It's Time to Take Off the Gloves! (And Maybe Put New Ones On?) What Are Your Suggestions?

I’ve heard about a condition called Raynaud syndrome where the hands and fingers can get very cold and turn blue-ish. Have you heard of it? God bless you and your mom.

Hello Seoul... I am wondering if Niacin would help your dear mother's hands by opening up the pathways for better blood circulation, which is also mentioned as a symptom of Raynaud syndrome (poor circulation). I noticed Niacinamide mentioned in a couple of posts, but that form of B3 is useless for improving blood flow. Niacin (B3) normally gets replaced with Niacinamide because Niacin can cause a heat rash which can be quite uncomfortable when your capillaries and whatnot open up. The first few times I took Niacin, I felt the heat creeping up the back of my neck and the burning sensation on my ears, though it passes eventually. Taking a full spectrum B is often recommended and then just bump up the Niacin (or any other B you may be increasing) separately alongside.

How would you suggest monitoring the effect of such supplements? Are regular blood tests enough?

I’ve heard about a condition called Raynaud syndrome where the hands and fingers can get very cold and turn blue-ish. Have you heard of it? God bless you and your mom.

Vitamin B is water soluble... I never thought about the need to monitor the effects of such
supplements! It could not hurt to try extra B in the daily regimen... although I might suggest
taking the extra niacin when one can have a quick cool shower if the burning sensation from
having your blood vessels open up becomes too great. That did happen to me once. Otherwise,
I do not think there is any need for concern over taking extra B as a supplement.

Hey Everyone,

My Mom has always had a condition in which her hands are always extremely cold -- even turning blue at times -- and while she's been to many doctors, none have had any solutions other than the typical advice. She eats very healthily and has good bloodwork, so it doesn't seem to be a nutritional deficiency.

It can be 85 degrees outside, but I will still have to hold my Mom's hands in mine to try to warm them up. She also suffers from the skin on her fingers cracking open in the winter -- it's not unusual to see her with several Band-Aids on her fingers.

I've noticed this as well with my own hands -- this past winter, my thumbs were cracked open for several weeks at the sides of the nails.

While we both wear gloves while working with water (my Mom mops floors by hand,) we also do a lot of other things in dry settings (paperwork, typing, dusting, Mom taught herself to crochet off YouTube, etc.) that only exacerbate the problem.

My Mom has used just about every kind of recommended remedy there is -- Neutrogena, Corn Husker's Lotion, O'Keefe's, etc. Neither of us likes greasy or particularly heavy lotions, especially since none of them seemed to help.

Does anyone else struggle with this, and have you found anything that works?

I wish there was a type of glove to wear during "dry" activities, but I also hate the "clammy" feel that gloves produce. I also find myself sensitive to different kinds of gloves. I don't think I have a specific allergy, like latex, but I've noticed some gloves seemed to flare up an eczema-like rash on my hands.

I would really like to hear from others if they suffer with this, and most especially if they've found a remedy.

I do remember reading that it isn't possible to OD on vitamin B. However, it provides great energy, although without the crash, so it might keep you awake for extended periods of time. I know from experience since I keep it on hand for when I need the extra energy to sustain my strength on the more difficult work days. I took an extra dose in succession before the first wore out its usefulness and didn't tire out at all until after about 72 hours. However, I used the time productively and got a lot of extra things done.

Anyone receive help from a tablespoon of Olive oil a day?
Also, I always subscribed to the belief the heavier the cream the better, too loose and it is probably high water content.
Dehydration is worse in the winter than the summer.
blessings

Oh, my, I wish I could help. My BIL works for UPS and has bad trouble in the winter like this. His mother came up with some concoction that blends different things. They all swear by it. If nothing else helps PM me and I will ask for the recipe.

but one thing I do grow concerned about is how to make sure we're not accidentally overdosing or poisoning ourselves with over the counter supplements.

... any ways, both doctors who had been involved in my care for that, and the follow-up, said taking Niacin was a good idea, but did they suggest it as an option? Nope.

Well, apologies if this is a bit jumbled, I hadn't planned on getting on today.


I haven't looked into this as much as I should but have you consider electrolytes? Certain minerals can definitely be off in our body (magnesium, iron, etc.) in addition to vitamins.

Bloodwork is only so useful unless YOU know your baseline (what is high for you and what is low for you)...what is "normal" is just too broad of a range to gauge optimal health. For example, I could be in the "healthy" typical weight range and actually (for me) that puts pressure on many other systems in my body and really it's 10lbs less and I need to work to get there.

For something clearly out of whack, I'm surprised nothing showed as off...but it's got to to depend on what tests are run. There's also a $ constraint though...

My levels always come back as "normal" and I haven't established just what is actually normal for me (I'd have to have lab access or solid discipline over a year)



Anyway, with supplements for conditions that could actually cause the symptoms you are describing consider doing the following.

Hypoglycemia symptoms... hyperglycemia symptoms...

If being too low in something produces this and being too high produces that then (if there is a delineation) it should be reasonable to pay attention to a "change in the winds" and shoot for a middle ground.


A lot of the time people focus on supplements when they are too low in something but they fail to establish what the ceiling is for being "too high" in something. Most of my experience is that being "too high" when it comes to supplements or minerals, is far preferable to being too low and at least you know if you resolved a symptom by that supplement and you know in the future to manage dosing/consumption.

Oftentimes, I wonder if people don't take enough of a supplement (or a quality supplement) and don't go far enough to be in the mild stage of overdose to at least rule that out. You can do a risk profile of what hyper would look like as opposed to hypo and be conservative with the test.

It sounds odd to recommend overdosing but there are some that are quite safe and I don't mean anything major or even health threatening.

Kind of like having too much fiber vs too little.

Also maybe look into iron deficiency where cold hands/feet is common. I would've just assumed you'd looked into typical causes so I didn't want to search it but perhaps not. Not to confuse the issue, but it's possible that one person's body is quite different from another's (obviously) so while 1mcg may be optimal for me, 1.17 mcg may be optimal for another or even 1.89mcg (which would be far too much for me). I didn't look up what iron is active within but I have no idea how you could figure out this information without a huge medical expense and it could still be some other random chemical/vitamin/mineral.


...just some random thought trails that I think may be of use to others as well. There's a way to test your own levels by trial/error and a controlled experiment but getting quality supplements and/or foods is VERY important. Best bet is to get pharmaceutical grade supplements as a baseline OR make your own after you know how one is supposed to affect your body.

Alas, it's not well put together, I'm mentally exhausted from other work but hopefully something useful can be extracted.

Also.







This has been my experience when I had a recent ear infection and I asked about greek yogurt to counteract a longer than 2 week round of antibiotics. I do find it odd when something isn't recommended but I at least appreciate encouragement that I'm thinking in the right direction.

Then again, there's only so much time and most people just want to take a pill or two (I guess).

I looked this up and snapped a picture to remind myself -- thank you so much for the suggestion!

I can only imagine how painful it must have been for your husband's hands, especially in the winter. If it works for him, it must be good! I'm wondering if it works for the face as well?

And, I love you, too! Thank you for always being a spiritual mom here. ❤️💐