What medical problems can hypothermia cause??

what medical problems can hypothermia cause??

Hypothermia is divided into two types: primary and secondary. Primary hypothermia occurs when the body's heat-balancing mechanisms are working properly but are subjected to extreme cold, whereas secondary hypothermia affects people whose heat-balancing mechanisms are impaired in some way and cannot respond adequately to moderate or perhaps even mild cold.


Primary hypothermia typically involves exposure to cold air or immersion in cold water. The cold air variety usually takes at least several hours to develop, but immersion hypothermia will occur within about an hour of entering the water, since water draws heat away from the body much faster than air does.


In secondary hypothermia, the body's heat-balancing mechanisms can fail for any number of reasons, including strokes, diabetes, malnutrition, bacterial infection, thyroid disease, spinal cord injuries (which prevent the brain from receiving crucial temperature-related information from other parts of the body), and the use of medications and other substances that affect the brain or spinal cord.


Alcohol is one such substance. In smaller amounts it can put people at risk by interfering with their ability to recognize and avoid cold-weather dangers. In larger amounts it shuts down the body's heat-balancing mechanisms



The impact of hypothermia on the nervous system often becomes apparent quite early. Coordination, for instance, may begin to suffer as soon as body temperature reaches 95掳F (35掳C). The early signs of hypothermia also include cold and pale skin and intense shivering; the latter stops between 90掳F (32.2掳C) and 86掳F (30掳C). As body temperature continues to fall, speech becomes slurred, the muscles go rigid, and the victim becomes disoriented and experiences eyesight problems.


Other harmful consequences include dehydration as well as liver and kidney failure. Heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure rise during the first stages of hypothermia, but fall once the 90掳F (32.2掳C) mark is passed. Below 86掳F (30掳C) most victims are comatose, and below 82掳F (27.8掳C) the heart's rhythm becomes dangerously disordered. Yet even at very low body temperatures, people can survive for several hours and be successfully revived, though they may appear to be dead.

Mild hypothermia - Skin feels cold, numb, with goosebumps. Responses may slowed, may become irritable.
Moderate hypothermia - Stumbling and lethargic. May talk less, could be irritable and uncooperative.
Severe Hypothermia - Body temp falls below 90F (35C). Shivering stops, Person will be unable to talk, walk, will be irrational. Exposed skin may appear blue. Progresses - Person loses consciousness, pupils dilate, breathing and pulse rates fall. Body systems shut down. Ultimately death will follow unless medical help arrives.