[tri-med] Re: Cold Feet

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Wendi"
> This may be a dumb question, but does keeping thick socks on him help him 
> feel warmer?  Or is it internal and can't be helped externally.  Does that 
> make sense?

Oh it makes a lot of sense in this house believe me.

Putting socks on etc actually does NOT warm anyone up. It prevents the loss 
of heat from the bodies core. The body is rewarming itself from the inside 
and the socks / jumper etc are simply preventing the heat escaping into the 
surrounding environment.

If the bodies core is too cold then the heat must come from the outside, eg 
heaters, electric blankets etc.

If the brain has reset the temperature for the core however adding heat will 
actually cause the body to loose more heat because the body will try and 
cool itself down.

Isnt this so simple and so much fun? - NOT. Alex actually has all three 
possibilities and I get to work out which one is happening all the time and 
if I guess wrong I send him into cardiac arrest BTDT :-(( Thank goodness 
this is not a major issue for most of our triers. Many suffer similar 
problems with the hypothalamus but to a much less severe degree. It really 
is not uncommon at all for our kids to operate on lower than normal 
temperatures, its important for us to know what THEIR normal is and to work 
from that. Alex's axillary temp is rarely any higher than 36.3C if he gets 
to 37 its the equivalent of a low grade fever. (rectal temps are totally 
different to axillary temps, they are quite a bit higher and are supposed to 
be - so dont confuse them)

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.
-- Victor Hugo

Keep Looking For Rainbows!!
   _--_|\
 /Karen \
 \ _.--._ /
          v Karen, Mum to Alex (10 years, T-18 Mosaic)
http://members.optushome.com.au/karens

                  Building ___ooOOoo__ Rainbows
                       www.trisomyonline.org
                  Families Helping Families On-line

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