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Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
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Lifestyle and home remedies
By Mayo Clinic staff
Keep warm
To reduce Raynaud's symptoms, wear gloves or mittens outdoors when the weather is cool and indoors when you reach into the freezer. To maintain your body's core temperature, dress in layers and wear a hat or scarf, thermal socks, and well-fitting boots or shoes that don't cut off your circulation.
Don't smoke
If you smoke, talk to your doctor about the best ways to quit. Nicotine constricts your blood vessels, making Raynaud's phenomenon worse.
Change eating habits
If you have difficulty swallowing, choose soft, moist foods and chew them well. To minimize acid reflux:
- Eat small, frequent meals
- Avoid spicy or fatty foods, chocolate, caffeine and alcohol
- Don't exercise immediately before or after eating
- Sit upright for two or three hours after a meal
Protect your skin
Excess collagen destroys sweat and oil glands, leaving your skin stiff and dry. To help soften your skin:
- Avoid harsh soaps and detergents. Instead choose cleansing creams or gentle skin cleansers and bath or shower gels with added moisturizers.
- Reduce bathing frequency. Bathe just once a day or every other day, and take short baths and showers, using warm rather than hot water. Less is more when it comes to washing your face, too.
- Moisturize. Apply a rich oil-based moisturizer immediately after washing your hands or bathing, while your skin is still damp.
- Apply sunscreen. To prevent any further damage to your skin, apply sunscreen before you go outside.
- Use a humidifier. Increase moisture levels in your home by using a humidifier.
Practice good oral hygiene
Be sure to have regular checkups and use any special rinses or toothpastes your dentist recommends. If your mouth is chronically dry, try drinking more water and sucking on ice chips or hard, sugarless candy. When these measures fail, your dentist may prescribe a medication to stimulate the flow of saliva.
- Handout on health: Scleroderma. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases. http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Scleroderma/default.asp. Accessed March 18, 2009.
- Steen VD. The many faces of scleroderma. Rheumatic Disease Clinics of North America. 2008;34:1.
- Wigley FM. Scleroderma. In: Goldman L, et al. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/126871837-5/818551240/1492/1032.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2805-5..50293-7--cesec9_13002. Accessed March 19, 2009.
- Raynaud's phenomenon. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Raynauds_Phenomenon/default.asp. Accessed March 18, 2009.
- Interstitial lung disease and pulmonary fibrosis. American Lung Association. http://www.lungusa.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=2060161&content_id={4350F20F-98E4-403B-A33B-68B20A3C2FBA}¬oc=1. Accessed March 19, 2009.
- Pulmonary hypertension. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/pah/pah_what.html. Accessed March 19, 2009.
- Denton CP. Overview of the treatment and prognosis of systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 20, 2009.
