Above are a few videos from Youtube detailing the dangers of both heat stroke and heat exhaustion.

Heat Exhaustion or Heat Stroke? Summer is blazing, do you know the difference between heat stroke and heat exhaustion? Check out the @wildmedsociety for an excellent guideline or my August 9th, 2021 2 part series on it. THIS IS DEADLY!

• Heat Cramps- Exercise-associated painful involuntary muscle contractions during or immediately following exercise.
• Heat Syncope- Transient loss of consciousness with spontaneous return to normal mentation.
• Heat Exhaustion- High heat or strenuous exercise with S/Sx of intense thirst, weakness, discomfort, anxiety, dizziness, syncope and a core temp(rectal) >37c/98.6f but <40c/104f.
• Heat Stroke- Core Temp(rectal) >40c/104f with ALTERED MENTAL STATUS (including seizure and coma).

Diagnosis: See the above criteria. If you are out in the heat and somebody starts walking funny (ataxia) and talking funny (altered mental status) then treat it as heat stroke= RAPIDLY COOL!!! and evacuate. An easy way to check for this is to watch them walk and see how much they sway, also, ask them some fairly easy questions (math, where they are, what day it is). Best cooling is cold water immersion (don’t let them pass out and drown), next best is to strip the patient (not you) naked and use Ice sheets/towels. Try to recognize it early and cool before, don’t help them cross the finish line so they can finish and die!

Prevention: You can’t drink your way out of it, in fact you can drink too much water, get hyponatremia (low sodium) and die from that. It’s all about the heat load, and you need to dump heat as often as possible to prevent it.

Stay alive and look out for each other out there!