MChalkley
Elite Member
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2000
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- 3,239
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- Eastern Virginia
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- EarthForce EF-5 mini-TLB (2001)
Heat stroke isn\'t cool...
I suppose this belongs in the "Off Topic and Just For Fun" forum, but I, for what will be obvious reasons, can't bring myself to consider it "off topic", and it certainly wasn't fun, so I'm putting it here.
Almost three weeks ago, while working on a landscaping project during 95-100 degree weather with 90%-plus humidity levels over a period of two days, I got a serious introduction to the perils of heat stroke. (I've learned that some doctors say that heat stroke and heat exhaustion are two different things, with heat stroke being a sudden debilitation due to heat and/or exertion, but others say that the terms are interchangeable, with there being different types and degrees of either. My doctor falls into the latter camp, so I'm using his terminology.)
Anyway, to make a long story short, even though I didn't know I was getting it at the time and was actually patting myself on the back for handling the conditions so well, the whole time I was actually digging a deeper and deeper hole for myself. The symptoms, which started on the third day, included diarrhea, muscle aches worse than with the worst flu I've ever had, nausea, dizziness, inability to sweat, etc. They persisted for 4 or 5 days, then after another couple days, when I thought I'd gotten over it, most of them returned, along with a potentially far more serious symptom, heart arythmia.
And all this because, even though I drank more than 15 half liters of water the first day and more than 20 the second, I only drank water. I was too hot to be hungry and didn't drink any "sports drink" concoctions, so flushed the electrolyte levels in my system down to dangerously low levels. The doctor says half of the fluids I drank should've been sports drinks, and that probably would've prevented it.
The length of time this episode has affected me is pretty unbelievable, too. Whereas I used to run normally on 4-5 hours of sleep a night, I now need 8-10 to make it and there's no sign of this easing up. Suffice it to say, I'm not getting nearly as much done these days, but I know a lot more about heat stroke than I used to. I'd rather have learned some other way, though. So, the moral of the story is: On days when the heat index is high, make sure you drink plenty of fluids, but also make sure you get your salt and, especially, potasium to keep things working.
Mark
I suppose this belongs in the "Off Topic and Just For Fun" forum, but I, for what will be obvious reasons, can't bring myself to consider it "off topic", and it certainly wasn't fun, so I'm putting it here.
Almost three weeks ago, while working on a landscaping project during 95-100 degree weather with 90%-plus humidity levels over a period of two days, I got a serious introduction to the perils of heat stroke. (I've learned that some doctors say that heat stroke and heat exhaustion are two different things, with heat stroke being a sudden debilitation due to heat and/or exertion, but others say that the terms are interchangeable, with there being different types and degrees of either. My doctor falls into the latter camp, so I'm using his terminology.)
Anyway, to make a long story short, even though I didn't know I was getting it at the time and was actually patting myself on the back for handling the conditions so well, the whole time I was actually digging a deeper and deeper hole for myself. The symptoms, which started on the third day, included diarrhea, muscle aches worse than with the worst flu I've ever had, nausea, dizziness, inability to sweat, etc. They persisted for 4 or 5 days, then after another couple days, when I thought I'd gotten over it, most of them returned, along with a potentially far more serious symptom, heart arythmia.
And all this because, even though I drank more than 15 half liters of water the first day and more than 20 the second, I only drank water. I was too hot to be hungry and didn't drink any "sports drink" concoctions, so flushed the electrolyte levels in my system down to dangerously low levels. The doctor says half of the fluids I drank should've been sports drinks, and that probably would've prevented it.
The length of time this episode has affected me is pretty unbelievable, too. Whereas I used to run normally on 4-5 hours of sleep a night, I now need 8-10 to make it and there's no sign of this easing up. Suffice it to say, I'm not getting nearly as much done these days, but I know a lot more about heat stroke than I used to. I'd rather have learned some other way, though. So, the moral of the story is: On days when the heat index is high, make sure you drink plenty of fluids, but also make sure you get your salt and, especially, potasium to keep things working.
Mark
