When to Seek Medical Care

You may treat minor cold exposure at home with blankets and home care techniques. Call a doctor to ask about danger signs that might warrant immediate transportation to a medical facility.

Any person who is at risk for hypothermia and is suspected to have sustained a cold exposure should be brought to a hospital’s Emergency Department. Look for these danger signs of cold exposure:

• Intense shivering, stiffness, and numbness in the arms and legs, stumbling and clumsiness, sleepiness, confusion, and amnesia.
  
  
• The adage that "a person is not dead until warm and dead" means that victims may appear dead because of cold exposure, but many of these people have made complete recoveries when rewarmed. All such victims in this situation need rapid transport to a hospital so that resuscitation attempts may be made.