Heat stroke caution!

Attention fellow monkeys, this time of year, as the temps start climbing, and we spend more time out doors, we become exposed to a higher risk of heat stroke and we may not know or recognise the signs of it until too late! Obviously we need to keep hydrated at a proper level, but how do we know how much we need? There is no hard and fast rule, so the most common advice is to consume at least 1 gallon of water per day, and depending on your level of activities, you may require far more!
Sugar, caffeine, and alcohol can exacerbate the effects of dehydration, and also cause you to sweat less, making your natural cooling less effective!
One new group of products offers exceptional cooling for the body, making the risks some what less. These new hi-tech clothing products offer serious moisture wicking which helps cool you with out drawing off your internal hydration to dangerous levels! Another group of products are essntially shammies, you get them wet and wrap them around your neck or your head and the water will drop your bodies surface temps by at least 10°F and draw off sweat keeping you more comfortable!
Heat stroke is no joke, I know all to well just how bad it can get, several years ago during a long term deployment I suffered a serious bout of heat stroke despite following the hydration protocols and ended up in the trauma center for a few days, what's not well known about heat stroke is the lasting effects of it long afterward. Up to and including brain damage! I now suffer heat sensitivity that I have never had before, any thing above about 80°f is very uncomfortable, made worse if there is any real humidity! Above 100° becomes unbearable, and I actually go into heat shock, the precursor to heat stroke! That's serious! Ironically, I also suffer the same effects with extreme cold, once exposed to hypothermia multiple times, any thing below 0° for me is very dangerous!
Be careful out there, there is lots of climate shift in the states that we havn't ever seen before, and are not used to! Make sure to consume lots of water, and seek shade when ever possable, and take breaks often! Invest in moisture wicking clothing, I find the Russle brand to be about the best value vs performamce out there, and use the cooling cloth around your head and neck! If you feal light headed or dizy, sit down in the shade and get more water in your system, it will take at least 2 hours of inactivity for you to return to normal, the worse it gets, the longer you need to recover! Don't over do it with the water if you do become dehydrated, consume small amounts of cool water over a long period of time, and avoide further activity, especially things that will elevate your temps further!

Be safe out there, this is easy to fall into and take you out of the game when you may be most needed, and it can be avoided just as easy!

 

You're not alone with those lasting effects. We had a Marine in 2d ANGLICO that had the exact same symptoms. It was a career ending health issue for that young Marine.

 

Excellent warning thread. I work in the Coastal Carolina heat seven days a week and just try my best to stay in the shade. When I first came to work at the dealership after I retired from the Marines we had two standard sinks in the men's room. They were hard to keep clean, but that wasn't the issue I saw. With no shower in the building, and no place to cool a heat casualty down, we might lose a man that we could save with the right plan.

I convinced management that we needed a man size stainless steel sink that we could put a heat casualty in, and a big ice machine in the break room so we could cool them down if necessary. These things have been there for 18 years now and we've never needed them. It might be because we can drink iced water and Gatorade all day. (The sink is a dream when you're covered with grime from your fingertips to your shoulders.)

Better safe than sorry, and every time I see that beautiful sink I think of my buddy Dave who welded it up just before he sold the shop and went off to some exotic land to be a surf bum.

 

Heat exhaustion felt like blue balls to me.

Ladies, thats somewhat between constipation and nausea with a decidedly urgent feeling for unspecified action.

 

I'm doing it old school, T shirt,long sleeves chapo,long pants and socks however I refuse to wear a pair of boys step ins on my head like maw maw!

 

Heatstroke signs and symptoms include:

• High body temperature. A core body temperature of 104 F (40 C) or higher, obtained with a rectal thermometer, is the main sign of heatstroke.
• Altered mental state or behavior. Confusion, agitation, slurred speech, irritability, delirium, seizures and coma can all result from heatstroke.
• Alteration in sweating. In heatstroke brought on by hot weather, your skin will feel hot and dry to the touch. However, in heatstroke brought on by strenuous exercise, your skin may feel dry or slightly moist.
• Nausea and vomiting. You may feel sick to your stomach or vomit.
• Flushed skin. Your skin may turn red as your body temperature increases.
• Rapid breathing. Your breathing may become rapid and shallow.
• Racing heart rate. Your pulse may significantly increase because heat stress places a tremendous burden on your heart to help cool your body.
• Headache. Your head may throb.

