Gloves

[Burt]

Emma,
Long thread! The mitts I bought were Dachstein from www.needlesports.com

They cost about £16.00

Haven't got any windproofs, with silk inners these were ok.

Wouldn't mind knowing where to get those leather mitts Abbe was on about.

Could make some leather outer mitts??

 

[twelveboar]

I've had a pair of dachstien mitts for years and I find my hands get too hot sometimes! I would also recomend a pocket hand warmer, the one I have is a small case that takes a charcoal stick that smoulders for hours. If you light both ends of the stick it is twice as hot, but only lasts about 3 hours, it is great for warming numb fingers. It also functions as a good fag lighter in gales.

 

[BorderReiver]

Emma,sorry to take so long to reply.

I think that seal skinz,with liners or without,seem to restrict circulation even more.
This seems to be worse than with wool or fleece gloves.

There is a paper written by an RAF medical team (I cannot find it again )that said that gloves increase the area of the fingers and increase heat loss.THey gave the effect a name but memory fails me.

If anyone recognises the description of the research,I would be grateful for the reference.

 

[Doc]

It's important to establish if it is primary Raynaud's phenomenon, or secondary Raynaud's phenomenon (that is, Raynaud's as a result of another disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis.)

The majority of cases are primary. If the patient is young, with no other symptoms, and only get Raynaud's in the winter months, this makes it even more likely to be primary rather than secondary. I still do some blood test investigations before deciding.

There is pretty strong research evidence that nifedipine reduces the frequency and severity of attacks. But this has to be weighed against the possible side effects - headache, flushing and ankle swelling are all quite common.

There is another drug, naftidrofuryl oxalate, that is occasionally used, but the evidence of benefit is weaker.

I'm not aware of any published evidence that reflexology is effective. Mind you, there is no published evidence that keeping your hands warm helps either, even though patients seem to find it helpful and doctors routinely advise it.

Smoking aggravates Raynaud's.

 

[BorderReiver]

As an alternative to the sound medical advice given above,you could try this:

http://www.naturesbest.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=133

I have no idea if it's any good,as I haven't tried it.It does come with "a money back if your hands and feet don't feel warmer" promise,so you've nowt to lose.

 

[Topcat02]

Hi Doc,

The problem with reflexology, acupuncture, etc, is that there arent any companies pharmaceutical or otherwise who are willing to fund the size of studies that would be statistically significant. This may be because of vested interest but more likely the difficulty in establishing a baseline, being able to exactly replicate a treatment, etc, etc.

Cheers

TC

 

[Andy]

I also try to avoid leather, I also avoid silk since that to involves boiling the silk worms live

for thin liner gloves I use some silver looking things which came from a motor bike show some time ago, I'm sure there must be something similar made still. They are thin, warmish and work fairly well when wet. Over these I use a pair of gortex gloves but I guess mittons would be warmer.

 

[Emma]

Wow, thank you everyone for continuing responses.

Hawsome, yes mittens are best for warmth... not so great for dexterity. I reckon I'm going to go with mittens for an outer layer. And my hands naturally close into fists in cold weather now, I've got them trained...

Anthony, that's a very good point, something I hadn't though of before. I'm not going to get a coat, partly because I can't afford it, and partly because sometimes I can be boiling under my normal layers and my fingers will still lose circulation. But you've given me an idea... I might try making some wrist warmers with a little pocket for small handwarmers, if I can find small enough handwarmers to be comfy. So thanks for that!

Alchemist, do you use the sticky thicky gloves? I've been having a poke at them in blacks myself and they seem OK. I'd need something under them I think, but they're definitely worth considering.

Topcat - yes, I think it's the mind that makes stuff work as well. Which is why I don't think it would work for me. Because I think I would have to believe it for it to work. However, I may well try it if there's anyone in my area, will PM thanks.

Burt, thanks for that link! They look pretty good.

Twelveboar, yep, got one of those. It just seems silly and wasteful to use them for everyday...

Thanks Border Riever. And the veintain link's interesting... £12 a month though, for maybe six months of the year... that's the same as a really good pair of gloves!

Doc, thank you very much for all that! Being young with as far as I can tell no other symptoms, hopefully I only have primary Raynaud's. I think I shall definitely be going back to my doctor and discussing it...

Andy, thanks for reminding me. I'd completely forgotten where silk came from. D'oh. Any idea what make your silvery gloves are? I've been trying several searches but nothing has come up so far...

 

[Toddy]

Tussah silk does not involve boiling anything alive

http://www.aurorasilk.com/shop/tussah.shtml

Buy the yarn and knit your own!

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[BorderReiver]

Tussah silk does not involve boiling anything alive

http://www.aurorasilk.com/shop/tussah.shtml

Buy the yarn and knit your own!

Cheers,
Toddy

I'd have thought that the egress hole would have made it impossible to get a continuous thread.

Read the page properly,DOH,they spin the silk like wool etc.

 

[nooky]

MAPLIN sell self heating gloves here is the advert for them I dont know if they would be any good for you? but it says that it will heat up to 40degrees.
Andrew.

