{"id":890986,"date":"2026-10-22T17:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T17:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/890986\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T17:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T17:22:15","slug":"why-women-are-turning-to-viagra-for-cold-hands-and-raynauds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/890986\/","title":{"rendered":"Why women are turning to Viagra for cold hands and Raynaud’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

For almost 30 years, the \u201clittle blue pill\u201d has helped men perform in the bedroom.<\/p>\n

However, this medication is only approved for men, and despite<\/a> recent<\/a> innovations<\/a>, there\u2019s still no equivalent alternative on the market for the opposite sex.<\/p>\n

But in a twist of fate, Viagra \u2014 medically known as sildenafil \u2014 has an interesting emerging use for a condition that occurs more frequently in women.<\/p>\n

\"AViagra has an emerging use for a condition that affects far more women than men. Pratiwi \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Chronic or extreme coldness in your extremities can be a sign of poor circulation, an occurrence that affects far more women<\/a> than men.<\/p>\n

In more severe cases, this drops beyond discomfort into Raynaud\u2019s<\/a> syndrome, a generally harmless condition causing numbness, a prickling, stinging pain and even noticeable skin color changes.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the \u201clittle blue pill\u201d can provide relief from cold-weather pain.<\/p>\n

An unexpected remedy<\/p>\n

When the weather chills, the body tries to keep its core temperature high. It constricts blood vessels near the skin first, then in extremities, to direct blood flow to vital organs like the heart and brain.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s partly why frostbite strikes your fingers and toes first. They\u2019re the farthest from your body\u2019s core.<\/p>\n

People with Raynaud\u2019s have an extreme reaction to the cold that clamps blood flow to their extremities. This vascular spasm<\/a> turns the skin white from a lack of blood, or blue as oxygen levels drop.<\/p>\n

Those with Raynaud\u2019s are particularly sensitive to cold weather, but attacks can happen throughout the year.<\/p>\n

\"APeople with Raynaud\u2019s have an extreme reaction to the cold that clamps blood flow to their extremities. LoloStock \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, when you come out of a heated pool, walk into an air-conditioned building, or reach into the freezer section at the supermarket,\u201d rheumatologist Dr. Robert H. Shmerling told Harvard Health<\/a>. \u201cEven slight changes in air temperature can trigger an episode.\u201d<\/p>\n

This disproportionately affects women<\/a> as they naturally have more fat than men, which further restricts blood flow. And because women are typically smaller, they lose heat faster.<\/p>\n

Remember that for men, Viagra works by pumping blood to their penis, making erections easier. For those with pain in the cold, the drug works the same way \u2014 just getting blood to flow to another part of the body.<\/p>\n

A blogger with Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s disease shared<\/a> how Viagra has been a game changer, helping treat the freezing-cold fingers caused by Raynaud\u2019s, which is linked to her autoimmune disorder.<\/p>\n

Additionally, several Reddit users have credited<\/a> Viagra for alleviating their chilly symptoms.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been on it for a couple of years and it\u2019s been very effective at reducing both the frequency and severity of attacks,\u201d wrote<\/a> one. \u201cI still suffer, but now it tends to be more isolated to particularly extreme situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not a first-line treatment<\/p>\n

Cold fingers and Raynaud\u2019s attacks usually resolve on their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is reversible upon warming up,\u201d Dr. Anca Askanase<\/a>, a rheumatologist at Columbia University Medical Center, told The Post in a previous story.<\/p>\n

To prevent an episode, minimize exposure to the cold. If your fingers turn numb, run warm water over them \u2014 but don\u2019t go too hot, which can cause burning. \u201cWhen [an attack] is prolonged, it can cause sores and tissue loss and, rarely, finger gangrene,\u201d Askanase said.<\/p>\n

Viagra is a tightly controlled drug, and the Food and Drug Administration has disciplined illegal gas station knockoffs<\/a> for using sildenafil in products like \u201cBoner Bears<\/a>.\u201d They warn the drug should be used under the supervision of a doctor, because it can interact with other medications and can cause dangerously low blood pressure.<\/p>\n

But getting Viagra from a doctor can be tricky: Sildenafil is only FDA-approved for erectile dysfunction and constricted blood vessels in the lungs (pulmonary arterial hypertension).<\/p>\n

All other uses, including for Raynaud\u2019s and cold fingers and toes, would be an \u201coff-label\u201d use, which doctors can legally prescribe at their medical discretion.<\/p>\n

One study <\/a>showed sildenafil was highly effective for Raynaud\u2019s, lowering the frequency of attacks and shortening their duration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For almost 30 years, the \u201clittle blue pill\u201d has helped men perform in the bedroom. However, this medication…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":890987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[4528,97,686,156113,2986,19818],"class_list":["post-890986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-womens-health","tag-health","tag-medicine","tag-viagra","tag-weather","tag-winter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}