Raynaud’s

Has anyone any experience of Raynaud’s gloves and their effectiveness? The Mrs. suffers a fair bit at this time of year, mainly her hands but I can imagine it getting to her toes too. Being a touchline mum on a Saturday fills her with dread.
I’ve looked at heated gloves but anything remotely slimline and ‘appealing’ appears to be in excess of £100 and to be honest, I don’t want yet another battery being charged around the house
If the gloves are effective, I’ll take a punt.

I’ve looked here – https://www.raynaudsdisease.com/

and here – https://nuovahealth.co.uk/product/raynauds-disease-gloves-full-length/

Happy to look at any other suggestions.

My wife suffers from Raynauds and has a horse so is out in all weathers.

Her experience is to not get cold in the first place. Wrap up from the outset and don’t be tempted to strip off – and if you do wrap up again as soon as you feel the slightest bit of cold.

I bought her some pocket handwarmers which certainly worked but aren’t practical for horsey stuff. If you are stood on a touchline with hands in pockets they may do the job…

https://amzn.eu/d/d7rng1e

And not very stylish (but other types are available!) – my wife wears thick winter thermal work gloves when working outdoors and these help loads…
https://www.thesafetysupplycompany.co.uk/p/9571631/winter-thermal-waterproof-orange-work-gloves-cas-3302-1.html?vid=67262281&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAu8W6BhC-ARIsACEQoDACHZLzgumHzPHj4zxgLeD-bXtKlgoWWDyVxRxdLJmus3g4W0RMUGAaAm0mEALw_wcB

My wife suffers from the condition and is prescribed medication to help.

Alas the only solution we have found for her is a glove collection to rival most shops. She has everything from battery operated heated gloves for skiing and winter commuting to summer gloves.

I have that (worsened by the beta blockers I’m on for my heart). I only get numb, corpse white fingers rarely, but I do have a real problem keeping my finger tips from feeling like someone has them in pliers when I’m riding in the cold.

I’ve not tried heated gloves but have some chunky deep winter gloves & some Seal Skinz lobster style & still have issues with my finger tips really hurting, even a few degrees above freezing.

The Seal Skinz size up small & my finger tips touch the end of the glove. I think that the idea is that they don’t & that you have a pocket of warm air at the ends, so looking glove size (and perhaps sizing up) might help.

I usually find that, after 40 minutes or so) the finger tips ease as I generate body heat & I also think that ensuring that your core is kept well warm is also key. Last January it was -5 (really low for Somerset) but with many layers, a balaclava & long johns I managed to cycle with the lobster gloves without issue!

I’m sure that those Northern types will be along shortly to should Pogies!

I guess it’s often a thing that works for one might not for another, but here’s mine

I’ve struggled to find warm enough gloves for years because of Raynaud’s, but oddly the thing that’s made the biggest difference is riding in trail pants (or Gore ones in the rain) with winter tights underneath and making sure my core is properly warm with decent layers, plus winter boots and good socks. Now I can get away with 100% Briskers in almost any temp provided it’s dry. I’ve learnt to like keeping my body super toasty and for the most part prevents the symptoms. I do also take a Wetherby Warmer thing out with me too if it’s really chilly although I don’t find it actually gets my hands warm, but it helps with the pain a bit.

A friend who does a lot of wild swimming all year round takes a thermos of hot water and a Tupperware box and uses that as a warm hand dip thing, it works for her and obviously easy to keep on the beach with all the dry stuff.

Ive got Reynauds and I’m out riding and running in all weathers (running is much less of a problem than riding)

More than staying warm I find that my main priority is staying dry, cold is tolerable but cold and wet together are agony. So I always carry a spare pair of gloves and a base layer or two and change my gloves as soon as the rain has finished, or halfway if it’s really not going to stop, and put a dry base layer on if I need to stop for food or whatever.

In terms of gloves which actually work in the winter, I’ve been using Glacier gloves with some liners, although far from the most breathable. .

In the OP’s case eliminating wind-chill will be a big help, a coat with pockets suitable for gloves hands will help a lot.

Curiously my gf used to suffer from it – to the extent she’d have to wear ski gloves to cycle almost all year round as her hands would suffer on long downhills when your temp drops.

However she took up year round open water swimming a few years ago and the Raynauds has just gone away. That may of course be entirely coincidental.

