How to prevent/treat chilblains in cold weather?

December 13, 2012 11:38 AM

Poor circulation and cold weather are causing chilblains on my fingers. Advice needed on prevention and treatment please!

The last few winters I've had problems with my hands and feet. Currently my pinkies and 3rd fingers are swollen and sometimes painful/itchy.

Other possibly relevant information:

• I wear gloves outside and don't try to heat my hands up quickly when I get back inside
• The temperature has been around freezing for the last couple of weeks
• It's marginally worse on my right hand which operates a mouse for countless hours every day and sometimes gets a bit cold doing so
• A physio, upon seeing my very red feet, once told me that I might have Raynaud's
• I exercise regularly, eat fairly healthily and don't smoke
• I do drink alcohol occasionally and a reasonable amount of caffeine (1-2 cups of coffee per day)

I'm looking for advice on how to improve my circulation or otherwise prevent the problem and also on how to treat my extremities if they do swell up. What changes can I make to my diet to improve my circulation? (I know that caffeine makes it worse and cayenne pepper is supposed to improve it) Are there any creams (or exercises or anything) to help speed up the healing?

Anecdata welcome but ideas with studies or science backing them up would be fantastic.

posted by neilb449 to Health & Fitness (12 answers total)

Could you use heated packs in your gloves?

You could also get something like this to hold or put over your hands for a bit while working to warm them up.
posted by royalsong at 11:47 AM on December 13, 2012

I had similar problems until I started using a heated mouse pad.
Also try to avoid excessive hand washing.
posted by canoehead at 12:25 PM on December 13, 2012

Wear mittens rather than gloves - it cuts down on the surface area, and lets your fingers help each other out. When you're about to go outside, after you've gotten bundled up, do 40 deep knee bends or 3 or 4 flights of stairs to get your blood pumping so that when you go out you're glad to get some cool air.

There're also heated gloves and jackets and fleece lined pants, but those first two are cheap and easy.

For keyboarding, there are fingerless gloves, and ergo exercises such as stretching a few times every hour.
posted by at at 1:25 PM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Use plenty of hand lotion, especially applying a Vaseline based lotion prior to going outside.
Even olive oil can help. Good quality polar fleece inside leather gloves is great, or if that's too bulky, try silk gloves. My daughter is a transcriptionist with Raynaudes, and she needs to type in fingerless gloves during the winter..
posted by BlueHorse at 1:30 PM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I keep a fingerless glove at my desk to put on my right hand when I'm using my mouse at work. I'm sorry you are suffering and hope you can find some relief.
posted by michellenoel at 1:34 PM on December 13, 2012

For me the big deal was hot showers, hand dishwashing, and washing my hands because those were the situations in which my hands/feet warmed up quickly and then got itchy. I'd sugsest fingerless gloves for mousing and/or adjusting your heating so your mousing hand doesn't get too chilly if you can control that.
posted by jessamyn at 1:42 PM on December 13, 2012

IANYD and this is only general advice. If you have Raynaud's, which you may, it might be worthwhile to get checked out by a Rheumatologist or primary care doc. Raynaud's can lead to complications, and may reflect other systemic autoimmune conditions. If it's bad, treatment might include medications to improve the circulation.
posted by drpynchon at 1:46 PM on December 13, 2012

Lots of good suggestions here. I would second exercise though, either specific exercises/stretches for your hands, or even better just all-over aerobic exercise that actually raises your body temperature a bit. Working your muscles causes your body to send more blood to that area, and aerobic exercise also will cause your whole body to flush at the extremities in order to dump excess heat that is building up at the core. You say you exercise fairly regularly which is good for your circulation in general, but you could probably stand to work in 5-10 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise every hour or so, like by taking a short brisk walk every so often. If you have poor circulation then you should try to help encourage your body to send blood to the affected areas.

Try to keep warm in general, too. If you spend your whole day sitting in an over-air-conditioned room (like I do at my lab, for instance) then wear something that keeps you nice and warm. Even if you're just a little bit cold your body is going to be sending blood to the core at the expense of the extremities in order to help maintain ideal temperature for your internal organs. Doing something like wearing long underwear or a sweater at work if you work somewhere a bit chilly can make a difference.

Also, yeah, mittens. Mittens are much warmer than gloves for an equivalent thickness of insulation. And you can put hand-warmers inside 'em if your hands are still chilly.
posted by Scientist at 1:59 PM on December 13, 2012

A have it on pretty good authority that in cold weather, the military provides snipers with heated vests because keeping the core temperature up keeps the hands warm. I find that a high quality down vest does wonders. Cardigans are great for desk jobs because you can open the front without taking them off.
posted by bonobothegreat at 2:34 PM on December 13, 2012

Best answer: For me it helped to recognize that the damage would occur from warming too quickly, and as jessamyn and canoehead mention, water is a particular culprit.

I shower first thing in the morning before my hands/feet have a chance to get cold (and not too hot of water). If I miss first-thing-in-the-morning and have to shower later, then doing exercise or active housework first helps.

I use rubber gloves for dishwashing and other cleaning involving water. I keep a pair of neoprene (ice fishing) gloves in the kitchen to protect from steam when dropping something into boiling water, or draining hot water from a pan.
posted by hsieu at 2:48 PM on December 13, 2012

I'm on my phone so I can't link, but if you think you want to try the fingerless gloves, I recommend IMAK arthritis gloves. They are made from a heavy stretchy cotton which not only insulates, but provides compression, which would help with the swelling. I ordered mine from amazon. As above, my rheumatologist also recommended frequent use of lotion or hand cream.
posted by SweetTeaAndABiscuit at 10:18 PM on December 13, 2012

I like layering light gloves with a heavy, waterproof outer mitten (look at skiing/snowboarding gear). The mitten keeps my hands warm, but my hands aren't exposed when I pull it off to unlock a door/find an ID badge/whatever.

I keep warm beverages at my desk and hold them to keep my fingers warm. Also fingerless gloves and dressing your core more warmly. I have had zero success with exercises that are supposed to enhance circulation.

A big part of it for me was also noticing when my hands started getting cold and doing something about it - breathing warm air on my fingers, tucking them in my pits, going inside for a bit...

NCBI is a good source for up-to-date research on health. That's one of the first articles I found searching "Reynaud's".
posted by momus_window at 9:45 AM on December 14, 2012