UKC

Ive always had a problem with cold hands and now that its turning autumn theyre almost always cold again.
funny thing is that theyre colder than the ambient temp (19.4 today and ambient room temp is 21.4) How does that happen?!

Ive read quite a lot on tinternet about it but never found a suitable solution, i dont smoke, low alc intake, minimal caffeine intake.

wearing gloves makes no difference, but wrist warmers do help a little.
Any comments welcome please.

In reply to ow arm:


Evaporation and or experimental error I'd suspect. Have you spoken to your GP about it?

jk

In reply to ow arm:

Could be restricted blood flow - Reynaud's disease? If so, stress is thought to be a contributing factor.

In reply to ow arm:

I find that if my core temperature isn't great, then my hands are always colder than the rest of my body. Is the rest of you warm?

In reply to ow arm:

My wife gets cold hands and feet and gets annoyed that I don't.

She likes to warm them up on me!

In reply to ow arm:
I get Raynaud's symptoms (whether that's Reynaud's Syndrome or not is another question). In my case it's mostly a problem with toes in climbing shoes during the winter, ow, ow bloody ow!

For climbing (or whatever) a good core warm-up helps, anything to raise the pulse a bit before the boots and big wooly socks come off.

In general I find a little bit of Aspirin helps somewhat. I break standard cheapo supermarket tablets into bits and take about 1/4 - 1/2 of one daily over the winter. Of course it could just be working as a placebo, but that's ok with me.

Oh, if gloves are no help, are there situations where you could wear mittens instead? Or for cycling etc, perhaps split the difference and try some 'lobster claw' type things. (Aldi had some for cycling in their last bike gear special, may still be a few kicking about in their shops.)

In reply to deepsoup:

ha ive got a box full of various gloves and mitts, if im active its no problem at all, climbing in winter is a bit different though but managable.
Things like sitting still driving, pc work etc is when they are unpleasantly cold. I just cant get my head around how they are colder than the ambient temp.
Interesting finding with a little bit of aspirin, Im advised not to take nsaids but i might try a few aspirin just out of curiosity.

In reply to ow arm:

I'm kind of similar so I spoke to the doctor at my last annual medical as I'd thought maybe my circulation was poor. He said it was actually very good, (checked my pulse at my ankles) but that some folk's extremities just shut down in cooler temps. I asked if it was Reynaud's but he said not necessarily.

I still get cold hands and feet but being reasonably active usually alleviates the symptoms.

In reply to ow arm:

Tim Mosedale has a page all about getting cold hands. He's writing about Everest but I wonder if you might find it interesting?:

http://www.everestexpedition.co.uk/everest_south_col/stop_getting_cold_hand...

PS I don't know Tim and I'm not associated with him in any way!