, but oddly the thing that’s made the biggest difference is riding in trail pants (or Gore ones in the rain) with winter tights underneath

It’s definitely something to address with all your clothing, not just gloves. People tend to concentrate too much on their upper half when dressing for the cold  – put extra coats and jumpers on and only have one layer on their legs – your legs are about a third of your body weight so its quite a lot of ignore in terms of layering and insulation. If your body is cutting of heat to your extremities it’s because your core temp is too low.

The ther tip I can share is keeping wrists and ankles warm. Often gloves create a gap between them and a coat. Keeping this covered with something as simple as a buff wrapped round each wrist makes a big difference

I have Raynaud’s and there’s nothing I’ve yet found that can stop me losing feeling in my hands and/or feet if the conditions are wrong. I can be layered up till the point I’m sweating, and it doesn’t make any difference. So for me, it’s damage limitation.

The wrists and ankles thing is a good point. I find these help: https://www.nevisport.com/extremities-power-liner-wrist-gaiter-618a534fcd56d

Arm warmers are good too.

tips from my wife…

mitts big enough to get handwarmer in and wrap hand around it in a ball.

handwarmers.

crack open the handwarmers before you need them.

multiple pairs of gloves/mitts.

I wonder if you can get Reynauds in your feet ? I’ve tried everything from 100% merino socks , heat pads ( they work for a while) etc etc yes I clip in I don’t think the heat sink theory has any credence ?

I find I start cold rides with cold hands and warm feet after about an hour it swaps around?

Echo the advice above. I have it pretty bad. Can get a flare up via walking down freezer aisle in the supermarket or getting out the car at home and into the house, if there’s a cold wind. I manage it ok riding by keeping core warm and using pogies when it’s nearer freezing/high wind chill. Feet cope a bit better with oversized winter boots for plenty of toe wiggle. I also use very thin silk gloves under my main gloves to create a layering effect – these are nice and long so cover my wrist.

Prep is key in terms of setting off warm. Fannying about in the shed getting bike and kit looked out risks getting cold, so I usually get the bike out ready to go in advance, then get changed indoors to quickly get going.

Don’t think it’s a one size fits all kind of condition, but what works for me…

– Keep your core warm.

– Silk glove and sock liners underneath sized up gloves, socks and boots – this makes the biggest difference for me.

– No ankle or wrist gaps (but weirdly riding in shorts with long socks rather than trousers doesn’t seem to make it worse for me).

– If you feel it setting in to your hands, drop your arms and shake pretty violently downwards (as if trying to throw your hands off and onto the floor) for a minute or two. Doesn’t work so well for feet…

@stany I’ve tried those glove liners but personally find silk works better.

wonder if you can get Reynauds in your feet ?

Yes. Fingers and toes mostly, for me anyway. Some people who have it worse can be whole hands, feet and also ears and noses.

If it gets really bad in my feet getting off the bike and running with it for a mile or so really helps, seems to get the circulation going again. I don’t suffer nearly as badly when running, despite my running shoes being nowhere near as warm as my goretex riding boots.

My feet can get like blocks of ice & go totally numb. They can take a couple of hours to come around afterwards too, but they never hurt.

The pain in my finger tips though can be absolutely awful.

If you feel it setting in to your hands, drop your arms and shake pretty violently downwards (as if trying to throw your hands off and onto the floor) for a minute or two.

This ^ or the alternative approach of swinging your arms around vigorously in a horizontal plane – basically you’re trying to drive the warm blood out to the far extremities with a bit of centrifugal force. I find once I’ve done that a couple of times, and the yellowish-white part has turned pink again, I’m usually OK thereafter.
You do need to have a bit of space around you, mind; if you **** the end of your fingers on a nearby tree/person/car/whatever, it leads to sweary words.

As mentioned, I find that if my trunk and particularly my arms get slightly chilled, my fingers go white and numb, even if the temperature isn’t very low, and it’s quite difficult to get them going again. Overdressing does help, but it has the downside of sweating a lot, getting dehydrated and overheated if I’m not careful. I think it gets my feet too, but I don’t notice them so much.

People tend to concentrate too much on their upper half when dressing for the cold

As a freezing all the time person i always think it’s worth remembering the Rule of Nines, which is a reference to surface area of your body

It’s a medical term to do with surface area of burn injuries. It divides your body up into areas that are 9% or factors of 9.

For example the front of your torso is 18%, the back 18 (36). Legs 2×9 each.(36) Arms 1×9 each (18). Head 9%

All adds up to 99. (No prizes for guessing the 1%)

So what?

