hypothermia

it's tough to figure out the breaking point because it seems like everyone is different. i've gotten slurred speech even just from swimming in 63 degree water....and yet i've gone down to much colder (coldest was 55). i'm undecided on whether drinking something hot beforehand would help. i find it actually easier to get in the cold water when the air is also cold. so i wonder if it would be harder to get if my body is all toasty. my habit is to get up, sit around the house for 10 minutes, then get right in the water.

The hands cup and start to look like a claw, you get into problems. After coming out of a race, you are in the hospital and after being in the hospital, the doctor says ah thats better 14 beats to the minute. I think he meant I was suffering from hypothermia.

Interesting topic. Around this time of year I start drinking a large warm beverage (hot chocolate lately) before getting in and find that it makes it much easier to start out and keep going. It does keep the core warm, but I do find my arms and legs get cold. Numbness is a sign I use to keep track of how cold is too cold (numb-ish feet are OK, but when it starts to spread that's a problem and I get out) - I also find myself counting in multiples of, say, 7 to check for mental confusion. Usually I find I've stayed in too long when I get out and get the uncontrollable shivers on the beach. Fortunately, we do get acclimated to the cold water and it stays comfortable even when the water temp gets below 60 degrees F. Happy swimming.

I wrote about hypothermia for both GQ and Boating magazines a few years ago. I volunteered to become hypothermic myself by immersion in the waters off Cape Disappointment in Washington State. You might find this somewhat amusing and educational: www.boatingmag.com/article.asp Good luck! Great article!

i did a swim about 9 years ago where i started to get really sleepy. i was swimming with my eyes closed and actually swam into my kayak several times. not sure if it was hypothermia or narcolepsy.

When my jaw tightens up and it gets hard to talk... sure signs of problems to come. The worst is after finishing a cold swim: the heartrate falls and the "big chill" sets in.

I found that after I came out of a very cold swim if they wrapped a blanket around me it made me start to shiver. It seemed to me the blankets held the cold in. I would not wrap a blanket around me until I was out of the water for about twenty minutes.

good thing you had a kayaker there! that is interesting...i've never gotten sleepy while swimming, but cold water makes me very sleepy after the swim.

I wrote about hypothermia for both GQ and Boating magazines a few years ago. I volunteered to become hypothermic myself by immersion in the waters off Cape Disappointment in Washington State. You might find this somewhat amusing and educational: www.boatingmag.com/article.asp Good luck! That was a fantastic article! I noticed that it took you over a full hour (maybe two?) to get your core body temp back to normal. I swam a 1-mile OW swim a few years ago in 56F water, and I was freezing cold for at least 2 hours after the swim. I was downing hot coffee, standing in the sun, sitting on my hands, etc. and trying to warm up. It was almost as uncomfortable as that first plunge in the water!

WOW! Donalb, i can't believe you swam 9 miles in such cold water, tide assisted or not. that is crazy. i can't tolerate cold anywhere near as well as you can. i believe that my body could be trained to do so, but i think in order to get there, i would really have to push myself and test my limits, and i don't think it's safe to do that when i swim by myself, which is 99% of the time.