I have a question about silver. Back before cgm I had a silver medic alert bracelet that would turn black. My doctor told me it is because of sugar in my sweat and skin.
Ok well now I am generally running 95% in range on average
And yet i got a silver ring to deal with a different ailment Dupuytrens Contracture.
On the finger that I have my wedding ring Is my only finger with no contractures, so I was wondering if a ring on another finger would show any improvement.
Actually I’m lucky as I’m not really limited by it.
Still my silver ring went black in just 3 days.
I’m at a bit of a loss
I don’t really have an answer, but I had something similar with a single band silver bracelet–but not with another. The one that leaves a mark is a lovely, braided pattern. The one that doesn’t is a very simple, uncomplicated silver band. Both are very narrow. I’m going to follow this and see if we can sort out an answer! Thanks for the post…Judith
Silver always tarnishes unless coated to prevent it. The purer the silver, the faster the tarnish. Silver in jewelry seems to tarnish faster probably because of ingredients in human sweat. Could be sugars, but silver on non-diabetics also tarnishes. Use a silver polish but be careful if there are any precious stones embedded because some can be damaged by the polish. Or have a jeweler do the polishing and then have it treated to resist tarnishing.
I hope the doctor paid more attention in biology than they did in chemistry. The number 1 cause of silver tarnish is sulfur. Silver was considered a noble metal because it did not tarnish. This was before we humans started burning coal which increased sulfur in the atmosphere. We added to this by using high sulfur. Diesel fuel. This also caused acid rain.
The one food I know off hand that is high in sulfur are egg yoke. This can increase the sulfur content of sweat and possibly make it more acid which can cause silver to tarnish.
Another culprit is chlorine. Even the the small amount of chlorine in tap water can damage the fine prongs that hold jewels in place on rings.
As to sweet sweat causing silver tarnish, that’s unlikely. Glucose well all sugars are just water and carbon atoms. Neither are known to cause silver to tarnish.
I just did a search on foods with sulfur. It’s pretty extensive.
My wedding ring is a gold band and that finger has no contraction. The ring finger on my right hand is bent. I have had 3 treatments on my hands, but at 74, I doubt that I have another one. Extremely glad that I had work done though.
Medic Alert used to recommend stainless steel over silver for diabetics. I don’t see that recommendation now. And in fact I don’t find that anywhere, except one thread on this forum, 15 years ago:
And in that thread the only reference found was Medic Alert. Furthermore, the quote from Medic Alert was
So it seems there was never but that one source, and they have backed off AFAICT. I’ve checked many web sources which discuss diabetes and skin conditions, and found none mentioning silver.
So why you? In doing some reading, I find that silver jewelry is usually “sterling silver”, which is 92.5% silver and the rest some other metal, usually copper. Pure silver is too soft to be used alone. It seems that what we call tarnish can be two things:
the non-silver metal oxidizing.
the silver reacting with sulfur to form silver sulfide.
Maybe there’s some reason we oxidize the non-silver metal faster than normies, but that strikes me as unlikely
So where would sulfur come from? If it were, say, a normal component of sweat, then everyone would be seeing this. (I sweat a lot, but have never worn silver. My wedding ring was gold, and it’s been about 40 years since I could get it over my ring finger joints.) You are reporting far faster tarnishing than normal.
The only possibility I’ve come up with is that many skin condition treatments contain sulfur. If you are using any type of skin treatment, even OTC, check it for any ingredient whose name starts with “sulf” or “suph”.
Maybe a dermatologist would have an idea. I have no other answers.
Yea, I think the rings sort of prevent it so I was going to try a new one. I’ll probably just get another gold ring.
However I don’t want to be one of those guys with rings on every finger because it starts to look tacky.
So far both of my hands can lie flat on a table so I haven’t had any remediation. My palm looks awful but I’m not so worried about that part. I’m still working and I want to have full use of my hands if I can manage it.
I understand that type 1 diabetics are more likely to get it, but are also less severe.
In my family we all have it and mine is the most mild.
I had my first needle treatment 25 yrs ago, because my hands were bad especially my right hand. After the bands were broken I could lay both of my hands flat. Now I can’t lay my right hand flat
My dad,who didn’t have diabetes, was getting some contractions, but he was 88.
Marilyn, what type of treatment did you have for the Dupuytren’s? My left ring finger is bent at about 45 degrees. No pain, but it limits me in some of my hobbies. I’ve heard such bad things about all the treatments for Dupuytren’s, including open palm surgery, ziaflex, and aponeurotomy. Would love to hear from you as to what your treatment consisted of and how long it took you to recover.
Also, to Timothy, I’ve never heard of wearing any kind of ring actually preventing Dupuytren’s. It can be a familial problem, though, and an aunt of mine who had it had to stop wearing her wedding ring because her ring finger contracted so badly.
Ruth, needle aponeurotomy had just been introduced to the USA about the time that I needed work done. I went to a hand surgeon in Florida who had been trained by the man, in Paris, who developed the process. I had already talked to a hand surgeon in Spokane, who told me that he would have to take off part of my little finger if he did surgery on my hand. I started looking for other procedures when I found needle aponeurotomy. The hand surgeon in Florida was wonderful. I had a little pain from the local anesthetic, but watched him release the bands. I was very pleased. I think he did one hand and we went back the next morning to have my left hand treated. By that afternoon we were out sight seeing. Recovery was very quick. I was close to 50 then and had had type 1 for over 40 years.
A few years later my right needed more work, and by that time a few more surgeons had been trained in needle aponeurotomy. This time we went to San Francisco and had it done there. I liked this doctor. The last place I went was to a surgeon in Portland who I did not care for. I wouldn’t go back to him. I haven’t had any more work done since then and am fairly pleased.
I only said I wanted to try using rings because my ring finger that has my wedding ring is the only finger that doesn’t have any contractures. I was wondering if the construction prevented the contractures from forming.
I have another friend who has no contractures on the 2 fingers that he wears rings.
So it’s not really based on science. So much as an experience with an n=2 or n=3 if I count Marilyn.
I heard xiaflex is really the least invasive treatment. But it requires injections into the contractures, then you go back 3 days later to have them broken with some aggressive manipulation.
I have one that is pretty thick leading to my thumb, in the future, I might need to have just that one treated.
I don’t know if it hurts but it sounds like it hurts.
