Reynaud's syndrome and winter camping

[Model94]

Looking for experience-based advice on this. Wife has it and it seems once she gets cold its super difficult to address.

[Heavy Duty]

I have zero advice. I hope you find a solution so you both can enjoy the winter without much stress.

[Huntin4Nuthin]

I have a friend who has Reynaud's and still winter camps. Here's what he told me he does. First and foremost, he's a hot tenter which helps a ton, always gives him an option/place to warm up. Lots of giant arm circles and jumping jacks if he's sitting for too long (ice fishing or taking a break from skiing) to get/keep the blood flowing to the extremities. Hot water in the Nalgene bottle covered with a wool sock and put into sleeping bag. Otherwise, he's moving a lot when he pulls his sled into his camping spot, stays active at camp, cross country skiis or snowshoes around, and has hot tent as his home base. Hope that helps.

[awbrown]

Lance Mackey, four time winner of the Itidarod suffers from Raynaud's and has struggled to mush any more.

[Scoutergriz]

I don't have Reynaud's, but I do have severe nerve damage that affects the sensory nerves and found that always having a pair of thick, down- filled mitts handy is a huge help, as are good, somewhat loose socks, with nylon or polypro liners (so far alpaca wool seems the warmest). one trick I use is to have a pair of thin merino "liner " gloves under my regular ones (means getting a larger size) so any exposure to the cold air is minimal.
a trick one of my doctors taught me is to briefly touch my bare fingertip to the back of my earlobe (it's very sensitive and vascular) because you'll almost instantly know if it's getting too cold, then it's time for the big , heavy mitts to come out.
I don't know if this will help, but it's worth a try.

[Optifron]

I discovered my finger/toe circulation+cold issues halfway through a 90 day expedition in Patagonia a decade ago. At its peak, I couldn't move my fingers, and I have scars from the vessel rupture blistering to remind me of it. I still winter camp, cold tenting, and now do a number of things to address it:
-I always have fingerless gloves on. And I mean always. Waking, sleeping, no matter what I'm doing I don't take them off. I'm still experimenting to find the perfect glove for it. In Patagonia, I ended up cutting the tips off my thin liner gloves, and those worked well for a number of years. I've been using fingerless wool gloves lately. Mitts go over those if I don't need my fingers free.
-Keep the blood flowing. Remember that the issue is your body constricting the blood vessels. In the morning and evening do lunges, swing the legs, swing the arms, pump the arms back and forth.
-HotHands or similar air activated heat packets are your friend, especially in the morning and night while your less active. Stick them in the mitts or the boots. They're small and pack easy. Take plenty.
-If you have boots with liners, sleep with the liners in your sleeping bag. If you don't have boots with liners, I recommend looking to them for the previous reason. If I stick my foot into a frozen boot in the morning, I can get it to stop being numb with about 30 minutes of snowshoeing, so morning exercise is also an option!
-Keep a big, thick pair of oversized wool socks in your sleeping bag, that never leave your sleeping bag (I actually do this all year long). Ensures those toes are warm and dry at night.

Good luck!

[Model94]

Thanks everyone for your ideas