cold numb fingers

[Laurence Stein DDS]

Kelpdiver,

If I'm not mistaken, Scubadoc at Scubadoc@scuba-doc.com has the name of a chemical hand warmer. I think it lasts for 8 hours and is glove shaped so it is worn under the dive glove.

Larry Stein

 

[Littlerayray]

My index finger is sensitive to cold after smashing it with a hammer many tears back let's just say a26 Oz hammer being swung and missing it's mark is not a pretty sight and the results of the injury is now I have a finger that is very sensitive and affected before the rest

 

[Jax]

but I'd have expected it would have shown itself in other ways, e.g. reaching into the fridge or freezer and grabbing something cold. As mentioned above, prevention is best, but that's hard if you're going to dive in cold water, so the dry glove suggestion sounds good. Drugs can help if it's more definitively diagnosed.

Personally, my hands used to get ice cold and almost useless in Monterey water (low 50's), even with 5 mm gloves when I dived wet. Diving dry, my hands are usually fine, even with ratty old 3mm gloves w/o gauntlets. My core is warm enough to send some warm blood to my fingers...

Good luck. I have the same problem. Haven't found a solution yet.

 

[FiddlerOnTheRoof]

This is a pretty old thread from 2003... But since it was rivived I figure I should also add that over tight seals around the wrists from a drysuit for example can also cause cold hands/fingers because of cutting circulation to the hand. If a wetsuit is to tight around the wrist it can also cause the same problem.

 

[Horwin]

This is a pretty old thread from 2003... But since it was rivived I figure I should also add that over tight seals around the wrists from a drysuit for example can also cause cold hands/fingers because of cutting circulation to the hand. If a wetsuit is to tight around the wrist it can also cause the same problem.

This must be why my middle fingers turn white during some dive in cold water when wearing 5mm gloves. Maybe the the strap on my gloves was too tight. I have never had this problem when wearing dry gloves.

 

[FiddlerOnTheRoof]

It can be... Another thing is carpel tunnel. If you suffer from it even a little bit it can be triggered in the wrist due to compression.

 

[Germie]

I use 3 finger gloves in winter. Much better than drygloves for me.
GNT gloves are best, you can fill them on surface with warm water if you want and then go diving. I jump in, fill the gloves with cold water, my hands warm them up and I can dive much longer than with 5 mm 5 finger gloves.
I am waiting now for a heating system too wit FIR. it seems that then your fingers will stay warmer. I will see.

A 10mm hood instead of a 5 mm hood is a big difference for me too. And a 500 gram undersuit with thermo underwear helps a lot too. When needed I can do in 3-4 degrees water with all the thick underwear, 3 finger gloves, 10mm hood a 2 hour dive without getting too cold. But I prefer to dive max 45-60 minutes in such cold waters. The problem is not only the water, but after the dive on surface. Wind and freezing makes you cool down more after the dive than during the dive.