Wilderness Survival Guide 51 www.adventuresmart.ca The best treatment for hypothermia is prevention. Keep warm and dry. To reduce heat loss, do up all buttons and zippers, tuck your shirt and jacket into the top of your pants, tuck your pants into your socks, pull your shirt and coat collars up, cover your head, then insulate yourself from the ground and keep out of the wind. If your fingers or toes are cold, wiggling them won’t make them warm, but exercising the large muscles of your arms and legs will. To warm your hands, swing your arms vigorously or put them in your armpits or groin. Keeping your big muscles moving will help create heat, but at the same time do not overdo it and cause sweating or increased fatigue by overheating or overexerting yourself. Frostbite Any conditions that promote hypothermia can lead to frostbite. Frostbite is the formation of ice crystals within skin tissues, causing them to freeze. It is usually limited to the regions furthest from your body’s core; hands, feet, face, ears, bottom of your chin or the tip of your nose. Frostbite occurs when blood flow to these regions is reduced as a result of hypothermia or from constricting garments. Exposure to wind dramatically increases the risk of frostbite. So, in strong winds, cover your nose, cheeks and ears with any piece of warm fabric. The first sign of surface frostbite (also called superficial frostbite or frostnip) affects only the skin and often starts with a prickly feeling. Next, waxy white to grey patches form and the skin feels cold and numb, although the tissues beneath are still soft. If a white patch appears, warm it by skin-to-skin contact with your hand until it turns red and then keep it well protected. Do not rub the affected areas vigorously with your hands or rub oils, snow or ice on it as this will only result in further damage to the frozen tissues. If not treated, superficial frostbite will progress to become deep frostbite, with the skin turning hard and pebbly. It will become painful, red, swollen and then blister before deadening. The result can be the loss of part or all of the frostbitten parts of your body in the final stages. Again, do not rub the extremities; instead, use your body’s heat. At this stage, it is best not to do any unnecessary exercise since it will cause the cold blood from your frozen extremity to flow to the inner body, further reducing your core temperature and speeding up hypothermia. COLD INJURIES ...continued
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