At its worst my fingers
are as white as bones

Marketing consultant Jo Wright first noticed Raynaud's symptoms during winter horse rides. "Even when wearing gloves, my fingers would be white to the knuckle"
says Jo, 27.

"I had difficulty gripping the reins and it made no difference if I wore an extra pair of gloves. My toes were the same. It would start every November, as soon as the weather got damp and cold.  I found it really difficult to get warm again and also noticed a tingling sensation in my fingers, like pins and needles."

Jo, who was diagnosed with Raynaud's when she was 14, found that her condition prevented her sleeping properly.

"I would go to bed fully clothed but still wake up in the night, freezing. I tried taking supplements to help my circulation but they didn't seem to make any difference," she says.

Last year, she suffered particularly badly when she moved into her current flat in Soho, London, during a cold snap. "It's an old building with no central heating" Says Jo. "I have oil radiators now but at first I just had a fan heater. I work from home quite often and found that my fingers were so bad that I was struggling to type or even put on make-up because I had no sensation in them. Holding a pen can also be a problem. At its worst my fingers are so white they look like bones."

This winter, Jo tried new solutions. She gave up smoking, which can cause poor circulation, and began using heat reflecting socks and a natural remedy called Patch-It, which contains wood vinegar and is claimed to improve circulation because it has a warming effect on the skin. Wood vinegar has been used in the Far East for centuries for circulation problems.

"I wear the socks during the day and patches on my feet at night" says Jo. "I've definitely noticed an improvement during the night, I feel much warmer."