I have always looked forward to Wisenber's cold weather hammocking experiences posted as HE is a guru of coldweather experiences and knows his stuff. This posting about the kidneys and relieving yourself is very much spot on in my experiences as well. May our paths cross again someday Wisenber as I will make that happen again sometime.
2nd CAG, CAP 2-1-5 5th Marines, 1st Mar. Div.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_Action_Program
So this knowledge (kidneys) is through experiance. I didnt know if it was from scientific study or not. Could it be possible someone else's experiance be differant thus differant sensation of needing to go? Just trying to educate myself of signs of hypo
Quote from this article
So if you keep your kidneys warm from an external source you are not robbing heat from the body resulting in your body not telling you to get rid of it?Urination - people will have to urinate from cold diuresis. Vasoconstriction creates greater volume pressure in the blood stream. The kidneys pull off excess fluid to reduce the pressure. A full bladder results in body heat being used to keep urine warm rather than vital organs. Once the person has urinated, it precious body heat will be used to maintain the temperature of vital organs. So in the end urinating will help conserve heat. You will need to help the person urinate. Open up the Hypothermia Wrap enough to do this and then cover them back up. You will need to keep them hydrated with the dilute Jello solution described above.
I am not a doctor but I slept at the Holiday Inn last night and Google helped a little
Last edited by hangnout; 01-26-2013 at 12:33.
If Bear Grylls can drink his pee Im sure you could pee in a bottle to help keep warm LOL!!!!
Yes you could do that, I use a bottle of warm water to heat up my hammock about 30 min before I am ready to go to bed on cool nights, it is really nice to crawl into a warm hammock.
A hiking buddy of mine that is a ground dweller keeps a gatorade bottle in his tent just to pee in and he told me he has used it to warm his feet up in the bottom of his bag.
Got to do what you got to do
"I love not man the less, but Nature more."
Byron
especially if your so cold that your fingers dont work and you cant get a fire started
BillyBob, this is a follow-up article to the Mt. Rogers Hangout trip report thread. Doctari started it to keep that thread on topic.
Thanks for the article, hangnout. It told me I was at the moderate stage. Re: cold diuresis, my understanding is that the increased blood pressure from vasoconstriction is the trigger for increased urine output, rather than how warm the kidneys are, which doesn't make physiological sense. The article agrees with this viewpoint.
However, I still have a problem with believing that urinating will keep you warmer. I cannot see that the body is working to keep the urine warm any more than it is working to keep anything internal warm. If the urine was able to shed its heat to the environment I could believe it. However, in order to do that, the heat must be first transferred through the bladder walls to the pelvic cavity, then through bone, muscle, fat, and skin to the environment. What loses heat is the skin (or nasal, mouth, trachea, and lung epithelium). In fact, if you consider that volume is cubed while surface area is squared, a bladder full of urine would increase the body volume more than the surface area, resulting in a decreased rate of heat loss per unit volume.
Honestly, though, I don't think it makes much practical difference. Pee if you have to and be more comfortable!
--Scott <><
"I fish because I love to; because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful... because, in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion; because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience...." --Robert Traver
One thing I always carry with me is a space blanket sleeping bag. It's there for those nights that are colder than expected--I plan to use it as a reflective VBL inside my insulation, if needed, or as an emergency shelter. I could have used that at the shelter. However, I did not recognize hypothermia at that point. I may not have actually been hypothermic at that point when I think about it, but I don't know. I simply recognized the danger we were in and felt that it would be best to be around more people and our vehicles in case we went over the edge. If it wasn't such an easy bail I probably would have just stayed there. I was also worried about my daughter and wanted to get her to safety.
BTW, I tested my rain jacket in the shower this morning and I had leaks at the pit zips and pockets. Otherwise I was dry underneath but wetted out on the outside within 5 minutes.
I also tested my new Merril winter boots (advertized to be waterproof) in a pan of water, weighting them down with water up to the top of the rubber upper. The left one was swamped within an hour, the right one was just starting to get damp inside. Back they go, which is sad because I otherwise really liked them.
--Scott <><
"I fish because I love to; because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful... because, in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion; because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience...." --Robert Traver
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