Side effects of Raynauds disease treatments don't include explosions


When I think of nitroglycerin, I'm thinking of explosions, and Bruce Willis's yippee-ki-aye, and Robert Duvall loving the smell of napalm in the morning. Not Raynaud's disease so much, even if I do work for a personal injury claim company where I ought to.

But it turns out that there's a 'topical nitroglycerin gel' for VWF in clinical tests in America at the moment, meaning that there may be other uses. It seems that you get to rub the gel into the hands and there's very little chance of the hands actually exploding; that would be worse than the vibration white finger itself is.

It also seems to have potential side effects that could include long-term headaches and skin irritation, and people with anaemia or skin sores may not be able to use it.

Raynaud's disease seems to be a condition whose medication has more than its share of unpleasant side effects - even if the exploding hands aren't true. (Some sufferers, though, in the vibration white finger cases I've read about here seem to describe the return of the blood to the chilled fingers as a rush of painful expansion, which isn't a million miles away from an explosion.)

One treatment that's been mentioned in the VWF forums online is digital drilling. While this sounds like a higher-tech version of the construction activity that may have caused the hand-arm vibration syndrome in the first place, it is actually related to the other meaning of digital - related to fingers.

Calcinosis, the process of calcium forming in the flesh, has been related to Raynaud's and scleroderma; in fact, the Raynaud's and Scleroderma Association, along with the University of Southampton, made a film about the process in the 1990s. I understand the CGI budget for explosions was non-existent, as it's a training film.

In this process, a dental drill is used to excavate the painful calcium deposits; it's bad enough hearing that drill without having to see it working!

Even nifedipine, the usual drug of choice for treating Raynaud's disease, is not without side-effects, including acne and weight gain on the less significant side, and heart palpitations on the other. Perhaps it's the exposure to these side effects, as well as to the industrial disease itself, that means vibration white finger sufferers deserve to make the compensation claims we work on here.

Can I claim?