The below treatments help improve circulation and your Raynaud’s attacks should improve, or the length between attacks should improve. This sort of medication can also treat and help to prevent skin ulcers on your fingers and toes know as digital ulcers.
Some drugs can take up to three weeks to take full effect and may not need to be taken permanently. It is quite common for them to be taken only periodically, or according to when these drugs are likely to benefit you most e.g. during winter, if you have a trip to a cold destination, or find yourself in a stressful situation. However, they are all safe to be taken permanently.
You may have to try several until you find the one that works best for you. Side effects may include headaches, dizziness, flushing or low blood pressure. To try and avoid side effects, it is recommended to start on a lower dose for a few days and go up to the full dose gradually.
Calcium channel blockers
If your symptoms fail to improve, you may be prescribed nifedipine. This is the only medicine licensed to treat Raynaud’s phenomenon in the UK. It doesn’t cure Raynaud’s, but can help to relieve the symptoms.
Nifedipine is a calcium channel blocker. It works by affecting the movement of calcium into the cells of the heart and blood vessels. As a result, nifedipine relaxes blood vessels and increases the supply of blood and oxygen to the heart while reducing its workload. This medicine is available only with your doctor’s prescription.
Nifedipine can also be used alone or together with other medicines to treat severe chest pain (angina) or high blood pressure (hypertension).
Diltiazem can be used to treat Raynaud’s. It works by causing some of your blood vessels to relax and widen. This lowers your blood pressure. It also reduces the force and the rate of your heartbeat.
Iloprost is a prostaglandin, a medicine used to treat high blood pressure (hypertension) and other diseases where blood vessels are constricted. Prostaglandins work by relaxing your artery wall muscles. This widens your arteries and reduces your blood pressure.
Iloprost is a man-made form of a substance called prostacyclin which is produced naturally in the body and improves blood flow in people with severe circulatory problems by reducing clumping of the red cells in the blood, which reduces the tendency of the blood to clot helping to prevent or repair damage to blood vessels.
Vasodilators
Sildenafil belongs to a group of medicines called phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitors or Viagra. These medicines prevent an enzyme in the body called phosphodiesterase type-5 from working too quickly and relaxes blood vessels, increasing the supply of blood to the body and lungs and reduces the workload of the heart.
It can be used in both men and women to treat the symptoms of Raynaud’s and pulmonary arterial hypertension.
This medicine is available only with your doctor’s prescription.
An angiotensin receptor blocker (Cozaar). Can be taken as tablets and oral liquid suspension.
Losartan is an angiotensin receptor blocker. It is also called an angiotensin-II receptor antagonist, or an AIIRA.