Re: More winter (Hypothermia First Aid)

From: Juha Ratilainen <jualra_at_...>
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 21:33:58 -0000

Donald Oddy wrote:
> A damaging, but not visually so impressive, effect
> can be achieved by using hot water to thaw frozen extremities,
> basically you should use cold water until they have thawed out to
> avoid too sudden a thawing which can result in burst veins.

This is really, really OT I think, apologies in for that. BUT I also believe that disinformation about medicine & first aid can be harmful to someone sometime so here we go...

If you REALLY mean extremities frozen solid - well, they are dead already, aren't they? Sudden thawing won't harm them any more. And the areas around frozen tissue do need fast warming. Not with hot but little above body temperature water. The best way to treat them is to immerse them in 40C water.

(The exception is a person who is generally hypothermic, with lowered central body temperature. In that case warming the extremities should be avoided.)

I also recommend against rubbing the frostbitten skin with snow mentioned earlier - if anything, that'll only break the skin but not further the warming of the limb.

That's in RW. In Glorantha, OTOH, Heal With Snow really sounds like a good Inora feat to me...

Sorry for the intrusion. Have been enjoying the discussion otherwise.

Juha Ratilainen