Help us

I am so sorry to hear that your husband has this difficult and extremely painful condition. I don't have Buerger's, but another vascular disease--cryoglobulinema and other painful conditions. 

I read up on Beurgers, and I found the best info from Wikipedia and mayo clinic. My best advice is to see a pain management specialist in addition to the cardiologist. There are things he can do an pain medication is warranted. My husband died of lung cancer, and the oncologist did almost nothing for his pain. So I took him to a pain doctor, and it made all the difference. In addition to morphine, he knew that the best pain killer for cancer in the bones is simply Motrin! The look of relief on his face was priceless. I wish you the best of luck. Stay determined and educate yourself as much as possible. That is what has helped me.

​=12.0ptHi, first of all, I sympathize you and your husband for this bad time. Unfortunately there is no cure for this disease. Medicines don’t usually work well to treat the disease. The best they can do is to control the symptoms. Nifedipine, a calcium channel blocker, may help to improve blood flow for some period to improve numbness. However, there is only one treatment for Buerger’s disease — immediate and complete cessation of smoking and other tobacco use. People with this disease who continue to smoke, predispose themselves to the risk amputation.=12.0pt 

I was diagnosed with Buergers in Feb.2014. My symptoms started in Sept. 2013. It has been nothing but hell for me. Doctors dont know, or have not ever seen this disease, so it is one doc after another. I am on morphine, long and short acting, hydromorph for in between doses, lyrica, crestor, fluoxitine, low dose asa,and was on Cialis at one point. Your husband is right there is no amounts of drugs to take away the pain. My fingers (3) of them turned black/gangrene right in forint of my eyes. Scariest thing i have went threw. So after many drugs, doctors, and the latest is a surgery called"arterialization of the venus hand". It is basically a bypass in the hand. I have warmth again now, but the one bad finger i believe might have to be partially amputated. I feel like I am  all over the place with my story....Sadly i get excited when I meet someone with this hellish disease. You can add me on facebook if you like and then you can see my pictures of my fingers. My feet were also effected, no gangrene though. I really look forward to talking to you. Let me know if you would like to continue to share our stories. Best wishes. Oh, the cialis and the morphine and lyrica i feel is what has helped to some degree. The surgery also was helpful, I suggest you google it. I look forward to hearing back from you. BTW, I am a 47 year old,, half a pack to pack a day smoker when this happened.

I will add you on facebook, i need your user name though. PM me. ok

Click on my name and it will take you to private message ok

You are all wonderful and Thank you for the replies....we have been scared to death....he is going thru this pain, and I am feeling beyond helpless....it is hard to watch someone you love hurting and suffering...it feels like we can not find a doctor that even understands or comprehends or cares about the pain he is in....I Pray for every single one of you...God Bless

I was diagnosed with Buergers Disease in 2012. My fingers were all blue and I mean blue. When I called my doctor, she thought I was exaggerating until she saw me. I was in a great deal of pain and it seemed nothing could help it. I started getting black streaks under my fingernails from broken capillaries and the pain got worse. After I was diagnosed, I was put on nifedipine. A couple days later I found out I am allergic to that so I was put on amlodipine. The recommended dosage is 10 mg per day but due to my already lower blood pressure, I have only been able to get to 7.5 mg per day. I was told that if this did not help, I may need to try cialis. The amlodipine gradually helped and today I am pain free and my fingers are back to their normal color as long as they stay warm. If he is having a lot of pain, I found soaking my hands in warm water, not hot, helped with circulation which is why he feels pain. I forgot to mention this also affects my toes. This is from blood clots in the wrists and ankles. In the beginning I felt like this was going to disrupt my life but now that I have it managed it hardly interferes. I don't know if you travel by plane but I have noticed a little discomfort after traveling. May be high elevation but I'm not positive and it is not unbearable.