Well you can see that a large proportion of your surface area is your legs, yet often they have very little covering them. So I could pile on extra jackets but am still losing heat via my legs.

Nowadays I wear long John’s a lot, and wear less on my torso. If it’s proper cold then powerstretch leggings are great. As my legs are warm my feet are warm, same goes for arms and hands

I don’t have Raynaud’s but it has definitely kept me warmer, especially winter climbing

Also if you swing your arms to warm your hands, always keep your fingers curled. It stops the hot aches, open them up when you stop swinging

Never a problem when out for a walk though

I’ve had the Sealskin heated gloves for a few years, they’re the only thing that lets me ride in Winter.

Yeah I get this, I find it infuriating as I get totally dead horrible looking white fingers and it makes me feel like I’m 90 years old (I’m 43) and its one of those things that is not painful but impossible to ignore. I’ve descended long hill on the road bike several times with completely numb fingers- the brakes work when I pull them but I can’t feel a thing, which is a weird sensation and probably not very safe.

As others have said, I find for me its not really about my hands as much as keeping everything else warm. Once it happens though, even a full gas effort for several minutes will not be enough to wake my hands up again, its usually a longer tempo period of riding that brings the blood back.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the temperature itself doesn’t seem to be the main issue- it seems to be the rate of the drop in temperature. I’ve been out in super cold weather and totally fine but other times go from warm to mildly cold quite quickly and the blood just drains out my fingers.

I never knew you could get special gloves though, interested to hear if they work.

I feel the cold on the bike so layer up, at worst i m up to 3 baselayers with ski gloves and liners. Best tip is limit air flow so tuck everything in. Keeping dry too, i have those long rubber gloves i m sure were designed for vets but they work for me.

Some really good stuff at local indie diy place all the tradies go to, cheap as chips too.

Saying the above within 5 mins i m boiling.

I am very sceptical of the “Raynauds” gloves. I see one of the products linked above claims to offer “Copper-infused healing” and treat Carpal tunnel syndrome! I think these are just over priced liner gloves being sold with added woo. You want to find gloves that keep your wife’s hands warm and there is no reason why effective gloves should be “Raynaud-specific”.

I occasionally get Raynauds symptoms when cycling in very cold conditions, and recognise what some of the other comments are describing. There’s a threshold point, and if that is crossed, the circulation in my hands just stops and I can’t get it started again, so I find the problem is not necessarily being super warm all the time, but keeping enough circulation going to avoid shut down.

I think it is important to have a bit of room in your gloves; I have big hands, and find a lot of gloves are a bit tight fitting, which doesn’t help my circulation. Try layering up; thin merino or silk liners, then a thicker over glove, and maybe a waterproof shell glove over the top if it is wet. Decathlon is good for various options that don’t cost the earth. I have tried battery powered gloves, and I think they can be useful for wee bursts of low level heat to keep the blood flowing. It is worth looking at industrial workwear suppliers as well. They sell liner and outer gloves designed for working outdoors or in extreme cold which can be a lot cheaper than the gloves sold by outdoor sports retailers.

This winter I am experimenting with Showa work gloves (made for Japanese fishermen!) as an outer layer, after seeing them on a bike packing video and discovering that they are popular with ice climbers. They are not going to win any style awards, but claim to be waterproof and breathable.

Ref feet –

I posted something similar last year having always suffered with cold feet – and yes, I’ve tried just about everything to ‘keep’ warm, every sock imaginable, winter boots, trousers, etc etc.

In the end – I started using these:

I’ve just dug some out of the cupboard this week as the temperature is now low enough to start using them again.

Yes, there is a cost – but for me it genuinely has turned something that ruined rides into a complete non issue. They give a lovely soft warmth for hours and hours, and mean I ca nwear normal MTB shoes and thin socks and my feet feel just as good as they do in somewhere. Really was game changing.

Anecdotal I know, but I had to give up caffeine for about 6 weeks last winter and my Raynaud’s seemed to calm down after a few days….

Back on the caffeine now though and it’s just as bad as before. I know what I need to try, but no caffeine is tough…

Reynauds sufferer here. The only gloves I have found in the last few years that keep my hands toasty warm are Galibier Barrier Deep….Mrs N bought me some silver infused liner gloves for them which are witchcraft and it’s rare now (as long as I don’t take them off) that my fingers go numb.

I carry a spare dry pair of gloves in case we stop at the pub or they need to come off mid ride.

I also recommend the little hotty (teabag style) hand warmers for sticking in the glove to get heat in the hands.