Effects of prolonged mild hypothermia

[voidbeetles]

Hi! First post here, hope I'm doing it right :)

I have two characters who are sheltering in an abandoned building in below-freezing temperatures (exact temperature is kept vague). They have various supplies, such as blankets and tools to make a fire, but neither came prepared to deal with weather this cold. One of them, we can call them character A, is already dealing with the effects of accidentally falling into a frozen lake before they both finally found the building to take shelter in. For plot reasons, they're going to have to stay in this building for about three days before they can finally move to somewhere properly warm.

Character A is definitely going to be suffering from hypothermia, but a lot of what I've found describing the effects of hypothermia seems to fall into one of two categories: either, it describes what happens when you get it and then immediately get treatment, or it describes how you can die horribly (and quickly!) from it. Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm having trouble extrapolating what hypothermia looks like when you're able to treat it a little bit, but not well. Character A will receive some warming from the blankets and the fire, and while this will keep them from dying, I don't think they're going to be having a great time (ultimately they're still stuck in a cold environment!). I can guess at what symptoms they'll be experiencing (lots of shivering! sluggishness/tiredness/confusion! etc!) but if anyone has any more medically-informed guesses or suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

A few more details that are probably worth mentioning:
- The POV of this chapter is Character B, who'll be caring for Character A as best they can (and without much medical knowledge), so I'm more curious about what symptoms they'd notice rather than how A would experience them.
- Ideally, Character A is pretty incapacitated throughout this whole thing. I think they would be conscious, but I want them to be in bad enough shape that they won't be doing a lot of moving around or talking.
- Even after they've moved into a warmer climate, The Plot will necessitate both characters doing a lot of walking/running around. What lingering effects might Character A experience from their hypothermia bout?

Comments

[voidbeetles]

Sounds like an excellent opportunity for character bonding! This will be fun to add in, I think. I don't think either of them would know about this first aid procedure but I'm sure they could intuit something along those lines. (and yes, they do have pots with them! fortunate!)

[hamatebones]

I remember a Reddit thread asking about this very topic, "Is huddling for warmth sexy??" and the first-hand accounts made it extremely clear: no. It fucking sucks. Not in the fun way.

One guy in particular described how he was out hiking/camping with a male friend, they both got unexpectedly soaked on a chilly day, and stripped down to their underpants to huddle together inside conjoined sleeping bags inside a tent. They were shivering, and banged into each other! They were both clammy! They never got comfortable enough to sleep, and just had to lie there all night hoping things wouldn't get worse! All the unwanted intimacies of being forced to share space unexpectedly, and so physically miserable that it was just a matter of enduring till morning and they could pack up and leave. He mentioned that they both went straight to a doctor on returning to town.

[full_metal_ox]

I’d also recommend that A tuck their hands into B’s armpits (which could be additional fun if B has sideboob to speak of.)