Heated clothing can be used by many people with diabetes, but neuropathy changes the risk. When nerves cannot sense heat properly, a heated panel, sock or hand warmer can burn skin without warning. Talk to your clinician first, avoid direct heat on numb areas, especially the feet, use the lowest effective setting, keep fabric between heat and skin, and check your skin every time.

Cold sensitivity is one of the most common experiences in scleroderma and lupus, mostly through secondary Raynaud's. Nearly 90% of people with scleroderma have Raynaud's symptoms, and it affects up to one-third of people with lupus. Living well in the cold means warming the whole body, protecting fragile skin, avoiding sudden temperature changes and reporting sores early to your care team.

Cold intolerance is an abnormal sensitivity to cold temperatures. MedlinePlus lists its main causes as anemia, hypothyroidism, blood vessel problems such as Raynaud's, anorexia nervosa, problems with the brain's temperature center and chronic severe illness. Some cancer drugs, notably oxaliplatin, also make people very sensitive to cold. A clinician can usually narrow the cause with an exam and blood tests.

Your body gives up hand warmth first when it senses cold. To protect core temperature, the hypothalamus narrows blood vessels in the skin, and fingers cool quickly. Keeping the torso warm reduces that signal, so the body has less reason to hold warm blood back from the hands. That is why Raynaud's organizations advise warming the whole body, especially the core, not only the fingers.

The best gloves for Raynaud's are usually not gloves at all but insulated, windproof mittens, because fingers share heat inside one space. Wear a thin liner glove underneath for tasks, and choose a long cuff and room for a hand warmer. Heated gloves suit some people on very cold days, but no glove works well if your core is cold.

Raynaud's causes short episodes in which fingers or toes turn white, then blue, then red. Chilblains are itchy red or purple patches that appear hours after cold. Acrocyanosis is persistent, usually painless blue discoloration. Erythromelalgia is red, burning skin triggered by warmth. Cold urticaria causes itchy welts within minutes. Buerger's disease is a tobacco-linked artery disease that can mimic Raynaud's.

Primary Raynaud's happens on its own, usually starts in the teens or twenties, and is generally mild. Secondary Raynaud's is caused by another condition, medicine or exposure, often begins later in adulthood, and is more likely to cause finger sores. Clinicians tell them apart with a history, an exam, a look at the nailfold capillaries and blood tests such as ANA.

Cold hands and feet are usually the body's normal way of protecting core temperature by narrowing blood vessels in the skin. The pattern tells you more than the coldness itself: episodes of white or blue fingers suggest Raynaud's, one-sided coldness can point to blocked arteries, and numbness with cold feet may reflect nerve damage. Most people improve by warming the whole body.

Feeling cold all the time is often a normal difference in how your body conserves heat, shaped by body size, activity and clothing. Persistent or worsening cold can also come from hypothyroidism, anemia, very low body weight, Raynaud's phenomenon or other blood vessel problems. If cold intolerance is long-term, extreme or comes with fatigue or other new symptoms, see a clinician.