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Hypothermia & frostbite

Hypothermia et congelatio · Podchlazení a omrzliny

What it is

Core temperature below 35 °C; the heart becomes irritable and the fingers freeze.

Symptoms & signs

  • Shivering then stopping
  • confusion
  • slurred speech
  • clumsiness
  • white waxy fingers or toes
  • blistering on rewarming

🚩 Get help if…

  • call 112 / 911 now Shivering stops but the person is still cold
  • call 112 / 911 now Confused, slurred speech, very drowsy or unresponsive
  • see a doctor soon Skin that stays white, hard or numb after warming
  • see a doctor soon Blisters or blackening of fingers, toes, ears or nose

Where it strikes

Medical treatment

  • Gentle rewarming
  • warm IV fluids
  • ECMO rewarming in severe cases
  • rapid rewarming of frostbite in 37–39 °C water
  • iloprost (FDA-approved 2024 for severe frostbite) or thrombolysis

Natural & lifestyle

  • Layered clothing
  • stay dry
  • avoid alcohol in cold
  • shelter and insulation
  • never rub frozen tissue

Emerging & experimental

  • Extracorporeal rewarming protocols

Alternative, off-label & anecdotal

Approaches used outside the guidelines, with what their supporters report and what testing has found so far.

  • Alcohol to warm up — widens skin vessels and speeds heat loss not confirmed in trials
  • Rubbing frozen skin with snow — damages tissue further not confirmed in trials

ICD codes