Dehydrated & Heat Stroke Symptoms....(serious & fun)

Dehydration and heat stroke are two very common heat-related diseases that can be life-threatening if left untreated

Emergency action is indicated, when:
-You start to have thoughts of removing all your clothes and going swimming in the neighbor's pool!!
-It's 95 degrees but you are seeing Snowmen or mounds of ice cream


So before it gets that far please take a moment to review the symptoms and treatment in this link. http://www.umm.edu/non_trauma/dehyrat.htm

Afterward, tell us what you would consider obvious symptoms, I'm attempting to create a thread that will draw attention to the seriousness of these situations but give us some comic relief from the heat also.

Judy

Heat stroke and dehydration are serious issues here in Florida. As a high school teacher, I can attest to hearing of and seeing band students (those uniforms) and football players, as well as other athletes, succumb to heat and dehydration. I found the subject makes a good research topic, (especially for the athletes and agricultural students who see no value in completing a research paper). They learned a lot and cited from actual cases with athletes in the state universities. I think new information and greater awareness has helped us to avoid the problems, but it takes continued vigilance. Kids won't admit to having trouble, so we have to look for the glazed eyes, flushed skin tones, and disorientation before they go too far. Gardeners may become so involved in their work that they, too, may not realize they symptoms are overtaking them.

I know you are probably looking for a light-hearted thread, but I think you've raised a good issue, whether we poke fun at it or tell of the close calls and scary incidents.

Serious threads aren't read as often as light hearted ones... therefore the attempt to raise awarenes via a splash of humor. I almost went to the Emergency Room last evening I was so dehydrated and exhausted. I had been suffering for several days before I discovered what was happening to me, we've had a week of 95 -105 temps. It got serious when I almost fell down a flight of stairs yesterday.

Once the info on the above website alerted me to the fact that I was dehydrated, I started sucking down Gatorade and slowly the symptoms lessened, but I still can't do anything without it being obvious I'm relapsing. I'm trying to prevent this from happening to another person, so everyone please, please read the information on the above link I provided.

Judy

Judy, as a semi-albino with strawberry blonde hair and fair skin, I have been in the hospital several times as a youngster and then an adult with symptoms of heat stroke.

It's NASTY, so keep hydrated even if you feel stuffed.

Darius,

My problem is I've never sweated before and I was so proud that finally my body was going to keep itself cool by doing what Mother Nature designed it to do... well foolish me, I was sweating cause I was near a Heat Stroke. Dang!!!

How long did it take you to get over being dehydrated? I had taken a nap and when I got up to feed the puppies, I experienced pain in my feet like there was no padding. A quick look at my fingers alerted me to the fact that something was not right. I pressed the end of my fingers and they stayed flat... ooops! That is when I go on the internet to see if I could figure out what was happening.

A friend told me a good way to judge the fluid level in the skin is to pinch the skin up on the back of the hand and if it falls back in place immediately you're in good shape, if it doesn't you need fluid immediately. (If it's puffy and when you press on it an indention forms it means you have water retention.)

Judy

edited to remove duplicate signature, words, etc.

This message was edited Aug 26, 2005 8:34 PM

I collapsed from heat stroke once when I was younger. When I opened my eyes, people were staring down at me. I was dazed for a week before I felt like myself again. To this day, heat wears me out. I have to mow my lawn in small sections, go inside to cool down, and drink a glass of water, and then return to mow another section. I can mow it in the spring and fall without breaks, but I would end up in the hospital if I took no breaks in the summer. Like darius, I am fair-skinned, (even with an Italian grandfather in the family.)

Judy, a fair indication is in what you posted about " pinch the skin up on the back of the hand and if it falls back in place immediately you're in good shape" BUT that's only for normal conditions! Heat Stroke does not follow normal conditions.

It takes me several days to get back to normal, and often some of those days are in the hospital. Most poeple don't get it about heat stroke... and often mark us as malingerers.

Fireant, i HEAR Ya! Some of the same syndromes... I really cannot do much when it's hot or I'm done for, and very soon.

Darius-Just as a bear hibernates in winter, I hibernate in summer. I mow and hope to get to weeds as I am able. I do appear lazy in the summer, but even a little exertion outdoors can be too much for me. I long for fall, and I envy people with heat tolerance.

Judy-Disorientation and dizziness are signs, but it could be almost too late by the time those register. Sweating didn't appear on those lists, but I think it can be a sign to watch for.
Nancy

My personal clue should have been sweating... since heretofore I had not done same, just got red in the face and almost passed out a time or two.

Judy

Judy, when i get red in the face, it's almost too late.

Oh, if being dizzy and disoriented are symptoms, how will people know that I am having a heat stroke? I'm a blond and those are my normal characteristics.....

Hap

Hap, that was exactly what I thought when I got to those, normal!

Judy

My very first gardening project by myself was to dig all the sod out of a 5x17 foot bed. In June. In the sun. At three in the afternoon. Facing south. Against a brick wall. I was too excited about it to stop and take a break until I realized just how sick I was feeling. I crawled into the house and lay on the linoleum in the kitchen for about an hour before I even felt strong enough to call my mother for help! I'll never do that again! I was out of sorts for days afterward.

Oh My!! What a close call!!!

Judy

Silvia, that was a close call indeed. Unfortunately those of us who have lived to tell of these experiences know that our bodies never totally recover. I first had heat stroke back in the mid '60s and have never been the same since. Most of my children did it to themselves at early ages too no matter how hard I tried to prevent it. Like me, they don't perspire very much so heat gets to them quickly. One son can't handle temps over 85* without getting miagraines, etc. His wife has gotten him to drinking Gator Aid a lot and that has helped but not totally relieved the problem. The kids and I worked in the hay field at night, I worked outside from sunup to about 10 am. then worked inside and napped until evening. Then I went back out and worked until after dark. People thought our family was strainge, but it was the way we could handle life. Tried hard to get the children to do the same with only moderate success.

Even now I can't take much heat. I'm thankful for A/C but I do know it weakens our ability to handle heat over the long haul. There are those for who it is lifesaving. For others it is an excuse to not do anything outside even when they could.

Sun/heat stroke is serious and needs to be watched for vigilently.

It really was very scary. I laugh about it now because I came out okay, but I realize that I probably nearly died that day! So a word from the now wiser me: DON'T do what I did! Sometimes it is amazing that we survive to say "when I was young and stupid..."

leaflady...that is very interesting...

I sweat like a pig....not lady-like at all....always have....and I love the heat and it does not bother me. I guess I now know the reason why.

It's been over 90 every day here and if I decide to go out and work in the garden I do. So I sweat, I say, big deal...But I guess it is.....Once considered a curse, I now consider it a blessing.

Thanks for the info.

Hap