Am I Dead?
 

Funny thing this morning. I walked in the house about 8:30 AM, returning from a 1 hr 45 minute ride in 40 F weather. So it wasn't really that cold. My 7 yr. old was complaining of a sore throat and so i grabbed one of those thermomters that you stick in the ear and took his temp. It read 99.5 which basically is normal with one of these thermometers. (I checked my other kids and it was the same)

Just for the heck of it, i stuck it in my ear and gave me a temp of 95.7. Holy crap! Am I dead? :eek: Apparently, riding in cool weather makes your temp drop.... Who knew? :D

I can categorically say that you are not dead, seeing as you are typing and all.:) My core BT is normally 96.3-97.1 degrees.

I am going to take a wild stab and then get blasted by a bunch of BF doctors, etc. I would think that being out in 40F weather for over 1:45 (and moving) would cause your body to protect your tempurature by "pulling" the blood from the skin (constricting the capillaries), where it is getting cooled, to the core to keep the vitals warm. It probably takes a few minutes for the capillaries to reopen, so the skin would still be cooler than body tempurature.

But that is just a guess. :o

To get an accurate read on hypothermia, you need a rectal thermometer. Sorry, Ranger.

Hypothermia: condition where the body is unable to maintain core temperature.

Hypo has a compounding effect, in that once it starts, there is no stopping the downward slide. Except rewarming. I'm not a doctor, but have a very good working knowledge of hypo from my mountain rescue training, and a personal familiarity with the condition.

Here are the symptoms of hypothermia, from someone who has been hypothermic more than a few times in my life and nearly died once from it:

Slurring words, occasional shivering, advances into uncontrollable shivering. fuzzy reasoning, slow response times, bad decisions, functioning in a diminshed state, all come along with the onset of hypo.

The uncontrolled shivvering stops. A calm state of mind results, with confusion, false feeling of warmth, a desire to curl up and sleep, then the inability to move, passing into unconsiousness and eventually death if body continues to drop core temp.


I think you were probably okay!

Anyone know the difference between a rectal thermometer, and an oral thermometer?

I ordered one of these today. It mounts to the saddle and monitors temperature throughout the ride. My only concern at this point is comfort.

Seriously, I wasn't concerned. I felt fine and just posted it because i thought it was intriguing. I have/will ride in much colder temps this winter. I have never had hypothermia that i am aware of. HOwever, each of the last two seasons, i have had an interesting if not scary experience.

On a couple of different nights, i woke up in the middle of the night feeling completely frozen. I was just shivering uncontrollably. Last year I remember shaking so badly that i could hardly get my legs to cooperate to get into the bathtub. It was a struggle.

Once into the tub, the water still felt cold even with it on the hottest setting. After about 10 minutes in the tub everything slowly returned to normal. I never could explain this and really almost look forward to it being a yearly occurance. Almost thought it was going to happen the other night since i was chilled but it quickly went away.

I don't know whether to attribute this to my cold weather exposure or not. It seems odd that it happens at least 12 hours after the exposure. Actually more like 15 -20 hrs later. I think it is more like my thermostat gets off or something. Guess, i will see if it happens again this season.

Like i said, i only recall it happening ONCE each season and then it is like everything is ok for the rest of the season. Almost like my body has to throw a fit to get acclimated to the extreme cold.

Expat, you certainly don't want to mix the 2 up in the medicine cabinet!

I figured you were posting off-the-cuff about the hypo, Ranger, I just wanted to chime in because I'd been there a lot in my youth, and would have died once if the searchers didn't find me, I was sleeping the big sleep.


You know, I've had those same type of symptoms about the sleeping and the shivering, maybe even every year although I haven't been keeping track, and have never been able to figure what that is all about. I'm always pushing the envelope so hard anyways. I collapse on the floor in a nausous, wasted heap all too often, a little bed shivers seems par for the course.

Punch line? The taste. :eek:

EGADS! I thought it was a placement difference :)

You must look beyond the obvious.

Survival tip - best to look, but not taste, if you can't positively identify the dingleberries.

This isn't my expertise, but my mom's a nurse. Your body temperature fluctuates several degrees during the day depending on what you are doing. Your ear, being relatively exposed, is particularly susceptible. You get more accurate readings from under-the-tongue or armpit readings. Of course, rectal thermometers are the most accurate. I think the different types vary in readings by 1-2 degrees because they're calibrated different to attempt to compensate, but if you come in from outside, your ears are going to be way low.

Have you talked to a doctor about the shivering problem? It could be nothing, but it's probably worth mentioning next time your in the office, just to see if he has any ideas.

I went in to have a strep test last week at my doctor's office. The nurse examing me looked into my ear and expressed puzzlement at the flushed appearance of my ear canal and drum until I explained that I rode three miles to the clinic and the outside temp was about 30 degrees F (-1 C). Even though I had a headband my ears still got chilled.

There's really only one place to determine a person's core temperature if they have hypo, so let's not go there!!

...so you really do have to be freezing your azz off to get hypothermia? :o

It's all spelled out in the manual, which is titled "Where to Stick It!". :eek: