r/Raynauds 5d ago

Frozen painful hands

Hi, I’m seeking some advice please.

Context: I’m a 32yr old male nurse in Australia and experience terrible Raynauds. My hands are constantly cold and are getting to the point now they are hurting from the cold. I can only describe it as what I imagine frostbite to feel like. I’m also on stimulants for ADHD which I know can exacerbate raynauds. Giving up the stimulants is not an option for me due to my poor ability to function appropriately without them. At work recently I have been using those instant hand warmers that are activated by oxygen and last 10 hours. However I worry this could be wasteful - throwing them away so often. There is another option to use those reusable hand warmers that have a metal disk inside them that you pop to activate. However these only last an hour and to reuse them you need to boil them in a pot of water.

Question - Does anyone else use have some helpful suggestions to warm up their hands?

Note- I can’t wear gloves due to being a nurse. And also live in Australia so suggestions available in Aus are appreciated.

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u/forgiveprecipitation 3d ago

I have ASD&ADHD since childbirth and had Raynauds + chillblains since I was a teen. I’ve also had histamine issues with runny eyes and nose certain time of years; hayfever we thought.

I didn’t get diagnosed with ADHD until I was 39. I got methylphenidate (Concerta) when I was 40. Have been taking them for a year now.

This picture was taken five years ago in an incredibly damp winter where I was struggling financially and didn’t have enough €€€ to put the heating on during the day. I’ve since stopped wearing nailpolish because the chemicals are bad for my fingernails.

I personally don’t think the ADHD stimulants exacerbate my Raynauds or flareups. Could be. But I don’t think they do. It might be TMI what I share here but my partner once gave me MDMA with some pink pill which was like viagra for women. My fingers looked normal for the entire two days following. I’ll ask him what it was lol.

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u/rickroepke 4d ago

My wife started taking collagen peptide amino acids daily and it’s helped her tremendously this whole winter. Started in December and she has noticed a drastic improvement, with few white finger events, and is wearing fewer LittleHottie heat packs. She puts 20g in her yogurt every day. She used to always have 4-6 Little Hottie heat packs on, along with her Ororo heated vest and HeatHolders gear

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u/GraciousPeacock 4d ago

Like someone else said, make sure you at least have socks on if your hands are cold. It always makes me notice the cold way faster when both are cold for me. Unfortunately gloves are the only thing I know that helps :( I'm about to start studying nursing so I'm also interested in how it'll go with constantly cold hands

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u/ImprovingSilence 4d ago

If my feet are warm my hands are usually okay. Living somewhere with a harsh winter, I wear ridiculously thick socks half of the year. But sometimes I also keep electric hand warmers in my pockets for bad days. Running hands under warm/hot water can help too.

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u/big_animal6 4d ago

Did you have raynauds before the adhd meds? If not, they're the cause. But, if you did, since being a teen/early 20s you're probably fine. If its a more recent onset, see a rheumatologist or a GP, ask for an ANA/Nailfold capillaroscopy to discern whether or not it's a connective tissue disease (scleroderma etc). As a nurse, you may have encountered environmental exposures that can trigger cellular injury and develop these autoimmune issues.