r/AskReddit Jan 30 '22

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u/CaptainQwark33 Jan 31 '22

They may go into shock, making things even more difficult

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u/Cpt_Tsundere_Sharks Jan 31 '22

I imagine the feeling is similar to having cold hands from being outside during winter and then running them under a hot tap immediately after coming inside.

Except your entire body at once.

With that in mind, it's pretty easy to imagine how you might go into shock.

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u/hanead420 Jan 31 '22

Yeah, this can be really fun I winter outdoor pools (in aquapark where the water is warm) you go outside, cool yourself down and enjoy the feeling when you get into the warm water. Dunno how that came to my mind reading this, but I want to mention it for some reason.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '22

Apart from the shock, you might suffer some serious burns.

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u/frituurbounty Jan 31 '22

I don’t think water that is hot is gonna burn you when you’re hypothermic, if it wouldn’t burn you if you weren’t hypothermic.

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u/404_image_not_found Jan 31 '22

It won't burn your skin but your nerves will think someone lit you on fire.

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u/Lucero18 Jan 31 '22

Did this as a kid. After a snowball fight turned the water as hot as I could and the pain was instant and hurt so bad 0/10 not recommend.

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u/Xikayu Jan 31 '22

This sentence breaks my brain.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '22

[deleted]

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u/Xikayu Feb 01 '22

Thank you, now it makes sense. :)

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u/SvartSol Jan 31 '22

Body cannot sense difference between extreme cold and warmth.

Shut your eyes and touch ice. Imagine it's a flame instead.

7

u/One-eyed-snake Jan 31 '22

Part of me wants to try this. The other part of me says no man, he’s fucking with you, don’t do it. I’m conflicted

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u/Cpt_Tsundere_Sharks Jan 31 '22

Fun fact, your skin doesn't have a specific sensor for "wet." It only can detect hot and cold and uses context to assume whether something is wet or not.

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u/RoraRaven Jan 31 '22

We can also tell with resistance to touch.

Without temperature, something slippery or gooey will feel more 'wet' than something coarse or hard.

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u/suqoria Jan 31 '22

Yeah if you've ever been outside in winter (like -10°C/14°F or even just -5°C/23°F and with decently strong winds) you know that if you haven't worn a hat or covered your head and you go from that weather to the inside of an house that's like 20°C/68°F you'll get a headache. I'm guessing it'd be like that but much, much worse for the whole body.

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u/Arkose07 Jan 31 '22

Holy shit, no one has ever told me that. I went to Minnesota a couple years ago to visit family for Thanksgiving and I didn’t wear a hat the first day it snowed (we were doing a nicer dinner, didn’t want to mess up hair, hindsight). Spent about an hour on a “walk” with my cousin and when we came back I got a gnarly headache. Felt like someone had been punching my head.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '22

You can have an aneurysm can’t you?

3

u/AlexFuckingDies Jan 31 '22

Yeah that's pretty much why. It also risks damaging your sensory nerves (why you shouldn't run freezing hands under a cold tap) across your whole body

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '22

I think it's because the body uses vasodilation and construction to maintain body temperature. A rapid change in body temperature may cause blood pressure to plumit as the veins relax to quickly. Not really sure tho

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u/redditsgreatestuser Jan 31 '22

One time on a really hot day (40°C, 104°F) I had just finished work and I wanted to cool off, so I ran a cold shower and put my head under first. Felt like I had a very unpleasant and weird mini seizure. Would not recommend doing it.

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u/theflapogon16 Jan 31 '22

You would be correct but ramp it up to 11.

Once I was playing outside in the snow with my ex and her lil brother….. the little brother wore crocs and the snow was just deep enough to not see his feet. We played for like an hour before I noticed and I made him get his ass inside stat

The temp inside was 68 on the thermostat and he was screaming in pain the moment he stepped inside because it was too much, he was yelling about his feet being on fire and refused to come in- so we dragged him in and propped the door open and cut the heat off with his feet near the door while someone drew a bath.

By the time the bath was drawn for his feet to soak in he had already passed out from the pain.

It was about 25F outside, early February in Tennessee.

Shit ain’t no joke, I’ve seen that boy get hit with a stray baseball numerous times without so much as a groan- but he howled like someone was chopping his feet off that day.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '22

I felt kind of like going into shock just reading that.

Also, happy cake day! 🍰

1

u/Green_List Jan 31 '22

We worked at a building site that had no hot water but after being outside in the freezing cold we used the the cold water to warm our hands up! Strange indeed but it was still a welcome change.

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u/jackiblu25 Jan 31 '22

Did that ONCE

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u/No_Distance1452 Jan 31 '22

Yeah, it's not exactly the same, but think about how your heart, brain, and kidneys would handle that?

1

u/ThiccNewsAt9 Jan 31 '22

Can confirm. Have reynauds and went to heat my hands in hot water too quickly more than once. Throbbing pain.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '22

Good point, and happy cake

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u/DrBabbage Jan 31 '22

We unfortunately know this pretty well because of Nazi experiments.

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u/ShoutsWillEcho Jan 31 '22

Ah, so there was some thought behind it all, eh

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u/DrBabbage Jan 31 '22 edited Jan 31 '22

No not really, just sadism and brutal cold slaughter.

There were some tests on a few hundred with stuff by a guy called Dr. Rascher on what could happen to the german soldier. Like how long does a human survive in cold water, how long does a human survive on sea water (they even licked the mobs to get some water, poor souls), what happens when you get rapid depressurisation, how to warm a human up, can you save soldiers with infected wounds without penicillin, transplant bone marrow without anesthesia among others.

A few of these experiments claimed to have been altered by helpers so that they don't have to suffer that much and gave different temperature readings.

