Jan 19, 2015

Announcer: Medical news and enquiry from the Academy of Utah physicians and specialists you can use for a happier and healthier life. You're listening to The Scope.

Host: Did you know that you could get hypothermia when it's twoscore degrees outside? I'm with Dr. Troy Madsen, emergency room physician at the University of Utah Hospital. Let's talk virtually hypothermia. Is at that place a comparison to be drawn betwixt heat exhaustion and rut stroke here?

Dr. Troy Madsen: Absolutely. Heat stroke is when the body temperature gets really loftier. Hypothermia is when information technology gets really low.

Host: Okay.

Dr. Troy Madsen: Neither of those is good. So think well-nigh it this manner. Probably the easiest mode to compare this is to your motorcar. If your car'south really hot, it doesn't run well. But and then call up virtually these cold mornings nosotros're having at present, going out there, trying to get-go your motorcar upwardly. Y'all're just trying to get that engine going. It but starts to turn over a fiddling flake, and once it gets going, it doesn't work well.

Host: Yep. And then even you try to shift it into gear, the transmissions sloggy.

Dr. Troy Madsen: Exactly. It just does not work well. That's exactly what the body does. Yous know, your center'southward kind of the engine of your body. If it'due south cold, it does non work well. You know, at loftier temperatures, same matter with your heart. Absolutely. There'southward definitely a comparison there.

Host: Then 40 degrees, information technology could beginning happening. Is information technology normal at 40?

Dr. Troy Madsen: Not normal at 40. The large thing in the 40's is if you're in damp weather, if it'southward raining on y'all, you've got cold clothing, you can get hypothermia. So people who are outside maybe. You know, information technology's a fiddling late in the year for people to be hunting, but mayhap for outdoor activities, you may recollect, "Hey, its 40 degrees exterior. I should be fine." But y'all could or your children could be experiencing hypothermia if you start to get cold or you just don't have the right clothing on.

Host: What temperature does information technology normally happen? When practise you lot really need to start worrying about information technology?

Dr. Troy Madsen: This last winter, I saw several cases of it in the ER because we had some actually cold days. But usually, once you get these temperatures downwardly in the teens and the single digits at dark, we see it a lot in people who are homeless, who are out on the streets, who don't have any identify to get or may accept not gotten into the place, into some of the resources that we take available. Or people who may be intoxicated, who may not exist enlightened exactly what's going on, that their torso temperature'southward dropping. That'due south where we really start to see some serious cases in the ER.

Host: Then more often than not, it'southward non somebody that's doing some outdoor activities such as snow shoeing, skiing, that sort of thing?

Dr. Troy Madsen: Typically not. You know, I think most of us, we know when we're getting cold. It's non, like, you're walking out to your auto in the morning time and you get overcome suddenly by the cold. Information technology'due south usually people who are in some other situation. They may exist out skiing. They may be out in the back land where they just tin't go to where it's warm soon plenty. Just for well-nigh of us, in our solar day-to-day activities, information technology's not a big consequence.

Host: So frostbite'due south probably a little bit more than predominant though? Because I tin can be out doing an activity and not take gloves on.

Dr. Troy Madsen: Correct.

Host: I could exist warm enough, only my extremities are not?

Dr. Troy Madsen: Exactly.

Host: Okay.

Dr. Troy Madsen: And that's 1, also. You know, the big thing with skiing is commonly these temperatures are in the single digits, and those tin can be some pretty cold days. When you're snow shoeing or hiking or whatever, when it kicks up, yous've got part of your face exposed. You can go some frostbite on your face up or on your olfactory organ. Certainly on your hands if y'all don't accept the correct equipment on. And when it gets cold like that, your body's going to pull blood from your hands, from your feet to your cadre to keep information technology warm. That's when you get some problems in your hands, some frostbite in your hands and fingers.

Host: And then if my face gets frostbitten. What does that mean?

Dr. Troy Madsen: Basically, what information technology ways is you got dead tissue in that location. You got tissue where there's just not enough blood supply there because the claret has been pulled away from it, and the temperatures have gotten so cold in that part of the body that the tissue actually dies. And then, real cases of frostbite, that'due south expressionless tissue. Oft, if it's severe enough, you know, we'll have cases of people who come in with frostbitten toes. I've seen cases, interestingly, of just people who are just out working, only out shoveling their snow. I've had a couple cases of that. They had some other medical problems that I think made things worse, simply they've had amputations of some of their toes considering of that, because the frostbite was and so bad.

Host: And so frostbite can cause things to take to exist amputated?

Dr. Troy Madsen: It can. It tin can. You know, usually, it may crusade some cosmetic issues. Certainly if it's on your face, that can be a problem. Just in some cases, you actually have to take an amputation.

Host: What are the symptoms of either 1 of these that I need to watch out for? Y'all know, considering I've been really cold before.

Dr. Troy Madsen: Yep.

Host: And so cold that I call back, "My toes are going to fall off."

Dr. Troy Madsen: Correct.

Host: But was I actually in danger?

Dr. Troy Madsen: I think the starting time 1 with hypothermia, you know, if you're shivering, that's a expert sign. So you lot think the normal body temperature'south 98.6. Once it starts to drib downward around 97 or 96, you're going to start shivering. And that's just your body's way of trying to produce heat. You shiver. Information technology produces heat. It tries to warm upwardly the core. But the really concerning thing is if you stop shivering. That's when your trunk temperature gets less than 90 degrees, and that's where it becomes life threatening. Your middle just starts to exercise weird rhythms. It gets really ho-hum. And certainly, if y'all're with someone and they just are not shivering and you're actually common cold, and they're just not shivering at all, and they are not really responding to you, those are signs of astringent hypothermia.

Host: Is there annihilation that y'all could do for them at that point if yous can't become them to assist?

Dr. Troy Madsen: It'due south not everyone'due south ideal scenario or consideration, but if you take to, the best way to go someone warm is number one, make sure they're dry. Number two, if you've got a sleeping bag or something to insulate you, strip them downwardly. Strip yourself down. Get your body estrus next to them. That's the all-time way to warm them up.

Host: And that's about all you tin can do at that betoken?

Dr. Troy Madsen: That's nearly all you tin can exercise besides trying to become aid. You know, obviously, if you lot can make a fire or any resources y'all have there, just that's going to be the quickest way to warm someone up.

Host: Any other thoughts?

Dr. Troy Madsen: Yep. I think the number ane affair is merely preparation. Make sure you know where you're going. Know what the temperatures are. Brand sure you lot're prepared for that, so that doesn't happen to you.

Host: And bundle up when you're shoveling your driveway.

Dr. Troy Madsen: Exactly. Stay bundled upwardly.

Journalist: We're your daily dose of science, conversation, medicine. This is The Telescopic, the University of Utah Health Sciences Radio.

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