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Posts Tagged ‘Heat Stroke’

The first step in the treatment of stroke is to reduce body temperature by cooling the body from the outside. This can be done to remove or excessively tight clothing, spraying the person with water, pouring fresh air on the person or the person gently wrapped with wet sheets. Alternatively, ice cubes can be placed on the neck, groin or armpits to accelerate cooling.

If these methods do not lower the temperature enough, a doctor may try to reduce it internally to the stomach or rectum rinse with cold water. Severe cases may require a bypass (deviation) cardiopulmonary, which deviates blood from the heart and lungs of the person to a machine that cooled and then re-enter the blood in the body. Read the rest of this entry »

Duration

It is common for a person with heat stroke have to stay hospitalized for one or more days so they can quickly identify complications. Full recovery from stroke and its effect on the body’s organs could take two months to a year.

Prevention

- Most cases of heat stroke can be prevented. When the outside temperature is particularly high
drink plenty of water throughout the day
- stay within a climate controlled environment whenever you feel too hot
- Wear light-colored clothing, preferably with open weave that allows air to enter Read the rest of this entry »

Symptoms

Heat stroke can be sudden, but often presents with symptoms of warning, these include:
- abdominal cramps
- muscle cramps
- sickness
- vomiting
- headache
- dizziness
- weakness
- excessive sweating or no sweating
- When heat stroke occurs, neurological symptoms may include:
- strange or bizarre behavior
- irritability
- delusions
- hallucinations
- seizures
- coma Read the rest of this entry »

Extreme heat can affect internal organs and cause degradation of heart muscle cells and blood vessels, internal organ damage and death. There are two main causes of heat stroke:

- Heat exhaustion occurs when someone makes vigorous physical activity in hot environments, eg sports a summer day or engage in intense military training. It typically affects young healthy people, those least likely to worry about the effects of heat on their health. Because of this lack of concern, the first symptoms may be discarded or ignored.
- Sunstroke “classic” tends to occur in people who have less ability to regulate body temperature, as adults, very young children or people with chronic diseases. The excess heat from the environment without vigorous physical activity, can cause enough to cause heat stroke in these people. Read the rest of this entry »

Generally, the human body to regulate its temperature. When the body gets very hot, cool uses several strategies, including perspiration. But if a person spends too much time to heat without drinking enough fluids, the cooling of the body can not function properly. When the body becomes dehydrated and can not cool itself by sweating. When this happens, the body temperature may rise enough to cause nausea in a person.

The first symptoms of heat stroke occurs when body temperature rises above normal and may include headache, nausea, vomiting, muscle cramps and fatigue. These early symptoms are sometimes called heat exhaustion. If no action is taken to reduce the temperature, heat exhaustion can worsen and cause a stroke. Read the rest of this entry »

Treatment

- When a person has heat stroke, it is important to place it in a shaded area and, if possible, in a cold environment (ideally, is in a room with air conditioning, and a temperature of 15 ° C and 18 º C).

- You must undress the patient and let it sit naked or covered only with a light blanket.

- When the body temperature increases to 39.5 ° C, the skin is dry and very hot (or with minimal sweating) recommended cold showers (15 ° C-18 º C). It also can give you a cold water bath, while a massage is performed on the skin to increase circulation.

- Another possibility is to cover the body with wet sheets or towels, changing them frequently, and preferably in combination with an electric fan or similar device, to reduce body temperature more. Read the rest of this entry »

What situations expose a person to suffer heat stroke?

- Locations with high temperature, high humidity and intense sunlight (eg the tropics).

- Excessive physical exertion (eg for sports), especially in the areas described above.

- Extensive sunburns, especially in hot and humid.

- Lack of fluids and salts in warm places (particularly the tropics).

- Excessive alcohol consumption, under the same conditions.

What you can do?

- It is important to slowly get used to the heat and humidity, especially before physical exertion. This form of acclimatization to the tropics can last typically from 1 to 3 weeks. Read the rest of this entry »

What is heat stroke?

Heat stroke is a situation caused by overheating the body in a relatively short period of time. This situation can represent a life-threatening and require urgent medical assistance.

The abnormal increase in body temperature (called hyperthermia) can occur in various situations, such as:

- Classic heatstroke. Also known as sunstroke, although this term can lead to misconceptions, as this condition can occur without direct relation to the effect of the sun. Typically, the skin is flushed, hot and dry.

- Heat stroke due to exercise, often related to physical exertion pronounced as that takes place in the sport.

- Burns large (including those produced by the sun), when there has been an injury or destruction of sweat glands.

- Some less common processes, such as overactivity of the thyroid gland (thyrotoxicosis). Read the rest of this entry »