Self Heating Gloves

• Keep your hands warm this winter with these cosy heated mittens!
• The latest in heating technology!
• Constructed using the most advanced heating wire
• Batteries stored in a discrete zip-up pouch
• Heats up to 40 degrees in 5 mins!
• Water resistant
• Uses AAA batteries

These water resistant heated gloves are great for hiking, skiing and hunting. The safely concealed heating element in the gloves is designed to warm the upper palm area and radiate out to the finger area. They have a cosy lining for extra warmth, which also helps to eliminate heat loss. These would make a fabulous gift for the active outdoor person!
Requires 3xAAA batteries in each glove (not supplied) Order Code: L29BJ for high capacity rechargeable batteries

Order Code L52BQ

 

[Lithril]

Last week after posting about the extremeties gloves I thought I'd contact Terra and see if they can offer any advice or better still a trial for a passaround and I'm disappointed in them that there has been no contact from that at all, so I've got to say if thats an example of their customer services I'd probably try avoiding them.

 

[Emma]

Toddy if I could knit, I would!

Thanks nooky.

Thanks Lithril, that was a really good idea. Shame nothing came of it though...

 

[leon-1]

Emma I know someone that doesn't live to far away who has the same thing, he used to work on the rigs (Oil), I'll ask if he has any pearls of wisdom or if he can suggest anything for you.

Lithril, I am surprised that Terra Nova haven't got back to you, I own some of thier kit and got in touch with reference to spares, they got back to me with an unhelpfull, but pleasant reply.

Any which way I hope you find something that will be suitable Emma

I just had a thought, have you tried the contact gloves that the armed forces use when they are in Norway, they are thin to allow dexterity and there to stop the moisture from your hands freezing to metal, but they may be good as inner gloves for your situation.

 

[leon-1]

Emma I spoke to Allan yesterday (he's the chap that used to work on the rigs), sorry to say he is in very much the same boat as you are, he has some skiing gloves that cost him a fair amount of money, but showed me his hands, they had gone grey with cold.

We discussed things for a while and he suggested that the best possible thing would be a thin set of gloves and a set of mittens which are made of fibre pile like the ones made by buffalo, sorry I could not be of more help, I hope that you find something to suite your purpose, Leon

 

[anthonyyy]

"I might try making some wrist warmers ."

If you go to a charity shop and buy a "fleece" jumper that is much too small for you (say intended for a 9 year old) you could cut off six inch lengths from the sleeves. Main thing is that it fits your wrists very tightly. Of course if you use something like elastic to tighten it, it might reduce circulation and make things worse.

 

[pierre girard]

Hi Emma,
the swedish "Lovikkavantar" are the warmest I know. The are woolen mittens and very very warm. I am using them and over them I use leather. If you dont want to use leather you could try to buy a big other kind of windbreaker. The warmth you will get from the wool, only get yourself a fitting bigger windbreaker for them if you dont want to use leather.

good luck
Abbe

Abbe:

Sounds like what we call locally, "choppers." They were used by loggers in our area and hence the name. They may well have a scandianvian source as many loggers were scandianavian.

http://www.henrysshoerepair.com/moosehide chopper mittens.html

http://www.berlingloveco.com/admitdeercho.html

http://www.berlingloveco.com/admitchopkni.html

For real cold weather I use choppers, or "extreme cold weather" military gauntlets (US or Canadian). The gauntlets are quite cheap and can be purchased on e-bay. The choppers now cost about $40 for wool liner and leather mitten. Sorry to say, both styles of mits use leather.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mitten-Set-Extr...ryZ58131QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Surprisingly, the US military gauntlets are better than the Canadian. It is just the opposite with winter mukluks.



For medium cold weather, I use rag wool gloves, but they seem to have gone out of style, and I guard the two pair I still have zealously - even darning them when they get a hole.

Like this, but with fingers (see, you can't get them anymore).

http://www.magla.com/stanley/ProductType.cfm?Type=s_work&Level=Detail&Group=S_3742

PG

 

[Ogri the trog]

Here's a tip for those of you who have relatives that knit.
When they're next measuring you for a jumper, ask them to add an inch or two to the sleeve length and to knit a big button hole into the cuff area. When thigs get cold, you push the cuffs down over your hands and use the hole to hook over your thumb - hey presto fingerless mittens.
You can of course cut and edge a hole in whatever jumper you like but the inclusion of a big hole as an afterthought can let the draught in where its not wanted.
I'm still an advocate of different gloves for different situations though; neoprene for wet working, aircrew gloves with liners for dry working, wool mixes for just keeping warm.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[8thsinner]

Emma, I can't offer any more info about this as I think everyone has it pretty much covered, And I hope some of that has worked it self out with you.

I think one of the ways you should tackle this problem is not just to cover up better but fight the symptoms directly.
And I can think of one way to do that, the mods probably wouldn't want me to post this for legal reasons, but I do have an idea which may help, PM me if your interested.

I can think of other things herbal based that would help also in different ways...