Anyone else here got Reynaud's? How do you keep your hands warm?

[haaammit]

Disclaimer - currently seeing GP ref changing meds etc to try and reduce symptoms, so no medical advice please!

I suffer with Raynaud's Disease/Syndrome and in this weather have the devil of a time trying to keep my fingers from getting cold and going into that lovely, white numb mode! Sat at the keyboard will usually set them off, as does driving and restocking the local bar I run. I do have some fingerless compression sports type gloves that help a bit and I'm begrudgingly thinking about getting some proper gloves to use in the car. Any tips for keeping my fingers warmer? Turning up the heating in the house isn't an option (much, MUCH too expensive), and sitting on them stops me from typing/gaming so if you suffer with it how do you manage it?

I know "Wear gloves" is the obvious answer but they get in the way with food prep/hand washing etc.

Obvs I'm to smear them in mustard and get a queen wasp to sting them as my dad kills them for a living, or something.....

 

[jpaul]

have similar - heriditary

recent thread on keeping youself warm working from home, has some ideas -
I'm looking for a warmed(4w or so) mat to have mouse on, and have a track-ball to try instead of a mouse (when I find the driver) heated mouse would be good, too.
meantime keeping laptop power supply on desk and resting wrist on it is one recent strategy,
having gloves(gingerless or normal) too tight, can be counter-productive too, and pretty impractical for keyboard.

 

[Puzzled]

Large desk mat helps when on a computer, placing your hands on a wooden surface just drains the warmth out of them.

Mine improved when I put a bit of weight on but still get it every now and then.

 

[EdGey]

Small electric heater on desk pointed at your keyboard. Nothing too power hungry - maybe?

 

[Rob_B]

...
having gloves(gingerless or normal) too tight, can be counter-productive too, and pretty impractical for keyboard.

Heh!

Although I seem to recall ginger being something that could help with the circulation?..

 

[Devrij]

I find keeping the rest of me warm helps, so I wear a dressing gown in the evening over my clothes. Gets me rather warm, but at least my hands seem to stay a bit warmer too as a result.

 

[DanTheMan]

I get through about 15 cups of decaf tea / coffe per day. Mainly so I can hold the cup with both hands to keep them warm.

It's such a frustrating disease. My wife never believed that I could be that cold, until we went through a thermal camera at a museum in Bristol. Everyone had red / orang hands and ears, except mine, which were blue.

 

[potatolord]

I'm not sure if a heat lamp might help you? You can get them in various types and wattages.

i used to have a ceramic one (which emits heat, but no light) when I had a pet lizard.

I don't have Reynauds, but my house is cold. I got an electric throw for working from home, just before covid and it is a wonderful thing.

 

[throwaway4372]

GP said I have Raynauds, but idk. I have ice cold hands and feet.
Feet I just put socks on, but can't sleep with them on coz that's too hot.
Hands I find gloves too annoying, and I end up overheating (which I'm allergic too, yes really). Sometimes my hands just swell up and feel like they're on fire, nothing to do about that but wait it out.

 

[Rroff]

I have what is more consistent with secondary Raynaud's phenomenon than it full blown (one finger and feet) and only rarely is an issue, my mum has it so I guess it is hereditary - though again she only gets it rarely and about half of that time a hand warmer heads it off.

EDIT: In my experience stress and diet seem the most likely elements to trigger it - but I've never been able to narrow down what it might be diet wise which does it.

 

[BUDFORCE]

My wife has this, moreso in her feet sometimes her toes are so cold they go grey.

 

[jpaul]

I get through about 15 cups of decaf tea / coffe per day.

Ok - so you confirm what I suspected - haven't abstained from cafeine yet, though

e:

i used to have a ceramic one (which emits heat, but no light) when I had a pet lizard.

I think a ceramic permanently on would burn a lot of power ? and like the fan suggestion, you can't really get them on a timer so they would turn on from time to time
but the lizard heat pads, I have been looking into that to rest hands/palms on

 

[Pipe & Slippers]

In the car I use fingerless compression gloves, and over the top, proper thick gloves from Screwfix that are rubberised on the outside (obvs)

For normal wandering around outside I use silk glove liners between the 2 above

I find everything is eased if I keep my core body temperature protected. If my core feels at all cold, it doesn't matter what I put over my hands or feet, getting them warm is a non-starter

Good luck

 

[HugsHeal]

I too suffer from Reynauds. As other have said keeping your core warm does seem to have the best results. If I am working at home I will wear my dressing gown as an extra layer, occasionally a hot water bottle is needed.

I do use fingerless gloves when typing sometimes too.

 

[Bear]

Put your hands down the front of your trousers Al Bundy style?

 

[garnett]

No experience of the problem (but family members do, so I know a bit about it) or this solution but a friend was raving about IR heating tech last week, and it seemed like it might offer a good solution to your problem (simply put, it heats right through - not just the surface), so I googled, and found this:-

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gaming/what-to-play/keyboard-hand-warmer-triples-kickstarter-target/

The article actually mentions Raynaulds (albeit in only really in passing).

 

[The_Arbiter]

That's pretty interesting (above).

I suffer from poor circulation a bit, definitely computer use makes my hands like ice, can't say i've had a big issue as i'm not a desk worker.

Sometimes the only answer is the worst one, core temps and blood flow. You might just have to do more moving sadly.

 

[FishPolice]

I started getting Reynauds (or something very like it) after my first Covid jab. It might just be coincidence of course. I stopped getting it after a few weeks but then it came back again after my 2nd jab and now seems to have become a permanent thing for me.
It's really annoying isn't it. Using my heated steering wheel seems to make it worse if anything.

 

[TheVoice]

No experience of the problem (but family members do, so I know a bit about it) or this solution but a friend was raving about IR heating tech last week, and it seemed like it might offer a good solution to your problem (simply put, it heats right through - not just the surface), so I googled, and found this:-

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gaming/what-to-play/keyboard-hand-warmer-triples-kickstarter-target/

The article actually mentions Raynaulds (albeit in only really in passing).

Reading the Kickstarter page, it seems they made a batch of them then disappeared.

 

[jpaul]

in that vein - you could get an IR bulb that fits in a standard desk light, have it on a intermittent timer ...
all the ones I glanced at on amazon poor reviews
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reptile-Ceramic-Infra-Heating-Animals/dp/B087JSQ5BQ
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beurer-IL21-150W-Powerful-Infrared/dp/B000KKJ0WE/