Frost Nip
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Was ice climbing this past weekend in the coldest weather I have ever experienced in my life (I'm from California.) The weather was -15°F as we hit the trail at dawn. |
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Here's an article from Climbing that just came out. |
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It happens and over time, as it happens more often, your feet(or at least mine) become more susceptible to the cold. Not much you can do other than preventative measures next time you are out. Feeling will return over time (after one particularly bad epic overnight I lost feeling in my big toes for two months). Sounds like upgrading your liners is a good idea. |
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I've had it last a couple months. No adverse affects after that, unless that is why my toes hurt alot when there is pressure on the big toenail from climbing shoes. |
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it's not frost nip; sounds more like poor circulation for some reason, poor fitting boots or whatever |
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I had the same thing happen a couple of summers ago after spending 2 weeks in wet shoes and socks in snow and temperatures above and below freezing. My toes were numb for about a month, but now they're back to normal. |
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Were your boots tight at all? Maybe a nerve impingement? Try some whiskey? Did you try popping your big toe? |
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This does not sound like frost nip - this sounds like "bang toe". Repeated pressure on toes (either from banging into the front of the boot, or constant pressure against the front of the boot, or some other cause) causes them to go numb. It can last weeks/months. Nothing you can really do to speed up recovery to my knowledge. Usually results from poor fitting boots. Bang toe is a nerve injury. It will heal, eventually. |
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Graham probably diagnosed this one as toe bang. After my first 4 day long ice climbing trip I had the same issue...Took about 3 weeks and it was back to normal. If I remember correct I had a day or two of that tingling feeling you get when your foot "falls asleep". |
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Graham Johnson wrote:This does not sound like frost nip - this sounds like "bang toe". Repeated pressure on toes (either from banging into the front of the boot, or constant pressure against the front of the boot, or some other cause) causes them to go numb. It can last weeks/months. Nothing you can really do to speed up recovery to my knowledge. Usually results from poor fitting boots. Bang toe is a nerve injury. It will heal, eventually. Cold injuries (frostbite/nip) result in damage to tissue. If you can't see any visible difference between your "normal" toe and your affected toe, it's probably not cold-related. The fact that your CRT (capillary refill time - a measure of how well the blood vessels in the tissue are carrying blood) is the same between both says that there is also no tissue damage (otherwise the blood vessels would be damaged too). They also usually hurt a fair bit once they thaw out. For what it's worth, I have had bang toe, frost nip and frostbite. And I know a bit about how bodies work.I hope you're right Graham. The Koflach boots I bought were not tight fitting. They were just a tad big. It is possible that since my toes were numb that I could have slammed it into the ice. Thanks for all the input everyone. I'll report back as it heals. |
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FYI: |
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Years ago after walking (hiking) for 3 months in Nepal, during some time above 5000 meters and very cold feet , frozen boots... several of my toes became numb. They weren't really sore just a bit pink and very cold. After warming up the tips remained numb tingly for months. I wasn't sure if it was banging my toes (eloquently named "toe bang") mild frost nip/bite until last week. We took our four children to walk the overland track in Tasmania Australia. The first day we hit a blizzard and were nearly blown off the track with horizontal rain, snow and hail. I gave my gloves to our daughter because her hands were cold and her gloves were wet. My fingers went numb with cold and I struggled to make tea and undo zips etc etc. When they warmed up the tips were numb /tingly/sore and they still are! De ja vu from 20 years earlier. I have that feeling it will take time to restore my fingers and I have learnt a very important lesson. Thank you |
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I am not a doctor (nor have I recently stayed in a Holiday Inn Express) so take this diagnosis with all the seriousness of what you paid for it. Does not sound like toe bang or frost nip to me. Sounds to me like cold induced peripheral neuropathy. Cold caused nerve damage in you toe/foot. I have had it several times. The worst time it took about 2 months to fully resolve. But it did fully resolve. Most of the time it takes 2-5 days. Like almost any temperature injury (cold or heat) you will almost certainly be more susceptible to it from now on. I am prone to it on the large toe of my right foot. I just try to manage my feet temp better now when I am out in the cold. Good luck. |
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You animals gotta stop all the toe banging. |
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Thanks JB. I'm no doctor and I haven't even heard of Holiday Inn Express :-) but Dr Google couldn't find info on cold induced peripheral neuropathy. I'm with "H" and think it might be frostnip induced Reynauds Syndrome..... my fingertips will not warm up! but will check with the Doc this week. cheers |
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I AM staying in a holiday inn express currently, and I say Reynauds is a good guess. Disappointed that there will be no more toe banging though. |