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

[seoulsearch]

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.

This is interesting, and kind of rings a bell.

I'm writing it down to do a little research and mention it to my Mom when I see her next week.

Thank you so much!

Blessings right back to you.

 

[Magenta]

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.

 

[seoulsearch]

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.

Thank you so much for this helpful information.

I'm keeping a list of things that people are suggesting in this thread. This is why I like being able to ask the community -- so many people know so much more than I do. A lot of these things I had never even heard of.

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

My Dad was taking tumeric for something when it was discovered that it might be doing more harm for him than good.

I know the medical community certainly doesn't have all the answers, 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.

Thank you so much for your suggestion!

 

[Magenta]

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

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. I will add here
that when I had a basal cell carcinoma removed from under my right eye, I took Niacin to ensure
good blood flow to the area even though the face is apparently the most vascular rich area of the
body... 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. Not in their purview.

 

[Snackersmom]

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.

Raynaud syndrome was my first thought as well.

 

[Mem]

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.

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.

 

[ThereRoseaLamb]

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.

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.

 

[Magenta]

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.

Yes, the fact that the B complex is water soluble means no excess builds up in your body,
as what is not used right away simply flushes out, unlike fat soluble vitamins, such as A
and D, which you would not want to take too much of, for fear of toxicity, since any excess
gets stored in your major organs if I am remembering correctly.

In all my years of taking nutritional supplements, and the thousands and thousands of dollars
I have spent on them, there are only two that I can say with any confidence that I know they did
what I wanted/expected/was hoping them to, and those two would be Niacin, and cranberry capsules!

 

[Lynx]

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

So if they ate more oily, greasy food, it would probably help their dry skin?

Makes sense to me. I don't have much trouble with dry skin. Time for a trip to Long John silver's.

 

[seoulsearch]

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.

That sounds awesome!

I love it when people come up with their own creations that work better than anything store-bought.

Thanks so much for mentioning it!

 

[Mii]

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.

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.

... 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.

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).

 

[seoulsearch]

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).

So much to unpack here -- thank you so much for taking the time to post!

Great points about establishing a "normal" baseline. I've often wondered about this too, like how different people can tolerate or might need very different levels of -- well, most everything.

I have to admit that the amount of information I'm accumulating in these posts is a little over my head, but I'm trying to follow along and take notes.

I really appreciate the outpouring of information! ❤️

 

[notmyown]

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. ❤️💐

i have used it on a couple spots of eczema on my face in winter, v-e-r-y sparingly. beeswax is heavy, so i'd imagine people with normal facial skin might find it too... pore clogging? my spots are little and i'm a risk taker.

serious, recalcitrant eczema sometimes only responds to a steroid cream. my husband had it terribly bad as a little boy, and three of our kids did, too. it would "weep", crack open, and then bleed. Mark's mom had to soak his socks and undies off in the tub so as not to rip it all open. poor little boy. (he outgrew it, thank the Lord!)

our pediatrician said steroid cream, but, again, very sparingly, and only for a few days on small areas because obviously, you don't want to use a corticosteroid more than you absolutely need. eventually, it will begin to thin the skin and that's a whole 'nother problem. usually, what's available off the shelf at CVS works, and you don't need to get into the higher dose prescription strength creams. once the steroid has it under control, we found it was manageable with other things.

there's a ton of info on it online, if you care to have a peek. ♥

(ps-- anything with a scent has alcohol in it, so you may find unscented products more helpful)