Raynauds - how to cope in school?

[Carrie5608]

Dd has quite severe Raynauds and spends a lot of her time in school various shades of white. Her hands, feet ears and nose all go white in the cold.

If you have had it how did you keep in uniform in school.

Posting here mainly for traffic but it's probably not unreasonable to assume some mumsnetter has had to cope with Raynauds through school.

Can you speak to the school to see if she can get permission to wear gloves, hat, extra layers etc, if that would help?

My school is usually quite flexible when it comes to medical needs, and will adapt uniform to suit the particular child's need and inform all staff so that the child is not asked to remove any item that is necessary.

I agree. The school should make any adjustments necessary to uniform expectations to accommodate her condition.

I have this and just used to wear extra layers, gloves etc.

We had quite a few classrooms in temp portacabins which were too cold for me in the winter, I would just go do my work in the library or somewhere warmer.

She is entitled to adaptations to accommodate her condition. It isn't at the discretion of the school. Obviously she can't expect to wear pink glitter gloves in lessons or whatever, things should blend in with uniform colours, but the school has to make reasonable provision for her.

I don't know how old she is but one consideration for the future will be things like exam rooms - if the exam hall is draughty she would be entitled to sit in a separate warmer room, with her own invigilator.

Some schools are great at providing these kind of accommodations, some are more arsey, if hers is the latter, don't let them fob you off.

I know it's not quite what you're after, but H&M are doing fleece tights at the mo, look like 100denier normal ones - my DM has Raynauds, so I'm constantly on the lookout for warming items! She wears fingerless gloves indoors and keeps those disc-snap gel/liquid warmers in her pockets for outside, might be good for break time? Fleece insoles are great too.

My son (and I ) have this and I send him in with:
White under armour under his shirt
Black under armour shorts under his shorts (shorts all year round, why? In this day and age?)
2 pairs of socks
Woollen insoles (really helps me with my feet in winter)
Hand warmers in pockets
Woollen jumper

I used to put thermal leggings under his shorts but they didn't like that so as a compromise he can wear tracksuit bottoms over his shorts when snowing or very cold (as can all the kids) to take off when they get into school - which they do always keep warm.

He goes in every day from now with thick coat, woolly hat and woollen gloves. From my own experience, best things are thermal base layer and thermal woolen insoles and if you go out of the house super warm and keep the core very warm, that does also help with the extremities.

I put everything on the radiator the night before to help with that esp gloves, hat jumper.

Thermals under the uniform may help and speak to the school xxxx

Layers were the way I dealt with it whilst at school (It wasn't diagnosed then and teachers thought I was generally forever complaining about nothing) hopefully the school will be supportive.

As an adult I've found a good pair of gloves to be essential, I can recommend these www.snowandrock.com/gloves/icebreaker/fcp-category/list?resetFilters=true I've certainly noticed a difference when in colder climates and I also have the little hand warmers as well so you can pop those in the gloves too.

Icebreaker also do some everyday leggings which are made of merino wool and very warm, could your daughter use something like those as an alternative to tights/under trousers? (Not sure if they would be suitable depending on the age of your daughter as not 100% sure what their children's range includes)

I agree with other posters. Speak to the school and explain that she needs to wear gloves ect, be assertive with them. This is not a request your d.d needs to be kept warm end of story and the school have a duty of care to her.

Good point about draughty exam halls too if that's an issue.

I had raynaulds as a mature student at A level college. One of the courses, even written work was always in a lab which was unheated in winter...it was only for an hour or so but it took hours for my hands to recover...
Do you do the warm water soaks in the morning and evening? I don't know if they helped or not but I did try them
But what I found really helped was thermals and layers. As I understand it you need to try and keep your core temperature up (can't remember the correct name for it -but if your core temperature drops to a certain point and your body will start cutting off the blood supply to the extremities to conserve heat - which is the white hands and feet)...so rather than concentrating on keeping the hands etc warm it is more important to keep the core warm - so the body.
I also had those re-useable hand warmers - the kind you recharge in boiling water and pop a disc to set them off - I used to put them on my wrists. Would the school allow those? You can get disposable ones too - they are sold for hikers and fishermen but you can often get them in cheap shops like poundstretcher/BME etc...
I don't know if this helps but I had it really badly for a couple of years (late 20s) - eg my feet would 'go' in bed even with a hot water bottle and I was offered medication (but I was on other medication it might interfere with so it wasn't really an option)- I did start wrapping up warmer (my thermal vests are a permanent winter feature) but then it just got better and I hadn't had any symptoms for 20yrs - until last year my fingers went -but only 3 or so times -and the first time I was actually really shocked...fingers crossed your daughter's also improves over time.

