cold feet?

I spot people with Raynauds in a wide range of situations, from a guy in our office whose fingers were cold, white, and blotchy while using his computer, to a gal I encountered on a cold spring kayak run on the Lochsa River whose hands were so white they looked translucent.  Often these people have never heard of Renauds, and don't know that there are readily available drugs which can mostly fix the problem.  I give them contact information for my friend Art, who has been using Nefedipine since the early 1980s to reduce his Renauds problems.

I met Art while kayaking and backcountry skiing.  When he was skiing, he'd wear these huge clown-like mittens, and he'd spin his arms around like a windmill all day, trying to get some blood into his hands.  But despite these efforts, his hands would be dead white and freezing cold.  He was practically frostbiting his hands every time he went outside in the winter.  This was damaging his circulation, and he thought he was going to have to give up winter sports.  Then he was seeing a physician about something else, and he happened to mention his circulation problem.  The doc told him he had Raynauds, and prescribed Nefedipine.  The next weekend we did a three-day winter ascent of Grey Wolf Peak in the Mission Mountains, and he was cured.  I took pictures of him eating lunch on top of the mountain with his gloves off, and his hands were glowing red.  I couldn't believe it.  Since then I've seen him using Nefedipine hundreds of times in a variety of cold weather sports, and it has continued to work.  Here's a quote from an e-mail Art sent to another friend of mine who I spotted as having Raynauds, giving her his personal recommendation about Raynauds drugs (she is a marathoner and skate ski racer who had suffered from freezing hands all her life):

"Nefedipine, 10mg tabs. It is a prescription drug routinely prescribed for high blood pressure, although in last few decades higher tech time release tabs are usually prescribed for high blood pressure.  This has led to higher prices for the 10 mg tabs but fortunately they are still available. I use a generic that runs about 60 cents a tab. The time release tabs are not good for Reynauds since you want the boost immediately, which lasts about 4 - 5 hours for me. It takes about 15-30 minutes to come on. A potential short term side effect is that it reduces blood pressure (duh!).  This can lead to light headedness for some. I use to get this once in a while but do not notice anymore.  People take this multiple times per day for their entire lives, about as safe as a drug can be, in my view.  There are probably other drugs that might work, but as you know Nefedipine has worked for me since early 1980s.  My life would have been much different without it, in fact I probably would have moved to southwest many years ago. They make me about 75% of the way to normal in cool or cold outdoor environments."

... demonick has your feet ever been too warm/hot with the warmers?

I wear a pair of light merino wool socks, stick a toe warmer to the ball of the sock, then a pair of heavy SmartWool socks, the Kokatat T3 "drysuit", then the NRS Cross 4mm booties. My feet have never been too warm when using the toe warmers.  They have been too warm in the summer, then I trail them in the water.