dead-looking/belong in the morgue feet. So chic!
Cheshyre.Catt, I can relate to both of your pictures very much! I just took almost identical ones recently. My right foot also flares worst first, and then my feet do often look like this photo...I have Raynaud's too. But I get the morgue look mostly when I have been sitting or standing in one spot for too long. When I am cold it usually effects a few toes first and then spreads. but the morgue look just comes on so suddenly, and is an all foot thing right away. Is it like that for you?
I do notice it more when I am not moving around. That seems to be the "catch 22". It's vasoconstriction (hope I spelled that right) when I am not moving. The cold often causes pain, just not to the degree that the heat does. The vasodilation is what has me in tears sometimes. In fact, I have seen my toes go red (amazingly) when I am outside in cold whether - especially if it's damp. This is something my husband still seems to struggle with: the fact that gallon zip-loc bags of ice often don't make a difference when I'm burning, and trying to warm me up when I look like Misery (off of Ruby Gloom) only triggers the burn to begin.
Out of curiosity, do your feet get really dry, rough skin that cracks/splits and then bleeds?
My theory is that is is the cycling back and forth (between the red, hot, swollen feet & the bluish-purple, icicle cold feet) that causes the skin to stretch, WANT to shed, but never sheds because its contracting and cold and dry and seeking moisture before it gets a chance to adjust. Think of how a chipped windshield will almost instantly develop a crack in it once temperatures outside get so high that the inside of the vehicle is an "oven" when you open the door to get in.
I have a happy thought though: I was in a bad car accident a week ago (2/21) where a little Mitsubishi Galant flipped my Ford Expedition EL. I have not had a really bad episode of burning since. Which is wonderful, but weird, because stress and insomnia often play the role of double agents in this mystery. They cause flares and are results of flares. :P