How to handle common disasters caused by heat

Severe heat can cause edema, rash, cramps or fainting, exhaustion, and heat stroke. Prompt treatment helps effective treatment and health protection.

Edema due to heat

When you have to go or work in the hot sun, or suddenly from the air-conditioned room to the sun, lower body areas such as ankles, feet are prone to edema due to blood vessels dilating to release heat. This may occur for a few hours or days, then clears up when the body has adapted to the environment.

Handling: Use high heels to sleep for normal blood circulation. Do not drink diuretics to reduce edema because it will make the body more dehydrated, detrimental to the body.

Rash

In areas exposed to the sun or excessive heat, sweat glands become blocked, unable to escape to evaporate. At that time, you are prone to dermatitis, manifested by many small red spots floating on the skin, causing a tingling or itching sensation.

Treatment: The rash will go away on its own after a while, without any specific treatment. If itching is high, using common allergies and limiting sun exposure, the disease will go away on its own.

Cramps (cramps)

Cramps cause you to experience sudden pain, cramps in the muscles of your abdomen, thighs or lower legs. The disease usually occurs in heavy workers, athletes training with high intensity. When working hard, the muscles must work continuously with high intensity. The body loses water, salt and electrolytes through excessive sweat, causing muscle tension.

Treatment : Use common painkillers in combination with rest, move to a cool place, rehydration with mineral salts. Drinking water is not enough to meet the needs of losing salt and water of the body. Mineral water includes solutions of electrolyte, lemon juice mixed with salt, sugar . After resting, rehydration symptoms will gradually subside and recover completely.

Faint

People who travel for a long time in the heat, climb mountains, move around, do military exercises . easily faint due to increased sweating, which causes loss of salt and water but is not supplemented in time. The volume of water in the blood vessels decreases, causing a drop in blood pressure, reducing blood flow to the brain when standing.

Thermal syncope is often accompanied by other symptoms such as confusion, dizziness, dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, low urine, concentrated urine, etc.

Handling: This case requires immediate first aid to reduce the sequelae of the body. First aid steps include: For fainting people with low head, move to cool air, expand clothing, compensate for mineral saline. Continue to monitor for 30 minutes, if the condition is stable, do not need to go to the hospital.

Doctor examining emergency patients at Friendship Hospital. (Photo: Chile).

Exhausted

People are exhausted when they go to the sun because they lose salt and water for a longer time than the above situations. When exhausted, the body sweats a lot, feeling chills, cold and wet skin, fast pulse, headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, cramps, fatigue, fainting . moreover, exhausted people can suffer from heat stroke, which is the most severe form of temperature-related illness.

Treatment: Need to stop all activities, move to a cool place and replace water, mineral salts with appropriate solutions . After resting time, the body will recover completely. In addition, you can use a cool towel to wipe, apply to areas with many blood vessels such as the forehead, back, armpits, groin . to absorb heat, helping the body to release heat faster. Drink as much water as possible.

In 30 minutes to an hour, symptoms do not improve but increase, for example headache, vomiting, more dizziness, requiring hospital treatment.

Heat shock

Heat shock occurs when the body is overheated, staying in a place with a high temperature makes the body temperature up to 40 degrees C or higher. At that time, people suffer from heat shock due to prolonged loss of salt and water, overloaded body regulating body's body.

This is the most severe event caused by heat, the death rate equivalent to stroke. In addition, prolonged hyperthermia will damage the cardiovascular system, respiratory, liver, kidney and especially the nervous system. Symptoms such as headache, dizziness, nausea, drowsiness, confusion, convulsions, and coma.

Handling: Promptly provide first aid for temporary heat shock by moving the victim to a low head, moving away from the high temperature area. Quickly cool down the victim such as using a fan, soaking in cool water for a few minutes in combination with using a cool soaked towel or ice pack to cover areas of the body with many blood vessels such as the forehead, back, armpits, groin . After the first aid, the victims should be moved to the hospital as soon as possible.