❄️ HELP 🥶

Olivia Dahan
Nov 24, 2020
3 min read

Hello everyone, in this week's post we will talk about hypothermia and ways to treat victims of hypothermia.

What is Hypothermia?

Hypothermia is a medical emergency that occurs when your body loses heat faster than it can produce heat. Normal body temperature is around 98.6 F (37 C). With Hypothermia, core temperature drops below 95 F (35 C).

Symptoms of Hypothermia Include:

slowed breathing
excessive shivering
slowed speech
clumsiness
bright red; cold skin
confusion/ memory loss
slow/weak pulse
loss of consciousness in severe cases

Most Common Causes

Cold exposure: when your body experiences extremely cold temperatures, it loses heat more quickly than it can produce it.
Wearing clothes that aren't warm enough for weather conditions,
Staying out in the cold too long,
Being unable to get out of wet clothes or move to a warm, dry location,
Living in a house that's too cold from poor heating.

Some Risk Factors for Hypothermia Include:

-Age

-Mental illness and dementia

-Alcohol and drug use

-Arthritis

-Diabetes

-Parkinson's disease

-Dehydration

-Specific medications such as antidepressants or sedatives

Complications

Freezing of body tissues (frostbite)
Decay and death of tissue resulting from an interruption in blood flow

The Five Stages of Hypothermia & Ways to Treat Them:

1. HT I: Mild hypothermia, 35-32 degrees. Normal or near normal consciousness, shivering.

1.1 Mild Hypothermia can often be treated simply by changing any wet for dry clothing, properly insulating the patient and providing hot sweet drinks for calories.

2. HT II: Moderate hypothermia, 32-28 degrees. Shivering stops, consciousness becomes impaired.

2.1 The patient should have wet clothing replaced with dry, be carefully insulated and sheltered from the environment

3. HT III: Severe hypothermia, 24-28 degrees.

3.1 Rescuers should check for at least a full minute for both pulse and breathing before determining them to be absent. Severely hypothermic patients must be handled as gently as possible to prevent cardiac arrhythmias.

4. HT IV: Apparent death, 15-24 degrees.

4.1 Very gentle handling, prevent further heat loss and apply external heat sources to initiate rewarming in the field.

5. HT V: Death from irreversible hypothermia.

5.1 If there is any doubt and it is safe for the rescuers to do so the patient should be evacuated to hospital.

More Treatments...

Hypothermia is a medical emergency. Call 911 immediately if you suspect that you or someone you know has hypothermia! In the meantime emergency care arrives you should :

Handle the person carefully and move the person to a dry and warm shelter if possible.
Protect the person against wind, drafts, and further heat loss with warm, dry clothes and blankets
Offer warm liquids, but avoid alcohol and caffeine, which speed up heat loss.
Monitor the person's breathing
Apply warm compresses
Remove the person's wet clothing

Preventions

Cover yourself to prevent body heat from escaping.
Avoid activities that would cause you to sweat a lot. The combination of wet clothing and cold weather can cause you to lose body heat more quickly.
Wear loose-fitting, layered, lightweight clothing.
Stay as dry as possible.

Winter Car Safety

In winter, when you are driving in bad weather conditions be sure someone knows where you are headed at all times and even better try to find refuge while the weather calms down. You can also keep emergency supplies in your car such as blankets, matches, food and a first aid-kit.

Cold-Water Safety

-Wear a life jacket that is equipped with a whistle to signal for help.

-Don't attempt to swim unless you see an incoming boat or if you are close to safety.

-Do not remove your clothing as it will help you insulate yourself from the water.