When the Grid Goes Down: Disaster Preparations and Survival Gear For Making Your Home Self-Reliant by Tony Nester

Author:Tony Nester [Nester, Tony]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781624888472
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2013-03-15T07:00:00+00:00

Recognizing Hypothermia

The classic identification method for cold-related injuries is to look for the "umbles." This is a term that comes from the wilderness medicine community and refers to a change in a person's level of consciousness and physical coordination. In essence, if you see someone stumbling, mumbling, bumbling, and fumbling, then they may be experiencing hypothermia. Conversely, the umbles are also associated with heat-related injuries such as heat-exhaustion and hyponatremia.

Keep in mind that most cases of hypothermia happen in 50 degree F weather and not just in the depths of winter. Many people who succumb to it are dressed improperly wearing cotton clothes and there more fatalities from hypothermia in urban areas than in the wilderness. Wet cotton will contribute to hypothermia as it wicks your body heat away from you and fails to insulate unlike wool and fleece garments. So, avoid the jeans, sweatshirt and other 100% cotton fabrics.

If you are experiencing hypothermia or notice someone in your group with the umbles do something about it NOW and prevent it from getting worse. Light up the woodstove, get out of the wind, change into dry clothes/footwear, or get into your sleeping bag. Eliminate the conditions that are creating the problem. Then stoke your internal furnace with some high-calorie, high-fat foods such as peanut butter, chocolate or soup with cheese.

My usual cold-weather recipe for when I start to get chilled is to have a cup of hot cocoa with a tablespoon of butter in it. I carry a thermos with this brew on my winter dayhikes. The combination of fat and sugar helps to amp up the metabolism.

Hypothermia is the number-one killer of people in the outdoors the world over, so dress properly to deal with wet, windy conditions, bring high-energy foods, stay hydrated, and keep an eye out for the umbles.

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