I got sick last week. I was dehydrated and wasn't listening to my body, I kept going. Muscles were cramping, head ache.... finally I stopped and realized what was going on. After a few bottles of water and some electrolytes I felt better. But with temps in the mid 90's, people can sick quickly.

 

Upon arriving in Southeast Asia to live full time, I learned quickly to stay hydrated. I typically consume 6 to 8, sometimes even 10 liters of water, over the course of a 24 hours period. I can empty one of these, pretty fast.

 

Thanks for the reminder Ura-Ki.

This is what I use to keep cool in extreme heat.

I have learned that if I soak it in water and wring the excess out it does a remarkable job of keeping me cool. In fact, as it evaporates while wearing it, I have to be careful to not let my head get too cold. It has given me a pretty bad headache.

After the initial soaking it doesn't take much water to rehydrate it.

My family calls it the "goofy hat".

 

I like the hat idea, but it'd be difficult while wearing hearing protection on the range. I use a couple of the evaporative cooling scarves. My old tan Chilly Pad is ratty on the ends, but still works great. I now have several triangular "snap" bandanas that I wear rolled up under my work shirt to keep me cool. 10 hour summer days on the range would be miserable without them.

ALL of these will get funky over time. I have mini-liquor bottles (no labels) full of Listerine and Scope in the cooler so I can add a little to the rinse water to kill the germs and the smell. I think the mouth wash smell actually helps me feel cooler. I have a dedicated six pack cooler of water and ice that I use exclusively for rinsing the scarves in.

 

Too late I am already a heat victim after it gets over 95 I am indoor critter like my dog he's stuck to the ceramic tile like duct tape. I can deal with 100 as long as the humidity is not too high. all the cool tech is great I have a personal fan has a lanyard uses 2 AA batteries blows under your neck and a stay cool snap towel in the vehicle I carry a small 6PK cooler with ice and a few bottled waters to hand out. I always have a a gallon of water and a large Yeti SS drink cup filled with something because, shit happens I carry a couple of chemical ice packs snap and they get frosty cold. Some other stuff in a backpack in case I have got to burn some boot leather.

I've got stuck behind a wreck 4 hours.and a hundred things where I wish I would have been better prepared now I'm prepared and nothing happens thank God.

 

After 30 years with hair so short I got sunburn on my scalp (ouch!) I'm rather enjoying longer hair. I have a wide brim boonie hat (Officially, "Hat, camouflage, sun, hot weather") in the car that I have worn in summers past, and my winter flat cap that I do wear under my Walkers. The trick this past weekend was wetting my snap towel in ice water (glorious chipped ice that clung to it!) and then wringing it out over my head. Comb out the ice chips and it kept my hair looking stylish, and really kept me cool as it dried.

I've got another three months of extreme heat to survive before it gets cooler here again. I'm enjoying learning new ideas like the battery fan that @ochit has. I had the big carpet drying fan out at the range this weekend. That monster made sure I always had a breeze blowing on me, in the tower and all the way out to the center of the line.

 

Been getting a bunch of crap from other vendors at some markets that I had to respond to yesterday. When the hot and cold receptors and regulators in your brain are damaged or destroyed..... life becomes a whole different critter in the heat of summer or the cold of winter. Below is what I posted on FB and the Market Forums.

"It must be nice having a trailer with cold air conditioning to step into and enjoy, while the other vendors burn in the heat!"

A comment over the week end that really annoys me! Yes it is really nice to be able to step into it and cool off when I am over heating and force the reset switch in my damaged brain to reset. The trailer IS OPEN to ANY of the Vendors that need to get out of the heat and cool down!

