Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
• Shivering
• Decreased awareness and inability to think clearly
• Numbness, especially in the extremities
• Pale skin color and skin cold to the touch
• Poor dexterity
As hypothermia advances, and the body core temperature approaches the “death zone,” the
following symptoms may occur:
• Apathy
• Feelings of blissful warmth
• Sleepiness and the desire to lie down and take a nap
• The victim may start to feel hot and start shedding clothes
• Difficulty or inability to walk
• Slurred speech followed by inability to speak, or speech not making any sense what-
soever
• Ashen cold skin, looking like a corpse that can still move a little
• May or may not have waves of uncontrollable shivering
Treatment for hypothermia:
• It is absolutely critical that core temperature be raised as soon as possible.
• Monitor pulse and breathing. Give victim artificial respiration, or CPR, if necessary.
• Get the victim out of wet or frozen clothes and immerse in a warm bath (not hot, op-
timum is from 102˚F-105˚F (39˚C-40.5˚C), if available. Change victim into dry
warm clothes. Alternatively, wrap victim in pre-warmed blankets.
• Drink plenty of hot liquids, such as tea, coffee, or simply just hot water.
• If prior options are not available, have a warm person crawl into a single sleeping bag
alongside the hypothermic victim for body heat transfer from the warm body to the
hypothermic body.
Note:
Simply placing a hypothermic victim inside a sleeping bag
by themselves is usually not good enough, since their body will at that point be pretty
much shut down and not generating enough body heat on its own to rapidly restore
correct body temperature.
• Seek medical attention—hypothermia is life threatening, so time is of the essence!
Frostbite
