Surviving the Extremes: A Doctor's Journey to the Limits of Human Endurance (49 page)

calcium,
265–66

Callahan, Steve,
84–85
,
88
,
91–92
,
104–5
,
118
,
119
,
120
,
275

callanques
,
158

calluses,
49

calories, daily requirement,
186

camel,
142
,
143
,
147–48
,
150

canawaska vine,
61

candiru,
41
,
79

cannibalism,
75
,
114–17
,
285

canoeing in the Amazon Basin,
19–24
,
78–79

capillaries,
193

capsizing at sea,
84–86

carbohydrates in diet,
102–3

carbon dioxide,
87
,
88–87
,
194
,
258

caribou,
203

carotid artery,
225

carotid bodies,
193

Cascabel pit viper,
44

Cassis, France,
158

castaways

health problems of,
100–101

psychology of,
117–20

rescued,
120
,
122–23

voluntary,
111

catecholamines,
140

caterpillars,
49

catfish,
77

cave paintings,
159–60

caves

living in, to escape heat,
149

underwater,
158
,
159–60

cells,
58

bursting of,
135

death from oxygen lack,
90

membranes of,
180

centrifugal force,
249
,
270

centrifuge training,
249

cerebellum,
217

cerebral cortex,
118–19
,
131
,
216
,
281–82

cerebral edema,
216–18

cerebrospinal fluid,
217

chanting, medical value of,
1
,
4
,
14

chaperone proteins,
140–41
,
202

chest,
212

chicha
(drink),
63

children

care of, by siblings,
33
,
37

crying of, purposeful,
28

drowning,
163–64

chonta palm,
73

Chowdhury, Bernie,
172–74
,
280
,
289

Christian missionaries,
75
,
82

cingulate,
283
,
287
,
291

climbing

without oxygen,
226

slow, to reach high altitude,
192

clothing

for cold,
184–85

for heat,
147

modern Western,
39
,
62
,
150

and side-stepping of evolution,
151

clotting,
45–46
,
68

codeine,
216

Cofan Indians,
19
,
36

coffee,
132

cold

clothing for,
184–85

death by,
233

resistance to, by some peoples,
202–4
,
214–15

cold water, survival in, records,
164

collapse,
133
,
233

Comex,
176

compressed air,
169
,
237–38

conditioning,
275

conduction,
127

confusion,
86
,
135

Conga ant,
57

continental plates,
190

convection,
127

Coober Pedy, Australia,
149

coordination, loss of,
217

coral snake,
41–42
,
45

cormorant,
95–96

cornea,
232

coronary artery,
219

cortisol,
140

cosmic rays,
260–63

Cosquer, Henri,
158–60

coughing,
87
,
192
,
204–5

coumarin,
68

crampon,
185

crew, space

chosen to get along with each other,
263–64

conflict among,
267–69
,
271

crocodile,
34
,
35
,
36
,
39

capturing one,
20–23

Cro-Magnons,
160

crutches and prosthesis,
48

crying,
28

curare,
66
,
68

currents, ocean,
181–82

cuts,
26
,
30–34
,
238–41

darts, poison,
60
,
74
,
75–76

date (food),
149

day and night, rhythm of,
256
,
264–65

“dead man’s float,”
86

death, belief in own,
154–55
,
233
,
289

decision making,
283

decompression,
171–75
,
177
,
254

Defense Department,
16

dehydration,
109
,
132
,
194

Delauze, Henri,
176

delusion,
288

dendrite,
289

desert,
124–55

cause and formation of,
94
,
125

death in,
134–35

“vaccination” against,
138–39

desert people,
146–51

despair,
136

dexamethasone,
218
,
224
,
228

Dexedrine,
250

die, refusal to,
280
,
291

diet, human, components of,
102–4

dieting,
112
,
120

diffusion,
193

digestive tract,
162

diving,
160–82

breath-holding,
160
,
164–66

compressed air use,
169
,
237–38

deep-sea,
13–14

free,
160
,
164–66

hard-hat,
161

by mammals,
195–96

without a buddy,
156–59

diving bell,
160–61

diving reflex, mammalian,
163

DNA,
261

doctors, mystique of,
38–39
,
65

dog, poisoned,
66–67

dolphin,
97

Donner Party,