For me however that air conditioner is literally a matter of life and death! When I was sick I had fevers peaking at 112+ degrees and that fried my hot and cold sensors in my brain. In short my ability to regulate my own body temp is shot. At home I have a dog that is very in tune with me, that literally herds me inside to air conditioning when I am starting to overheat, at markets Dee watches me and tells me I need to go into the trailer for a while. I myself can't tell that I am getting to hot like someone who has a functional Hypothalamus can, neither can I tell when I am getting to cold. If I manage to get too hot and not cool down there is a very real possibility that I will have a heat stroke and fall over dead in front of you If I pay close attention to myself I can tell when I need to go into the AC and that thermometer in my shirt pocket is for more than testing food temps, I have found that even in its sleeve it is a good indicator of my body heat and when it gets 10 degrees over the ambient outside temp I need to spend 5 minutes in the trailer. The Shock of walking into the cold resets my brain and it functions fairly normally for 45 min - a hour before it breaks again and I start building heat up again. Otherwise the only way I know I have gotten too hot is my head starts throbbing, the world starts spinning and I sit down whether I intend to sit down or not....... Then I am sick for 3-5 days and can barely function at all

At anytime over the years I could have put a AC unit on any of my trailers. I didn't because I did not need it. This one is not a Look what I have, I am more comfortable and better than you thing. It is.... I literally have a high probability of dying without it. If some people have gotten the impression that it is a luxury for just me, I apologize. That AC unit is as important to me and my continued survival as a pace maker or other critical medical device that keeps other folks alive. And I really am not greedy and happy to share it with folks that need it, or just need a break from the heat. The big fan in my kitchen area serves the same purpose as the as AC and keeps my body temp down and blows some of the heat from the grills away. LOL it gets darn hot in my cooking area surrounded by 200 degree food warmers, a 350 degree smoker and charbroiler and a 360 degree flat top grill. If not for that big fan and that trailer AC I would simply not be able to function at markets or any place else any longer.

 

I wear a hat while outside and a scarf as well as wearing sun glasses.
One's vision is valuable but if you ignore it's care it will go away. Sun glasses are cheap, as well as scarves and hats.
I have noticed lately that the sun seems a bit brighter lately ,not sure why but there is no sense in damaging ones vision as well .
No matter what age you are ,the better you care for your self now, the better life is for you in the future.

 

You owe NO ONE an apology.

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Today, I decided to keep track of what fluids I consumed, starting at 00:01 last night.

00:01 to 03:00 - 2 liters of ice water
03:00 to 06:30 - sleep
06:30 to 10:30 - 1/2 liter of apple juice, 1 liter of Royal D. (Cambodian Gatorade.)
10:30 to 13:00 - sleep
13:15 to 13:45 - commute to city
13:45 to 14:15 - 1 liter ice water at apartment
14:15 to 17:00 - 2 beers 330ml (12oz), 2 Jack & Cokes, at local restaurant with friends
17:00 to 17:45 - shop for goods to take to farm
17:45 to 18:15 - apartment, 1 liter Royal D
18:15 to 19:00 - commute to farm
19:00 to 20:00 - 2 liters sweet iced tea
20:00 to 21:00 - 2 liters ice water
21:00 to 23:00 - Watched movie with Boss, K-9, 1989 release (Only 1 hour, 41 minutes long. But, several interruptions by family.)
23:15 to 23:30 - 1 liter ice water
23:30 to 00:00 - composing and editing this post

Tally:
6 Liters Ice Water
2/3 Liters beer
1/3 Liter Jack & Coke
1/2 Liter Apple Juice
2 Liters Iced Tea
2 Liters Royal D

11.5 Liters (~3 gallons or 48 - 8oz glasses) total liquid consumption, over the past 24 hours.

 

Does that help keep the bugs off you?

 

Not one bit that I've noticed. Only smells I've found that keeps biting bugs away are wood smoke and some marigold insect repellent patches that I tried a few years back. They worked great, but the effect is so lasting that for days after removing the patch I smelled like a rotting bouquet of marigolds. If I see them again I will buy some for emergencies, but only as a last resort.

 

Another victim of heat stroke/exhaustion here.....working outdoors in high heat for my construction job twice now, and the last time (I guess I don't learn wiring an attic when it was over 100d outside, prob close to 150 in the attic, I lost track of time. I now am very sensitive to both heat and sun, feel like I'm gonna melt or somethin'....
I still am active outdoors both at work and play, but I am religious about wearing a boonie hat, long sleeve white T-shirt, wet bandanas wrapped around neck/head, etc.....seems to work pretty well.