T
thebear
Guest
Just in case there are some other people like me who were not aware of this - a word of warning.
Please be very careful drinking icy cold water while being hot and sweaty it can lead to shocking the nerves of your heart.
While out hiking over Snowdonia during December, the temperature was -2 / 3, and under heavy exertion humping a fairly heavy winter pack I stopped for a drink at a stream. While drinking I noticed a juddery sensation in my chest but put that down to normal shivering. After walking for a couple more hours I stopped made camp and had a very weird night without much sleep. The next day I carried on and up over the mountain, but was really struggling. I nearly called in the air rescue but didn't and just about managed to get over the top and eventually back to where I was staying. Once I had settled down after the exertion I noticed my heart was beating strangely, out of sync and palpating. It didn't go away after a day or two so off to the doctor. He sent me off to the hospital for ECGs which showed atrial flutter. Just going up the stairs put me out of breath. I looked anaemic and started to catch whatever was going around, flu, stomach bugs etc. With my heart not pumping properly my defenses were down. It was also a bit scary when you can feel such a vital organ not working as it should. Both the GP and cardiologist are certain that the icy cold water shocked the nerves of my heart causing it to go out of sync. Apparently very similar to what Tony Blair had a while back but for different reasons. Anyway after six weeks and a lot of rest all is healed and back to normal. In my case the cardiologist said I made it much worse by stupidly carrying on and up over the mountain after the shock and that is why it took such a long time to heal. I'll be warming my water next time with my body or stove before drinking.
Please be very careful drinking icy cold water while being hot and sweaty it can lead to shocking the nerves of your heart.
While out hiking over Snowdonia during December, the temperature was -2 / 3, and under heavy exertion humping a fairly heavy winter pack I stopped for a drink at a stream. While drinking I noticed a juddery sensation in my chest but put that down to normal shivering. After walking for a couple more hours I stopped made camp and had a very weird night without much sleep. The next day I carried on and up over the mountain, but was really struggling. I nearly called in the air rescue but didn't and just about managed to get over the top and eventually back to where I was staying. Once I had settled down after the exertion I noticed my heart was beating strangely, out of sync and palpating. It didn't go away after a day or two so off to the doctor. He sent me off to the hospital for ECGs which showed atrial flutter. Just going up the stairs put me out of breath. I looked anaemic and started to catch whatever was going around, flu, stomach bugs etc. With my heart not pumping properly my defenses were down. It was also a bit scary when you can feel such a vital organ not working as it should. Both the GP and cardiologist are certain that the icy cold water shocked the nerves of my heart causing it to go out of sync. Apparently very similar to what Tony Blair had a while back but for different reasons. Anyway after six weeks and a lot of rest all is healed and back to normal. In my case the cardiologist said I made it much worse by stupidly carrying on and up over the mountain after the shock and that is why it took such a long time to heal. I'll be warming my water next time with my body or stove before drinking.