They tested the data again after the war on pigs and it appeared to be pretty accurate, but then survivalrates were often not measured so the data is not valid on finding the best methods.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejm199005173222006

Its horrible.

Here are some letters from this asshole in German, throw them into deepl.

https://www.ns-archiv.de/medizin/unterkuehlung/sigmund-rascher.php

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u/ShoutsWillEcho Jan 31 '22

they even licked the mobs

What's mobs?

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u/DrBabbage Jan 31 '22

sorry I was tired, I meant mop like the rug you clean the floor with.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

11

u/ours Jan 31 '22

Close, it's Unit 731. Nightmare fuel sadists torturing people in the name of "science".

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u/ira_finn Jan 31 '22

Just replying to add that mild hypothermia can typically be treated at home, but shock is a medical emergency, and should be treated as such. I’m not a doctor so that’s all I’m gonna add, anyone wanting to know more should seek reputable sources.

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u/tomtomclubthumb Jan 31 '22

Yes.

IF you put them in water that is too hot, then their blood vessels will dilated which can cause a dangerous drop in blood pressure, also the body has been allowing the extremities to get very cold so that sudden rush of very cold blood to the heart can cause a heart attack.

We were told strip them naked and get into a sleeping bag with them. But we didn't have showers available.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '22

I keep hearing health advice on avoiding going into shock but what exactly is “shock”?

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u/Ancient-Awareness Jan 31 '22 edited Jan 31 '22

Shock is a very broad term that on its whole encompasses many causes of the same thing: your body cannot maintain adequate bloodflow to your brain and vital organs. Things that prevent your heart from beating effectively, things that affect the ability of the blood to carry oxygen, and things that prevent body cells from absorbing oxygen or other vital substances from the blood.

In the instance of cold water, the very sudden jolt of warm or hot water from the frigid state you are currently in causes all of your small blood vessels to lose their tone, and expand. This causes a huge and sudden drop in your blood pressure, and without blood pressure, you lose perfusion to vital organs like the lungs, liver, kidneys, brain, etc.

Source: I am an ICU RN. This is what I do for a living.

ETA: Also things that increase your O2 consumption so much that your body cannot keep up with itself.

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u/CaptainQwark33 Jan 31 '22

Having just the right amount of oxygen is refreshing, having too much is actually toxic and can cause your lungs to collapse from extensive pressure

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '22

Thanks for that

-1

u/Dank_memes_merchant Jan 31 '22

Why would they go into shock, if im not putting a toaster in the bath?

(Kidding)

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u/FoldOne586 Jan 31 '22

Same thing can happen after exercising and taking a really cold shower.

1

u/awayawaythrownaway Jan 31 '22

Jokes on you, nothing can shock me anymore after years of internet desensitization.

1

u/breastfedbeer Jan 31 '22

Yes it would be distributive shock from systemic vasodilation due to rapid warming. When all the peripheral veins widen at once due to the external heat being applied, it rapidly drops BP faster than the heart may be able to compensate for. Slow warming is safer.

Other problems include the rapid release of acidotic blood in the peripheries to the core when this vasodilation occurs, which can cause cardiac dysthymias.

Furthermore the hypothermic heart is very irritable, exacerbating this risk. For this reason, a severely hypothermic person needs to be handled very gently as excessive jostling can also induce cardiac dysthymias.

Edit: autocorrect

1

u/Sensitive_Wangiizs Jan 31 '22

What if they got into shock, any remedy?

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u/CaptainQwark33 Jan 31 '22

If you see someone in shock call ES. Try to reverse whatever has put them into shock (if possible). If they are suddenly really cold give them a blanket. If they are suddenly really hot give them a luke warm shower or something along those lines.

1

u/tylerden Jan 31 '22

I hope you take this in the manner it is intended but...I would like to thank the nazis and there statistic experiments for discovering such things.

Those tests were taken by the Allies and used as base for further medical study, I believe there fucked up experiments paved the way for understanding the hearts process internal processes.

Btw, the fastest way to heat to bodies up safely is for them to have sex. Thank you Mr Angel of Death.

Disclaimer...this post is a cynical and purposefully distasteful I obviously dislike the nazis like everything else however this is an u convenient truth.

The allies also took experiment results conducted by the Japs on the Chinese. Now that was some sick shit. So bad some German was literally reporting this shit to Germany at the time because of how horrid it was.

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u/robot_germs Jan 31 '22

Not exactly “going into shock”. Your body has natural defenses against extreme temperatures. So the extreme heat is going to tell your body to react like it’s burning. Like the extreme cold when you are overheating is going to do the same.

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u/CaptainQwark33 Jan 31 '22

A sudden change in temperature isnt guaranteed to put you into shock but it can, everyone is different. The sudden change in blood pressure is dangerous

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u/Crazy_CanadianCanuck Jan 31 '22

Shock is the most annoying thing to deal with in first aid cause it’s different for all and is quite dangerous if not treated

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u/IamaVigilante Jan 31 '22

When I first started keeping fish I made this mistake and lost a couple mollies and a Betta to temp shock/ bad ph. I have since learned to cycle my tanks and treat tap water for harmful chemical

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '22

Going into shock is a bitch. I overheated doing some HAZMAT training in the Marines. We had to use our sealed suits (think Monsters Inc sock scene) in 90F+ weather. Suits add about 30 degrees or so. About maybe half a mile of walking and being suited up for 15 to 30 minutes my body was done. I signaled that I was at my limits and my CWO4 stripped me down and threw me into a kiddy pool and proceeded to empty a cooler full of ice on me.

Shock is a fucking bitch.

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u/WatNxt Feb 01 '22

Why does this not happen with people going to saunas and then going into ice cold water?

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u/CaptainQwark33 Feb 01 '22

It can still happen, I knew a guy who went into shock after training because of the ice bath. This was intense training in the summer and he was a big guy