It’s important to watch yourself and your loved ones for signs of heat stroke.
The CDC estimates about 600 heat deaths each year, but the EPA says this may be an underestimate, with some estimates putting the total at more than 1,300 per year. That makes extreme heat more deadly than all other weather events combined, AccuWeather reported.
Heat stroke is the most serious heat-related illness.
Before someone gets heatstroke, they overheat and experience heat exhaustion. Heat exhaustion is more common during and after prolonged exercise. Symptoms include profuse sweating, dizziness, fatigue, cool, clammy skin, and goosebumps.
If you experience symptoms of heat stroke, get out of the heat and cool down immediately before it escalates into heat stroke. Spray your body with water, treat hot spots with ice packs, and drink plenty of water.
Heat stroke can result if a person’s body temperature rises above 104 degrees Fahrenheit. When people suffer from heat stroke, they no longer sweat, but their skin flushes. Other symptoms of heatstroke include altered mental status, increased heart rate, and vomiting.
If someone has heat stroke, seek emergency medical treatment. Without it, the brain, heart, kidneys and muscles are damaged, and death may result.
Recognize the signs of heat-related illness
prickly heat It is skin irritation caused by excessive sweating in hot weather. If heat rash occurs, keep the rash area dry and use talcum powder to ease discomfort. Do not use ointments or creams.
heat stroke It’s a milder heat-related illness that responds to excessive loss of water and salt, usually due to excessive sweating, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The elderly, those with high blood pressure, and those who work in hot environments are more prone to heat exhaustion.
Symptoms of heat exhaustion include headache, nausea, dizziness, irritability, weakness, thirst, profuse sweating, decreased urine output, and elevated body temperature.
Treatment for heatstroke is to leave a hot place, remove unnecessary clothing, including footwear, rinse the head, face and neck with cold water or apply cold compresses to the same area to start reducing body temperature, and drink cool water frequently. People with heat stroke may need to be taken to an emergency room or urgent care center for further treatment.
heat stroke According to the CDC, it’s the most serious heat-related illness and occurs when the body can no longer control its own temperature. The body temperature rises rapidly, the sweat response fails, and the body is unable to cool down. As a result, your body temperature can climb to 106 degrees or higher within 10 to 15 minutes.
Heatstroke can cause permanent disability or death if emergency treatment is not provided.
Symptoms of heat stroke include confusion, altered mental status, slurred speech, loss of consciousness or coma, dry skin or profuse sweating, seizures, and very high body temperature. If treatment is delayed, it can be fatal.
If someone has heat stroke, call 911 immediately and stay with the person until emergency personnel arrive. Remove casualty to a cool, shaded area and remove outer clothing. Steps should also be taken to cool the person with cold water or an ice bath, if possible. You can also slap a cold damp cloth on any exposed skin, soak their clothes in cold water, and generally keep them damp with cold water. Use a fan to circulate air around the person to speed cooling, and place cool wet clothing or ice cubes on the head, neck, armpits, or groin to help reduce body temperature.
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