<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>I use the tongkat ali [herbal root] to keep me warm at night eventhough it is suppose to be a natural replacement for viagra.<p><hr></blockquote><p><br><br>I don't know much about tongkat ali but viagra is a vaso-dialator. As such it is bound to make you feel warmer since it will allow a more abundant flow of blood to the skin where you will sense warmth. Unfortunately this is exactly the wrong thing to do when there is a real risk of hypothermia. As you get cold the body naturally decreases blood flow to the surface to retain the body heat to the core organs where you need it to survive. Anything that reverses this is dangerous since it will allow the body heat to escape throught the surface. When treating for hypothermia it is almost always done from the inside out. Heated IV if the patient is unconscious or heated fluids and heated humidified O2 if conscious precede heating the survace. If a persons skin is warmed then the blood vessels dialate and the cold blood from the surface is dumped into the core where a rapid often dangerous cooling takes place.<br><br>This is a serious danger and not to be fooled with. Better to take a hot drink or other source of real heat rather than open up the surface blood vessels. <br><br>OTOH, if this tongkat ali somehow boosts the metabolism and that is it's mechanism of making you warmer then it might be much safer than viagra or other vasodialators would be.<br><br>disclaimer: I am not a doctor only an EMT basic. This is not meant as medical advice just expressing my best understanding of the subject. If one of the doctors on the forum would weigh-in on this I would welcome a more informed opinion.