Hucky,
I am sorry to say that I've talked to several people in the past few weeks about circulatory issues (both pre and post-op) that have been diagnosed with either mild or severe Raynaud's syndrome. It's a bit of a "garbage can" diagnosis, in that it is not terribly actionable.
I've researched this carefully throughout the last four years. We should talk soon, I'll set up a Skype account if that helps...
In the meantime, do you have recent blood tests? I recommend to patients that they get FULL copies of all their blood tests. Why? Even though the PCP may indicate that the results are OK, many outliers in results can sometimes be seen. Still further, the lab ranges for specific blood components vary from lab to lab. So one "acceptable" range may not be for another lab. If that's not enough, the lab testing eqpt. and technician methodologies vary as well.
Recently, I (orally) reviewed some blood results with three different patients that had "satisfactory" blood results. Among two of the three, these were common elements between the two reports that were interesting to me as a researcher:
- low ESR and INR (possibly indicating "viscous" blood, contributing to circulation problems)
- CRP normal
- citrulline antibodies high
- parvovirus positive
- mycoplasma pneumonia positive
- low immunoglobulins (oversimplified, there are several tested)
There's a lot more to this complex issue, but the take-away is to search for a good doctor that is well-versed in hematology. Some patients with complex syndromes are benefiting by getting "modern" diagnostics like dark field microscopy to closely examine the blood for things overlooked by many docs.
This is just my opinion, but I've seen many patients find elusive answers by looking deeper. Let me know if I can help by talking or sending more authoritative documentation on this neglected subject.
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