Ellen discovered she had Raynaud’s during university when exam stress triggered Raynaud’s attacks and worsening symptoms. She has had to work on her mindset, to try and keep her body from attacking itself.
I didn’t feel very supported by my doctor at the time of my diagnosis, and I felt really alone. I didn’t know anyone else who had Raynaud’s, so no one else understood how bad it was and also how painful.
Ellen had symptoms of Raynaud’s ever since her childhood, but she never knew what it was. She was eventually diagnosed in 2019, when she was at university when symptoms had become much worse. She was living in a student house that would often get very cold; and she had reached the point where eight of her ten toes were severely affected, the skin was split, and they were also quite swollen. One of her toes was especially bad and had turned black.
Ellen was wearing six pairs of socks, and it had gotten to the point where she had to wear gloves just to go to the fridge, so she just knew that this wasn’t normal. She was also having a lot of frequent and severe Raynaud’s attacks. She was shocked at the diagnosis because she did not think Raynaud’s was possible in young people.
Her Raynaud’s is very much triggered by stress, and so things got difficult at university when she was taking exams. Later she was also diagnosed with coeliac disease, and then she really felt that her body was working against her.
She is a competitive powerlifter, and Raynaud’s impacts upon her training because she often can’t feel her toes, and sometimes she couldn’t even grip the dumbbell. She says:
I always find it hardest in the winter, especially around January and February, and I sometimes feel I have to put my life on hold and adapt my training, so I don’t compete in those months either. I feel strongly that if the doctors can’t help me, then I need to take some responsibility for my own health.