Scleroderma: Causes, Treatments, and Medications That Help

When your body’s immune system turns on itself, it can start making too much collagen — a protein that normally keeps skin strong. In scleroderma, a rare autoimmune disease that causes skin and connective tissue to harden and tighten. Also known as systemic sclerosis, it can affect just the skin or spread to blood vessels, lungs, kidneys, and the digestive tract. This isn’t just about stiff fingers or shiny patches on the skin. For some, it’s a life-changing condition that makes swallowing hard, breathing difficult, or blood pressure spike without warning.

Scleroderma doesn’t have a cure, but it can be managed. Immunosuppressants, drugs that calm down the overactive immune system like methotrexate or mycophenolate are often used to slow down tissue damage. For those with lung involvement, endothelin receptor antagonists, medications that relax blood vessels and reduce pressure in the lungs like bosentan or macitentan can make a real difference. And if Raynaud’s phenomenon — where fingers turn white or blue in the cold — is part of your symptoms, calcium channel blockers like nifedipine help keep blood flowing.

What you won’t find in most guides is how messy the daily reality is. Some people with scleroderma need to take 10+ pills a day just to manage symptoms. Others face complications like acid reflux so bad it damages their esophagus, or kidney crises that need emergency treatment. That’s why knowing which drugs work — and which ones might make things worse — matters more than ever. You’ll find posts here that break down how common medications like prednisone or cyclophosphamide are used, what side effects to watch for, and how newer treatments are changing outcomes. You’ll also see how tools like TENS therapy help with pain, why medication reviews are critical when you’re on multiple drugs, and how to spot early signs of organ damage before it’s too late.

This isn’t a list of general advice. These are real stories, real data, and real strategies from people living with scleroderma and the doctors who treat them. Whether you’re newly diagnosed, caring for someone who is, or just trying to understand why this disease is so unpredictable — you’ll find something here that actually helps.