's health. These gaps persist despite women comprising more than half of the U.S. population and 51% of medical school graduates. 'It all starts with awareness and funding,' says Alisa Wilson, managing director at Accenture. 'We need to stop tackling this piecemeal and instead take a holistic approach across the entire ecosystem—academia, biotech, pharma, providers, and investors.' Wilson stresses that funding isn't just about early-stage startups: It's the fuel that powers the entire pipeline from preclinical research through commercialization. Zheng agrees. 'You need funding at every step—academic research, company formation, clinical validation, and market access. If the capital doesn't flow at each of those stages, innovation stalls.' At the root of the underinvestment problem is a lingering misconception that women's health is synonymous with reproductive health. While areas like fertility, contraception, and menopause have received more attention in recent years, conditions that affect women differently or disproportionately—such as autoimmune disease, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive decline—are even more underfunded and under-researched. A study found that women make up 78% of autoimmune disease patients, yet most immunology research still centers on male biology. In cardiovascular research, women account for just 38% of participants in clinical trials, even though heart disease is the leading cause of death for women globally, more than all cancers combined. 'There's still this assumption that we can just extrapolate from male data,' says Wilson. 'But women have 51% more adverse events across all products, likely because dosing, efficacy, and safety haven't been adequately studied by sex. That's a business problem as much as a health one.' The irony is that addressing the women's health gap isn't just a social imperative—it's a massive economic opportunity. A McKinsey report estimated that closing the women's health gap could add $1 trillion to the global economy by 2040 through increased productivity, reduced healthcare costs, and better health outcomes. 'This is a long game,' says Wilson. 'Better data and earlier intervention can improve therapy adherence, reduce hospitalizations, and ultimately lower costs. For pharma, that means more patients staying on treatment longer. For insurers, it's fewer high-cost emergencies. Everyone wins.' The private market is starting to take notice. At Springboard Enterprises, which accelerates the success of women-led health companies, menopause has become one of the fastest-growing areas of deal flow. Investment in women's health-specific conditions tripled between 2019 and 2024. Funding for health conditions adjacent to women's health grew even more. 'We're also seeing interest grow in cardiovascular and autoimmune conditions, as investors recognize how deeply women are affected,' says Miranda Ewald, director of programs at Springboard. Yet significant white space remains. Zheng highlights cognitive health and postmenopausal aging as two critical areas where funding is urgently needed. 'There's an entire spectrum of women's health issues tied to hormonal changes—brain health, bone density, cardiovascular risks—but they've been largely ignored by research and investment communities.' Even when founders tackle these high-need areas, they face challenges in positioning their companies effectively. For years, women's health startups had to shoehorn their solutions into the narrow definitions of femtech or reproductive care to get investor attention. That's changing. 'We're starting to see a shift away from fertility as the dominant narrative,' says Ewald. 'In fact, many investors are now more interested in startups that have broader applications, like bone health technologies that started with women but can scale to serve all populations.' Still, the term 'women's health' itself remains a double-edged sword. 'Ironically, some generalist investors told us they're more likely to invest if a company doesn't brand itself as a women's health company—even if it clearly is,' says Zheng. 'That's how deep the bias runs.' Accenture and Springboard's framework aims to broaden the scope. Instead of viewing women's health as a niche, the report categorizes conditions into three buckets: those that are exclusive to women, differently experienced by women, and disproportionately affect women. That includes everything from endometriosis and menopause to heart disease and Alzheimer's. Accelerating innovation in women's health unlocks economic and health gains that benefit everyone—not just women. This broader lens reframes women's health as a systemic public health issue—one that affects not only women but also their families, workplaces, and economies. 'We need to stop asking why women's health matters,' says Wilson. 'The better question is, how much longer can we afford to ignore it?' It's time for funders—public, private, and philanthropic—to realign their priorities. The evidence is clear: women's health is not just about reproduction, and it's not just a women's issue. It's a societal one. Closing the funding gap could unlock better care, stronger economies, and longer, healthier lives for everyone. If we redefine women's health, we can shape a better healthier future for everyone.
