Dear LPG,

It is quite warm at the moment and I would like to get our readers thinking about a condition that is usually forgotten until a little later in the year.  I know that my letter is more likely to be read by older people and I think that we are the section of the population that tend to be affected, but I can also remember a time when winters were colder and heating did not turn itself on automatically each morning.

Can anyone remember the mid to late 1960s when the heating came on after we got up and made a fire in the mornings; when getting up and going to the loo in the middle of the night was a truly chilling experience in the winter, and often meant having to find it located in the back garden of your home?  At that time I was still going to school and I remember leaving home and arriving there with seriously cold fingers and toes that took a considerable time to thaw. It would be the best part of an hour before I could feel what I was doing with a pen or what my feet were doing when I walked. 

The condition is called chilblains and we were always warned about rushing the reheating process by dangling our extremities in front of a fire.  But now that I find myself walking and using the bus more often it is happening all over again.

I used to find it debilitating when I was young and dread the prospect of living with it again in the years to come, but I have found two really comforting facts about it from the Internet, which I want to share with fellow sufferers…

1, Though really uncomfortable, chilblains in themselves cause minimal permanent damage to any part of the body

2, There are now many more ways to deal with the discomfort caused by the problem.

I hope that LPG will be able to share the information that I have found.

MR, Mottingham.

MR has shared some of the information and remedies that are offered online in a hope to help fellow sufferers learn more about the symptoms, causes and ways of improving this condition.

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