SEAL Survival Guide (79 page)
Read SEAL Survival Guide Online
Authors: Cade Courtley
Heatstroke
If your body temperature reaches more than 105 degrees, then the entire nervous system could malfunction. This is marked by an absence of sweat in a person and can lead to organ damage and death.
TREATMENT
The immediate goal in all three of these cases is to cool down the body by performing as many of the following functions as possible:
1. Get to a shaded environment.
2. Lie down and elevate the legs.
3. Loosen clothing.
4. Take sips of fluid, but don’t gulp or guzzle.
5. Remove most clothing.
6. Fan a cold-water mist over the body, which increases evaporation.
7. Wrap the victim in a water-soaked blanket.
8. Put ice packs under the groin or on the back of the neck.
COLD INJURIES
The body doesn’t like being exposed for prolonged periods to cold temperatures, since our ability to generate heat, or to limit heat loss, is quite limited. The body works very hard to maintain its core temperature, which means it burns a lot of calories performing this function. Of primary importance is staying dry when facing cold conditions.
A wet layer against your skin, like a sweat-soaked shirt, will greatly reduce your body’s ability to stay warm. Whenever possible ensure you have a dry layer that you can put on.
SEALs say: “If you’re wet, you’re dead.”
Cold injuries can also occur with only brief exposure to extremely cold conditions. You must pay close attention to forecasting weather conditions to make for better planning and to know what equipment will be essential. Thorough preplanning can greatly reduce the chances of incurring a cold injury.
Hypothermia
Hypothermia is defined as a decrease in the core body temperature to a level at which normal muscular and cerebral functions are impaired. Many conditions can contribute to hypothermia: cold temperatures, improper clothing and equipment, wetness, fatigue and exhaustion, dehydration, poor food intake, and alcohol consumption. Another huge risk factor can be a lack of knowledge about hypothermia and inability to read the terrain and environment correctly, so practice situational awareness, and always be prepared.
MILD HYPOTHERMIA
When the body temperature drops from the normal 98.6 to 96 degrees, an involuntary shivering occurs. This is the body’s only way of trying to generate heat, which is fairly ineffective. However, it still will not interfere with or impair motor functions, so you can still ice climb or ski, for example, and walk and talk coherently.
MODERATE HYPOTHERMIA
When the body temperature dips to between 95 and 93 degrees, you begin to feel dazed and will lose fine motor coordination, particularly
in your hands. You’ll find that you can’t zip up your parka, for example, which is due to restricted peripheral blood flow. You’ll experience slurred speech, more violent shivering, and even irrational behavior. I’ve seen a weird phenomenon take place during such circumstances that I call
paradoxical undressing.
When freezing to death, a person starts to take off clothing, and a strange “I don’t care” attitude comes into play.
SEVERE HYPOTHERMIA
If the body goes down to between 92 and 86 degrees or below, death is imminent. Shivering will then occur in waves. It will be extremely violent and then pause. The pauses get longer until shivering finally ceases. The person falls to the ground, can’t walk, and curls up into a fetal position. The skin turns pale, pupils dilate, and the pulse rate decreases to a faint beat. The person looks dead, but at this point, they remain alive for an indeterminate amount of time.
As a SEAL, you just come to realize that hypothermia is part of the job. In addition to the constant physical demands of Hell Week, like endless running with a coat on your head, the most physically demanding thing your body goes through is trying to maintain its minimal, functioning core temperature. A couple of doctors did a study on a class going through Hell Week and realized that students were burning more than twenty thousand calories every twenty-four hours, largely due to the body’s effort to stay warm. That’s the equivalent of eating forty McDonald’s Quarter Pounders with Cheese every twenty-four hours. Super-size that!
TREATMENT FOR MILD AND MODERATE HYPOTHERMIA
The basic idea is to get the person warmed up, conserve the heat they have left, and find a way to replace the fuel they are burning up.
1. If the person is in wet clothes, get them off and replace them with dry layers. At this early stage, physical activity
will generate heat, so keep the victim moving at least minimally. Attempt to find shelter or build one.
2. It is essential to stop and forestall hypothermia by eating and drinking hot liquids, if available. Carbohydrate-rich foods are best, and even candy can add a quick release of needed fuel into the bloodstream for a sudden brief heat surge. Avoid alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco.
3. Generate heat from an exterior source, such as a fire. Get into a sleeping bag and create a heat cocoon generated by your own heat. You can do like the penguins do and huddle up, because body-to-body contact also generates heat.
TREATMENT FOR SEVERE HYPOTHERMIA
Even at this point, the body can warm itself more effectively than can warmth from an exterior heat source. This method involves creating a
hypothermia wrap.
1. Wrap the person in as many warm layers of blankets or sleeping bags as are available, forming a shell of total insulation at least four inches thick. If possible, once the person
is encased, also try to raise the person off the cold ground or create some barrier between them and the ground, so as not to lose heat or have more cold come in from below.
2. Get fuel into the victim. When experiencing severe hypothermia, the stomach shuts down and will not digest solid foods. The best way to give them energy is by heating water and adding sugar to it. Feed a cup of this mixture to the hypothermic every fifteen minutes.
3. Get the person to urinate. This may sound odd, but the body spends a lot of its heat resources to keep urine warm while it’s in the bladder. The more they can urinate, the quicker the body’s resources can be used to heat other vital organs.
4. Try to transfer heat to the person by placing hot stones, wrapped in towels or cloth, at major arteries, such as at the neck or under the armpits. Remember, there is also another artery near the groin, called the femoral artery, which can quickly distribute heat to the vital organs.
5. If no external sources of heat are available, transfer heat to the person by pressing your own, warmer hands to these points. Do not rub the victim’s skin, as they may also be suffering from frostbite and you might injure them further.
6. A person with severe hypothermia needs to be handled with care (gently) because they are very susceptible to cardiac issues.
Frostbite
Frostbite occurs when body tissue actually freezes. Typically affecting the hands, feet, nose, ears, and cheeks—though other areas of the body may also be affected—frostbite can lead to death or necrosis of tissue, requiring amputation or removal.
You know if frostbite is setting in if you feel a dull pain or tingling sensation. Oftentimes the area feels itchy and will turn colors. At first, it could be red, but then the frostbitten area becomes white or grayish-yellow. The skin will look waxy until it goes numb. When lost to frostbite, the area affected turns black and hard, as the skin tissue has died.
