Hypothermia is the systemic cooling of the body below the temperature its organs can function at. It strikes far above freezing whenever the body loses heat faster than it generates it — wet clothing in a brisk wind is enough — and the impairment of judgment it causes makes its victims poor stewards of their own survival.
Symptoms
Violent shivering, pale and cold skin, numb extremities, clumsy hands, slurred speech, and stumbling gait. As cooling deepens the shivering paradoxically stops, replaced by drowsiness, apathy, and a strange compulsion to remove clothing (“paradoxical undressing”).
Progression
Once shivering ceases, the victim has only minutes to perhaps an hour. Heart rhythm grows irregular, consciousness fails, and death follows from cardiac arrest. Recovery from severe hypothermia requires careful, gradual rewarming — rapid heat can itself be lethal.
Treatment
- Move out of wind and wet; replace soaked clothing with anything dry
- Insulate the trunk first — torso and head — before the limbs
- Share body warmth and offer warm (not hot) sweetened drinks if conscious
- Rewarm slowly; do not rub frozen limbs or plunge the victim into hot water