I don't have this but do suffer with the cold majorly, normally my legs are red raw in the winter (I'm a Nanny so I'm outside alot of the time)
Last year I had thermal leggings on from decathlon (ones used for skiing) and first winter I can remember not having cold legs that were so sore I could barely move. I brought them in France and paid about €6 for them :)

Also depending on your daughter age I have thermal socks from primark (but in patterns so not practical for school but maybe the evenings/weekends) and I found they helped my toes and I could feel them, before I started wearing these in winter I was wearing about 3/4 pairs of socks and still getting cold toes!

Agree about core temperature, dd has a fully fitted heated electric underblanket on her bed throughout the winter, keeps her core warm for 1p a night and we hot bodies don't have to live in a sauna!

www.amazon.co.uk/Dreamland-Sleepwell-6984-Control-Mattress/dp/B005HHUNWQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1413175732&sr=8-4&keywords=heated+single+mattress+cover

School have been super, she is allowed gloves for all pe, we found thin thermal ones with a grip work well and she has loads of hand warmers. All hats cover her ears and she even has knitted headphones.

She is too young for medication, our gp said not recommended under 16 so I looked at alternatives and gingko biloba seems to reduce attacks, she is asthmatic and it does not interfere with medication, some studies show may be effective in reducing asthma attacks too.

www.healthline.com/natstandardcontent/ginkgo

I have raynauds. At school I wore base layers under my school uniform. I also got to lessons early and sat on the radiator until it was time to start!

I have it and have found that sheepskin boots help me so much. It makes such a difference when my feet are warm. It really does make the rest of me warm too. I really sympathise with her. It is so painful and if you feel cold inside it is so difficult to get warm.

Have you got some of those gel hand warmers that she could take with her?

I had it as a kid but not anymore although I do feel the cold.

Can you send her with some hand warmers? The ones you press and then they give you 15 mins or so of heat?

I'd forgotten about school... I used to layer up too. T-shirt or vest under my uniform, anything to keep warm. I had 5 heavy felt blankets on my bed and slept inside a proper sleeping bag underneath it all including two duvets then on top of all that I had a throw - not school I know but you made me think back.

I like the gloves you can get in Tesco that are a pair of gloves and a pair of fingerless gloves that you can wear together, I'm always in a set over winter. I also have a pair of thermal arm warmers that go from my knuckles to my elbows. I used to wear trousers, tights and socks when it was really cold.

I don't agree with the comments about keeping the core warm TBH, personally I find that I can be sweltered but have funky coloured hands. Raynaud's is about the circulation not getting around the extremities properly, the smaller vessels of the hands and feet constricting too much or the blood being too thick (thrombophila) to get around. I find that I can't bring my temperature up myself, I could be in all those layers and still freeze but if I was warm to start with then they aren't necessary. I have to use direct heat either from a heat source or another person to bring my temperature up first.

A little tip from the Arctic, you keep warm better at night if you sleep naked, I don't know why it works but I've always found it to be true and apparently they do too.

You definitely need to talk to the school and see what allowances they can make for her, it's a disability like any other and in extreme cases you can lose digits so they need to help.

Even better than the gel hand warmers, Zippo do one that you fill with lighter fluid and light in the morning (no flame, don't worry) it lasts hours, usually enough to last her the full school day. Amazon sell them - dh bought me one a few years ago and is amazing for cold days!

Thank you so much for all the replies. Dd is 9 but we have been struggling with this for four years. She is also under the care of a Rheumatologist.

The school are quite supportive but she want's to blend in and doesn't like being different. She has the hand warmers both the thick ones and the click ones. We also have thermal baselayers.

Today I will get her a sleeping bag - thats a great idea thanks.
Some Ginkyo Biloba and I will look for the fleece tights in H&M.

She doesn't agree with the core temperature idea and sometimes is really too hot but her hands still go white.

I have also read Vitamin D supplements help so trying that too.

Try a couple of fleece blanket's under the bottom sheet, it traps heat, my brother can't lay on my bed for more then 10 mins as he gets to hot!

Would a memory foam mattress topper be any good for keeping warm at night? Do research if it can be used with an electric blanket.

The poor thing - but I found warming my wrists with a hand warmer more effective than my hands - if that makes sense. And yy to keeping feet warm.
And does she do the 5 min soak in hot water water thing - I was told to do it morning and evening...like I said not convinced it worked but might be worth trying - maybe 5 min hand soak in the school loos before afternoon sessions.
(mine may be autoimmune related - too complicated to go into - actually used to go to the RA clinic. It seems like it has been in remission for years but might be back (not just the raynaulds) - if it is I'm dreading this winter )

For vitamin d have a look at 'Dlux'. It's a vitamin d spray that tastes of mint. Easy to take, tastes nice, and suppose to absorb quicker

What I found is that if I tried to super heat my hands (think holding them on a mug of a hot drink, or right in front of a heater) although it temporarily felt great, the 'temperature difference' was too great, and I actually suffered the white numbness more often. You need a slightly more gradual warming, with gloves etc.