Sudden transitions from warm to cold stun their circulatory systems; their blood retreats to their core, abandoning fingers and toes, which promptly swell, go numb, and turn an alarming zombie-ish blue.
Although Raynaud's is associated with serious conditions such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and scleroderma, "in 90 percent of cases, it's benign," Gourley says.
Benign in the sense that no extremities fall off at the bus stop.
The syndrome, Gourley says, was identified in 1862. "Maurice Raynaud, a medical student in France, watched people get on the trolley and noticed women's fingers turning color."
A few studies are under way into therapeutic treatments, including one by the drug company Pfizer. Don't get your hopes up.
"Everything under the sun has been tried," says James Edwards, a vascular surgeon and Raynaud's expert in Portland, Ore. "Nothing works."
The afflicted, who are otherwise healthy, can't do much except wear mittens and warm boots.
This is cold comfort to women in Florida who shiver at the prospect of reaching into the freezer case at the Piggly Wiggly for a pint of Edy's. Or college students in Boston, afraid to remove their socks for fear of starting rumors about the Black Plague.
Winter's more serious health threat is hypothermia. And not just for the homeless huddled on steam vents. The NIH warns that the elderly can become dangerously chilled in homes that feel moderately cool, between 60 and 65 degrees.
Only on the brink of spring could any politician justify the cutbacks in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) outlined in this week's budget proposal - a drastic reduction from $5.1 billion to $2.5 billion for fiscal 2012.
So much for the adage: Cold hands, warm heart.
