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Help with hypothermia.
One of the most severe forms of hypothermia occurs when a person gets into cold water for a long time. Hypothermia in water at low temperatures is dangerous because respiratory failure (possibly cardiac arrest) and loss of consciousness can occur.
After removing the injured person from the water, you must:
- Move the victim to a warm place,
- take off wet clothes,
- rub the skin with alcohol or any alcohol solution until redness,
- change dry clothes, preferably woolen; wrap with a warm blanket or any suitable warm clothing,
- call an ambulance, since in some cases the services of a resuscitator may be needed (the risk of developing arrhythmias, suppression of cardiac activity),
- the victim should be at rest, since excessive physical activity will lead to the flow of chilled blood from the peripheral vessels, and not to them; for the same reason, it is not recommended to intensively rub numb places on the body or limbs (this property of the body is called the "afterdrop" phenomenon),
- give in small sips (several sips with a break) drink a hot drink (tea, milk, water),
- it is not recommended to take alcohol to a person in a state of cold shock, due to the fact that alcohol helps to suppress the activity of the central nervous system (alcohol is used only externally),
- monitor breathing and, in case of cardiac arrest, initiate chest compressions and artificial respiration,
- muscle cramps resulting from hypothermia are relieved by massage,
- it is necessary to warm up the victim's body gradually, therefore it is not recommended to lower the victim into a hot bath, or to dip the limbs in hot water - this can lead to a violation of cardiac activity,
- heating pads are not applied to places that are numb from the cold, the best option is to place the victim near a fireplace, heater (or not far from radiators, next to a fire, stove); in the absence of objects necessary for warming, you can warm the victim with the warmth of your own body, while achieving maximum contact with the victim's body.
In mild hypothermia, the same warming methods are used as in severe forms, but in smaller volumes.
Frostbite is already an extreme case of hypothermia, when the body, protecting internal organs from hypothermia, "throws the periphery to the mercy of fate": face, limbs, skin, etc., which will not receive the necessary energy for heating.
A feature of frostbite is the appearance of redness on the skin turning into blanching (or areas of the skin turn white), blisters or marks of tissue necrosis. Outwardly, this resembles the result of a burn, and with necrosis, the skin becomes bluish-gray or dark purple in color. In such cases, until professional medical care is provided, dry sterile dressings are applied to the frostbite to prevent infection. Frostbite limbs are given a motionless state so as not to provoke excessive rush of blood to the vessels in these places and the possible development of bleeding.
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