How severe is she? Does she have any other health problems that will cause her stress? As you know, the more stressed out she is, the more it may flare up.Usally Raynaud's is more a PITA than serious- again it depends on if there are other problems. How long was she in Texas? Was she in air-conditioned buildings(where she could not control the temp of the building, as she can at home) for long periods of time? Or was she more at home, where she could control the inside temp? Usually the air conditioning is pretty cool in bigger buildings. One place she will have to eal with air conditioning, the other will be cold outside. Chicago isn't cold all year, though. How much stress will it be in either place? Where does SHE want to be? If she wants to be in Chicago, and she is sent to Texas, that is a stress. Which school has the best history? Which school might an employer be more impressed with? Which school will be easier for her to manage her classes? Can she take a couple classes at a time at one, so that when she is full blown into her area of study her load won't be so heavy. She should now be at the age that it is her decision, no matter how hard you want to protect her. She should know what she can handle, what stresses her (I'm not saying YOU are a stress, but maybe she wants to get away... on her own). In todays world, the university may make or break her career. Let her decide. If it is the wrong decision, she can always move. We women can always change our minds... Hope she enjoys college- it is a great time in her life!

Alisande, I never heard of the connection either. How it happened is for years I have had c-spine injury and was seeing multiple specialists trying to find one that would do the surgery on c2 and more. One surgeon wanted me to do the carpal tunnel surgery first to see if it would ease some of my numb arm problems, he also told me he thought it would help my pain by 80 percent and may even help my Raynauds by allowing proper circulation to flow...it sure did. I had it done on my left hand planning to do the right one day, but it helped so much I left it alone. 2years later I did find a surgeon to work on my spine...I feel wonderful now. I had my c-spine surgery almost a year ago.

I don't know if this is significant or not, but when I was a child (under nine, because my mom was still alive) I was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid. I'd say that could be very significant since a lot of the time all these health problems tend to be seen together. The current test for thyroid disease, the TSH isn't really a very good indicator of thyroid function.. but that's what most doctors go by. I'd suggest having your doctor run the thyroid antibody tests too. I went to doctor after doctor for over 10 years to finally get one to run the right tests. ALL my other blood tests were normal, but the antibody tests were way off indicating autoimmune Hashimoto's Disease. Good luck!

Lovemrm- There may not be a whole lot of info to explore. My knowledge is some out of date but in ’87 I was recovering in an ER and discussed Raynaud’s with a doc who said there wasn’t that much known about it because it wasn’t all that widespread or important a problem. In other words other problems were more pressing and I suppose more lucrative for researchers. It may be interesting; I had been in a boating fiasco and was in/out/in the water and by the time I got to the ER I was at the point of uncontrollable shaking. Inevitable body cooling was the next step. I missed that one :-). Anyway during all that my fingers were alternatively white and red and white and red. So it would seem the problem was coming and going regardless of my body core temperature. I don’t care what the docs say my experience has convinced me it is not the body core temp or even the ambient temp that controls (initiates or prevents) the events but the body activity level. Many times during the course of that affliction I worked outside bare handed in cold weather with no problem after a vigorous exercise session. It’s a simple experiment to try and costs nothing.