115–16
,
122

down (goose),
184

dragons,
205
,
210

Dramamine,
93

dreams, overriding instinct,
201

drowning,
86–87
,
90

recovery from, in children,
163

dysentery,
37

ear

inner, and orientation,
92
,
93
,
247–50

middle, pain in,
161
,
162
,
251

popping,
157

eardrum, ruptured,
162

eating,
112
,
120
,
145

Ecuador,
18

edema,
120

electric eel,
40

electrolytes,
93

emotion,
110
,
284–85
,
286

endothelial cells,
229–30

endurance training,
124
,
141–42

enema, rehydration,
106

environments

extreme,
4–5
,
13

human life adapted to,
5

native, destruction of, by outside cultures,
43
,
80–83

enzymes,
142

epileptic seizure,
71

epineurium,
31

erythropoietin,
194–95

Eskimos,
96
,
150
,
203
,
204

Essex
,
117
,
118

ethical standards,
115

Etienne, Jean-Louis,
203

euphoria,
169

eustachian tube,
162

evolution, and survival,
14
,
18

examination table, in the field,
37

exercise,
128
,
131
,
141
,
267–68

exploration, as human instinct,
5

Explorers Club, The,
10

extreme environments, humans in,
4–5
,
13

extreme medicine,
6–16

eyes,
92
,
107
,
180
,
232
,
247

face,
140

face mask,
180

face paint (medicine man’s),
38–39
,
54
,
65

faith,
292

falls,
2
,
219

fangs,
46

fat, body, as insulation,
21–22
,
142
,
150
,
163–64
,
203

fat, dietary,
103
,
203

fat cells,
103
,
112

fear,
70
,
86
,
118

feet

bare,
49
,
214–15

humanness of,
114

keeping warm,
185

femoral artery,
225

feral state,
117

Ferreras, Franciso “Pipin,”
164–66

fibrin,
230

fighter pilots,
242
,
244
,
248–49

Fischer, Scott,
222
,
223–25
,
226–27

fish

deep-dwelling,
179–81

food value of,
103–5

fishing,
76–77
,
94
,
95
,
98
,
101–2

flea,
49–50

flying fish,
105

Foale, Michael,
251

fox, arctic,
203

frog

poison-dart,
59–60
,
66
,
68
,
74
,
81–82

wood,
204

frontal cortex,
71
,
88
,
90
,
202
,
282–83
,
286

frostbite,
226–25
,
229–32

fruit,
61

fungus, on feet,
49

fur,
143–44

gag reflex,
87
,
90

Galapagos Islands,
99
,
156

Gamoff bag,
218

gardens, medicinal,
67
,
73

Gardette, Bernard,
176

gas, internal, expansion of,
251–52

Gau, “Makalu,”
222
,
225–35

genes

preservation of,
60
,
64
,
280

survival mechanisms built into,
81–82

genitals, humanness of,
114

germs, mutation of, in outer space,
266

G force,
242–46

global positioning,
119
,
121

gloves,
185

glucagon,
140

glucose,
112
,
140
,
211
,
212

glycogen,
112

goals, having, and survival,
279–80

goggles,
185

goose bumps,
199–200

grass, water from,
145
,
148

gravity, and space travel,
242–50
,
259–60
,
270–71

Greece,
167

Greeks, ancient,
160

groin,
225

guilt,
97
,
115

Gulf Stream,
181

gumbolimbo bark,
79

Haise, Fred,
257

Hall, Rob,
221–22
,
227–28
,
280

hallucinations,
69–70
,
71–72
,
109–11
,
217
,
289

hands

effect of cold,
214–15

humanness of,
114

keeping warm,
185

motion of,
33–34
,
231–32

wounded,
23–34

hangover,
191

Hansen, Doug,
221–22
,
227

Hansen, Henrik,
228

hat,
185
,
199

head

humanness of,
114

injuries to,
2–4

vulnerable to cold,
225

headache,
38
,
215

heart,
120
,
211
,
212
,
218–19
,
266

rate of,
3
,
132
,
193
,
243

heart attack,
218–19

heat (physics), transport of,
127
,
150

heat, ambient

of desert, surviving,
127–35
,
140–41
,
145

escaping,
136
,
149

heat, internal

from biochemical reactions,
128

dissipation of, through skin,
129–30
,
150

loss of, and slowing of metabolism,
184–85
,
200

maintaining,
127
,
163–64

from muscle use,
186

regulation of,
128–30