Re: [Paddlewise] Coldfinger

Hey Jack:

You need to find a good  vascular surgeon or at least a sports medicine
physician, and get a referral to a decent vascular lab, before you start
labeling yourself  or letting others label you with Raynaud's whatevers., or
permitting an Internist to diagnose Raynauds.  If  you don't  use tobacco,
have lupus,diabetes, cardiac disease, take blood pressure meds, have any
auto-immune diseases, and are not using any beta-blockers,  then   (digit)
skin-changes  solely related  to cold-weather are due to vasospasm, and
should affect all digits.  If you don't have some systemic disease, or
auto-immune  pathology , then skin changes localized  to certain digits in
the hand is  more likely to be due to exercise-related stress on one of the
two arteries that traverse the  wrist., and are subject to trauma with
certain forms of vigourous activity. ( hey.. do you bend your wrist when you
paddle ?~G~)

Raynaud's is almost always bilateral (in the hands), and ALWAYS (I hate that
word) affects all five digits. If the color changes you notice affect only
the 3rd /4th/5th digit there is something wrong with the ulnar artery which
supplies those digits. The radial artery supplies the thumb, index finger,
and part of the  middle finger.  Furthermore both arteries are linked in the
hand with a deep and superficial palmar arch, which provides a good
collateral flow even if one artery is interrupted. ( Which is why the radial
artery is  often "harvested "  for used in  for coronary artery bypass
grafts, without significant  loss of blood flow to the hand.)
Unfortunately the palmar arches are not complete in many people.) There are
several dirt cheap Doppler tests that can demonstrate  the patency of the
palmar arches.  (Allan's  test.)

 Before anyone can claim that finger discoloration  is due to Raynaud's
they must prove the symptoms do not match the anatomic distribution of the
arteries which supply the hand.  ( ie: it is vasospastic which effects all
the digital arteries, not just the ulnar or radial side.) There are many
"use" syndromes associated with  vigorous exercise. ( a 20 year-old
hard-core bicyclist doing  250 m/wk training can develop symptoms which
mimic advanced arterial disease of the legs, while the underlying cause is
compression of the iliac arteries by the narrow seat.)  Both a kayak paddle,
and the pear-shaped canoe paddle handle can cause sufficient
flexion/extension  to one of the wrist arteries to cause the  arterial
injury. As can subclavian artery aneurysms associated with an extra cervical
rib,

You should, at the least see a sports medicine physician. And here is a
clue: "Ask them if they are familiar with hypothenar hammer syndrome". If
they laugh at you, and say, "Yes, where did you hear of that?"., then you
will know that your hands are in the best of hands.

 Don't take my word for it try the hypothenar hammer test.!!!!

Rich Dempsey RDMS/RVT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
See our canoe tripping website
http://communities.msn.com/RichWendysAwayFromHomePage


----- Original Message -----
From: <JCMARTIN43_at_aol.com>


> Yeah, that's a "C".  I've got Reynaud's Syndrome --- or Phenomenon or
Disease
> or something --- which shows up in cold weather.  Circulation stops in the
> last one or two segments of (now up to) three fingers.  They turn
yellowish
> blue-white, and they hurt like crazy.  Some sort of degenerative loss of
> circulation in the hand --- not uncommon.  Not much in the way of
treatment.
> Living in tropical climes is one way around it.
>
> Anyhow, I <really> noticed it on Saturday when I was out playing "first
> paddle" in a new Chesapeake Light Craft design on the Chesapeake Bay ---
air
> and water temps both at about 37 degrees F.  So I decided to do something
> about it, and went to two local dive shops.  Gotta be something around for
> divers, right?  And there was --- were ---  two solutions: a fleece-lined
> pull-on "dry glove" with its own wrist seal for only $102 the pair (and in
> highly fashionable international orange, to boot), and drysuit integrated
> gloves with stiff ring seals, one in the glove, the other for the drysuit
> wrist --- and these only $225 for the gloves and mating hardware and $50
for
> installation of the system in my Kokatat.  So, Plan B.
>
> Does anybody have experience in fastening, gluing and sealing neoprene to
> latex?  I figure I could take a set of spare latex wrist seals and lash
them
> onto a pair of unused neoprene gloves and save about $80!  Or $300,
depending
> on how you look at it.  I figure they could be attached like wrist seals
on a
> drysuit --- but would Aquaseal or something like it hold on neoprene as
well
> as it does on latex?
>
> Any thoughts most welcome.  I'm anxious to figure out some way of paddling
in
> insanely cold weather without having my typing yipokm pit ptp [ew k.
>
> Jack "Pegfinger" Martin, currently a list-lurker
>
>


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