Advice from a Certified Hand Therapist: Cold Weather Tips for Raynaud’s

Jan 27,2018 / By the American Society of Hand Therapists / No Comment

Cold weather can bring misery to people with Raynaud’s. Frigid temperatures trigger an abnormal response of constriction (or narrowing) of the blood vessels in the fingers, toes, nose and/or ears interrupting blood flow. As a result, fingers turn white and blue when cold, then bright red when warming and are extremely painful.

If you have Raynaud’s, you are at greater risk for frostbite and may develop sores on the tips of your fingers. You can still enjoy winter activities. Most of the symptoms can be managed with prevention and some lifestyle changes. Here are a few suggestions:

Wear gloves and mittens. Mittens tend to keep hands warmer than fingered gloves. Fingerless gloves with mitten caps are a great option and can also be used indoors as well.

Layer your clothing. Keep your body warm with layers. The Raynaud’s response occurs when the body becomes cold, not just your hands and feet. Wristies ® and Limbkeepers ® are two products that help with layering.

Raynaud’s Disease: Why Your Hands and Feet Hurt So Badly When They’re Cold

Jan 8,2018 / By The Hand Society / 1 Comment

from SELF

Winter is terrible for many reasons, seasonal affective disorder, treacherous slicks of ice, and the infinite quest for moisturized skin among them. But for people with Raynaud’s disease (sometimes called Raynaud’s phenomenon or syndrome), winter can also make their hands and feet go numb, then ache, and even turn every color of the American flag in the process. It would be an impressive party trick if it weren’t so painful.

Raynaud’s symptoms are painfully distinct.

It’s not just that your fingers feel cold when you trudge through the snow (or frolic, depending on your opinion of winter). “It’s impressive, this change,” vascular surgeon Daiva Nevidomskyte, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at Duke University School of Medicine, tells SELF. “Within a couple of minutes, people’s fingers turn pale, then blue, and once they’re reheated, they turn red. It’s a pretty dramatic response.”

Beyond the visible changes, when someone is having a Raynaud’s attack, the lack of blood flow will lead to numbness and pain in the affected body part as it turns white and blue. When the blood flow returns, the body part starts to redden, and nerves reacting to the renewed circulation will cause tingling, throbbing, or burning, Mounir Haurani, M.D., vascular surgeon and assistant professor at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, tells SELF.

Read the full story.

Cold Hands May Signal Raynaud’s Phenomenon

Dec 7,2016 / By The Hand Society / No Comment

from the New York Times

The adage “Cold hands, warm heart” might describe me accurately if it also included “cold feet.” Every autumn, even before the leaves begin to fall from their airy perch, I begin an annual search for better ways to keep my hands and feet from freezing during the coming winter.

My investment in mittens and boots could stock a store and includes what is touted as the warmest of warm, but so far no product has been sufficiently protective. The popular advice, “Move to a warmer climate,” doesn’t mesh with my life’s interests, and so the search continues.

I may or may not have a version of Raynaud’s phenomenon, but I can surely empathize with those who do. First described in 1862 by a French medical student named Maurice Raynaud, it is characterized by highly localized cold-induced spasms of small blood vessels that disrupt blood flow to the extremities, most often the fingers and toes and sometimes also the tips of the ears and nose.

Viewed in the best possible light, it is a patriotic disorder: Affected areas typically turn white when vessels collapse and cut off blood flow, then blue for lack of oxygen-rich blood, then red as blood flow is gradually restored when the areas rewarm.

Cold Hand Disease Finger Hand

How to know if you have Cold Hand Disease

Oct 26,2016 / By The Hand Society / 1 Comment

Do your hands always seem cold? You may have cold hand disease, which is a condition that can occur due to a decrease in blood flow in the hand. Here are some signs that you may have this disease:

Your hands are cold even in mild weather.
Your fingers hurt in cold temperatures.
You have to wear gloves when handling frozen foods.
Your hands turn a shade of blue, white or red sometimes.
Minor cuts on your fingers take longer to heal than normal.

In a normal hand, blood travels from the heart, down the arm, all the way to the fingertips, which keeps the hands warm. In an individual with cold hand disease, blood flow is decreased due to vasoconstriction (when the blood vessels in the hand become smaller, allowing less blood to flow) or vaso-occlusion (when the normal process of temporarily applying more muscle pressure to your blood vessels becomes abnormally strong or prolonged).