This is a question for people that have Raynauds also: do your hands get RIDICULOUSLY cold while typing for long periods of time? I always thought this happens to me because of Raynauds but google is saying it could be carpel tunnel which I do not want. I am on the computer all day at work so it gets annoying to have icey hands that then run the risk of becoming too warm once the blood starts flowing again.
I also have Raynauds with the erythromelalgia. My hands become so painful that it hurts to use the mouse on the computer by the end of the day. It is interesting how I can go from white fingers to burning hot and back again. I can't necessarily say it is the computer that effects it but if I run out to my car and come back in... my toes will be white and the soles of my feet will be beet red/purple.
~Blessings
Yes, those things happen to me too with the feet. When you use the mouse does is make your hands cold?
yes
aftertheteacups said:
Yes, those things happen to me too with the feet. When you use the mouse does is make your hands cold?
-+I always wear fingerless gloves to use the computer but they are still icy cold. When I am just surfing my mouse hand goes purple and I tend to sit on my left hand to keep it warm. I tried using the mouse with my left hand so I could alternate hands but my left hand is stupid and it takes me forever before I can get the cursor where I want it to be. When I move away from the computer and resume doing other things I have to whip the gloves off as the hands will flare.
I know it sounds strange but my pinky finger and the one next to it get freezing cold and the rest of my hand is hot. I just think that there is very little rhyme or reason to it all. People laugh but I keep a pair of open toed crocs at my desk and when I need to I will go outside (cold here) and cool off my feet. I know it isn't very helpful once I come in but sometimes I have to make the pain go away for just a minute. I have also started keeping an ice pack in the freezer at work so when my hands become painful i can cool them down. I do notice thought that the hand that uses my mouse usually is the worst at work.
As awful is it is, I'm so glad to hear other people suffer from this too! But, like Amy, there's little rhyme or reason to it. I often get certain symptoms in certain fingers - some icy cold and the ones next door hot as can be. Or it might be one hand is EM and one is RP. In fact, as I'm typing this, my right hand is very cold and my left one's heatin' up and swelling! I haven't found anything that helps, unfortunately, and it's just awful sometimes. I tend to get my flares at night, which is when I'm trying to do homework and so instead of focusing on school I'm distracted by my stupid hands! :(
I was diagnosed with Raynaud's first, and then a year or 2 later developed EM. I used to wear these arthritis gloves to help keep my hands warm because they increase circulation, but it was after I started using those that I started getting EM (I'm sure it was coincidental and that I would have gotten it regardless) but I don't use them anymore because I don't want to trigger a flare. BUT! They were great when they didn't cause me problems. And since it wasn't always both hands, it was nice to be able to easily treat one without the other. I have yet to see "cold gloves" (though I guess I've never really looked) but I'd love a pair of those sometimes! (I've also tried using my other hand for the mouse like Nel - doesn't work well either! haha!)
So, I'd suggest investing in a pair of arthritis gloves if you'd want - I really did like them. Every once in a while I'll bust them out. I usually didn't have to wear them for more than 10 mins or so and then my hand would be a tolerable temperature again :) Otherwise, just rest in the solace that you're not alone!
I have voice recognition software on my PC, and it’s fantastic. Really helps cut down on typing.
Dave
Hiya I am also a Raynaud's sufferer and also have big issues with my right hand when sat at the pc when using my mouse... not so much when typing. to the point I loose all feeling in my ring and pinky fingers. feet go icy cold as well.. which makes even weirder than when I have an Em flare up at the same time my forearms and legs from knees downward are bright sunburn red and very hot to the touch... great altho for warming the hand up chuckles.
The hardest thing for me is controlling the 2 when have flare ups of both conditions... half wants to warm up the other half to cool down.. there is no inbetween
I might try to get some of those arthritis gloves! Thanks for all of your responses--in a weird way I am relieved. It sounds like it is just something that happens to people with Raynaud's or EM, and not the dreaded carpel tunnel. I would hate to add that on top of circulation issues.
chuckles... do you ahve problems with your hands and fingers while driving as well regardless whether or not you have window open or heating on.. the right hand and fingers go completely numb and you cant feel a thing?
I have just done two minutes hoovering. The fingers on my right hand are freezing but the thumb is hot and red. On the left hand thumb and 1st finger are hot and red and the other three fingers really cold. No kind of gloves would sort me out:-)
There are two different nerves that supply feeling to the fingers - one that goes to the pinky and (half of) the ring finger, and one that supplies the rest. My doc told me that that first nerve (pinky/ring) can get pinched/entrapped in the cubital tunnel of the elbow, so when my elbows are bent at a specific angle (as in, typing at a computer or sleeping with my hands resting on my belly), that nerve gets irritated. Perhaps that irritation triggers or exacerbates Raynaud's/EM symptoms for those of us who use computers regularly. It may help to change the height of your chair, sit further back, or make any other positional change that will keep your elbows straighter when typing. Hope this helps!
Amy L Dailey said:
I know it sounds strange but my pinky finger and the one next to it get freezing cold and the rest of my hand is hot...