Equipped To Survive Equipped To Survive® Presents
The Survival Forum
Where do you want to go on ETS?

Page 1 of 2 1 2 >
Topic Options
#79271 - 12/07/06 04:24 AM Treating Severe Hypothermia
sodak Offline
Addict

Registered: 03/20/05
Posts: 410
Reading the tragic events in Oregon reminded me of a book written about a blizzard in the Midwest in the 1880's. It was known as the children's blizzard due to the high number of children who were caught at school during the blizzard and died trying to make it home. It was a real fast-moving monster.

The author described, on many occasions, people who were almost frozen to death, warmed up by a fireplace, given warm drinks, then, after a time, felt pretty good. They would stand up, walk around for a minute or two, then literally drop dead right in front of their rescuers. It had something to do with their circulatory system not yet being over the shock or something like that. The take home message that I learned was not to let them stand up, let the doctors at the hospital do that.

Anyone with medical training care to elaborate? What are the proper procedures for re-warming a severely hypothermic person?

Top
#79272 - 12/07/06 05:40 AM Re: Treating Severe Hypothermia
Todd W Offline
Product Tester
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 11/14/04
Posts: 1928
Loc: Mountains of CA
Hypothermia = Thicker blood, Slower moving, but increased heart rate... thaw = thinner blood but heart rate stays up = heart attack?
(This is 100% a guess!!!)

I know if you thaw frostbite to fast the skin/cells can die.
_________________________
Self Sufficient Home - Our journey to self sufficiency.

Top
#79273 - 12/07/06 06:37 AM Re: Treating Severe Hypothermia
Hattaway Offline


Registered: 12/05/06
Posts: 6
Loc: California
Cardiac arrythmias are common with hypothermia. The stress of standing up can cause orthostatic hypotension, which in English is a drop in blood pressure caused by standing up (this doesn't require hypothermia). A sudden drop in blood pressure combined with an electrically compromised heart doesn't sound like a good thing. I'm not knowledgable enough to take us from long Q-T intervals plus sudden hypotension to V-Fib, but the latter would kill you pretty well.

Top
#79274 - 12/07/06 04:27 PM Re: Treating Severe Hypothermia
paramedicpete Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 04/09/02
Posts: 1920
Loc: Frederick, Maryland
Take a look at this web site:

Hypothermia Treatment

Pete

Top
#79275 - 12/07/06 05:09 PM Re: Treating Severe Hypothermia
Arney Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 09/15/05
Posts: 2485
Loc: California
Sodak, I believe what you're describing is explained towards the very end of the webpage that Pete linked to--the sudden introduction of still-cold/cool blood from the extremities into the core circulation. The heart is still not really recovered and the sudden shock of more cold blood causes cardiac arrest or other cardiac abnormality. Very insidious.

It's similar to the danger faced by people pinned under heavy objects, like in an earthquake, through "crush syndrome". They victim will seem fine when they are initially rescued, can walk around and hug people, then shortly thereafter, just drop dead. It's a different mechanism, but it's equally terrible because the victim seems fine at first.

Top
#79276 - 12/07/06 05:16 PM Re: Treating Severe Hypothermia
OldBaldGuy Offline
Geezer

Registered: 09/30/01
Posts: 5695
Loc: Former AFB in CA, recouping fr...
Wow, that goes a little beyond the old "get naked in a sleeping bag with the victim" EMT training I got in the late 70's...
_________________________
OBG

Top
#79277 - 12/07/06 07:28 PM Re: Treating Severe Hypothermia
sodak Offline
Addict

Registered: 03/20/05
Posts: 410
Thanks for the link and the explanations! I'm tucking this one away in the bookmark file.

Top
#79278 - 12/08/06 03:54 AM what do you think of this then, Pete?
benjammin Offline
Rapscallion
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 02/06/04
Posts: 4020
Loc: Anchorage AK
Hmm, this makes me think that an effective field expedient augmentation would be to have a warm person respirate into a hypothermic individual just like artificial respiration techniques, only with a conscious victim. It may not be ideally warm, but exhaled breath is quite a bit warmer than ambient, full of moisture, and not overly lean on oxygen. Makes sense to me. What do you think Pete?
_________________________
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
-- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

Top
#79279 - 12/08/06 03:48 PM Frozen Mythbusters
jshannon Offline
Addict

Registered: 02/02/03
Posts: 647
Loc: North Texas

Top
#79280 - 12/08/06 04:18 PM Re: Treating Severe Hypothermia
Misanthrope Offline
Member

Registered: 09/08/05
Posts: 156
Loc: Chicago burbs
Do not recall where I picked this up, but I recall someone once stating that you warm the indiviidual in the same way they became hypothermic, i.e. hypothermia due to extended exposure, warm cautiously, and incrementally. Hypothermic due to rapid heat loss, a dunking for example, allows for rapid re-heating. Any of our experts know if this is correct?
_________________________
I hear voices....And they don't like you.

Top
Page 1 of 2 1 2 >



Moderator:  Alan_Romania, Blast, cliff, Hikin_Jim 
March
Su M Tu W Th F Sa
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
Who's Online
0 registered (), 269 Guests and 21 Spiders online.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newest Members
GallenR, Jeebo, NicholasMarshall, Yadav, BenFoakes
5367 Registered Users
Newest Posts
What did you do today to prepare?
by dougwalkabout
Yesterday at 11:21 PM
Zippo Butane Inserts
by dougwalkabout
Yesterday at 11:11 PM
Question about a "Backyard Mutitool"
by Ren
03/17/24 01:00 AM
Problem in my WhatsApp configuration
by Chisel
03/09/24 01:55 PM
New Madrid Seismic Zone
by Jeanette_Isabelle
03/04/24 02:44 PM
EDC Reduction
by EchoingLaugh
03/02/24 04:12 PM
Using a Compass Without a Map
by KenK
02/28/24 12:22 AM
Newest Images
Tiny knife / wrench
Handmade knives
2"x2" Glass Signal Mirror, Retroreflective Mesh
Trade School Tool Kit
My Pocket Kit
Glossary
Test

WARNING & DISCLAIMER: SELECT AND USE OUTDOORS AND SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES AND TECHNIQUES AT YOUR OWN RISK. Information posted on this forum is not reviewed for accuracy and may not be reliable, use at your own risk. Please review the full WARNING & DISCLAIMER about information on this site.