Autoimmune Adventures: My Multi-Colored Feet

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My feet are not the usual topic of my blog posts, but they have been doing something new and interesting lately.  Usually they stick to just being blue and cold from Raynaud's especially during the winter months.  Raynaud's syndrome often occurs secondary to other autoimmune diseases.  Fortunately, it is not something that creates real disruption in my life and I able to manage it without too much effort relative to my other autoimmune issues.

But it seems my feet decided that they needed some more attention from me and my doctors.  Recently, some of my toe joints on both feet have started to swell.  Along with the swelling they turn red and hot and can be painful to the touch.   Now my feet are a combination of red, white, and blue -- maybe it's their attempt to be patriotic. Just my luck, I had my rheumatology appointment two days before this symptom started. Again, my body being characteristically uncooperative.

I know joint swelling can occur with Sjogren's and other autoimmune connective tissue diseases. However, I have been told that with Sjogren's the swelling is in many cases on one side or unilateral and affects the larger joints.  My swelling is on my both feet and on the smaller toe joints.  I did have a regular follow-up with one of my other physicians this week and he is pretty positive this is a new part of my soup of autoimmune symptoms.  I have taken pictures of my colorful feet to email to my rheumatologist for his opinion. Though it does feel a little strange to be emailing pictures of my feet. This is another medical puzzle provided by yours truly for my rheumatologist to figure out.  I guess you could say I always like to keep my docs on their toes (pun intended).