Heat Stroke Treatment at Home | Prevention Tips

Heat stroke treatment at home is not enough, because this disease is one of the most serious forms of heat injury. Home remedies are only purposed for mild level of heatstroke or appropriate steps while waiting for the authorized medical assistance to arrive. Therefore, it is also to clearly understand about what are the right home treatments & first aid for heat stroke, especially if you or your family has some risk factors of this disease! (You may also like to read causes & risk factors of heatstroke!)

What is heart stroke? It is characterized by a condition when the temperature of the body increases drastically up to 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) or more -- at this point, the emergency treatment is required! Some factors that can lead to this health problem are doing certain activity in hot weather or prolonged exposure to unfriendly temperature (high temperature). Furthermore, certain medication, health problems, and even a condition when the high level of humidity also can put someone at higher risk of developing it!

During heatstroke, the body lose its normal mechanism to control and deal with the heat stress (like for temperature control and sweating) -- that’s why this condition is severe and even can be categorized into potentially life-threatening.

Common symptoms of heatstroke

As mentioned before, the major sign of heart stroke is the rapidly elevated temperature of the body and usually followed by changes in metal status -- from changes in personality to confusion & even coma. Other symptoms may include:

1. Changes in the skin’s temperature and color. Skin tends to be dry, hot, and red. But sometimes the skin of patient may be moist if the exertion is the cause of heart stroke.
2. In elderly patients, the attack is usually preceded by fainting.
3. Lightheaded, dizzy, or increased headache.
4. Unconsciousness or irritability.
5. Lowered /elevated the level of blood pressure.
6. Increased rate of heartbeat.
7. Experience nausea.
8. Experience cessation of sweating.
9. Changes in the mechanism of breathing (rapid & shallow).
10. Patient may also experience seizures or muscle weakness.

Heatstroke treatments at home

For mild case of heatstroke (in a lesser heat emergency), the following steps may be helpful:

1. Make sure that the temperature of the house is not too hot. Install an air conditioner if necessary! The symptoms can get worse while remaining in the heat. If there is no existing air conditioner at home, find and go to a place /room where air-conditioned (such as the movie-theater and mall).
2. Get lower temperature with a fan and damp sheets. This is another practical option that may help patients who are experiencing heat-related signs /symptoms. Use a fan and direct it to the skin of patient while wetting the patient’s skin with water or damp sheets.
3. Taking a cool bath (ice bath) / cool shower is also recommended. Even if patients are outdoors, they can soak in a cool stream or pond to help reduce their body’s temperature.
4. Alcohol or caffeine beverages should be avoided, because they may interfere with the mechanism of the body to control the body’s temperature. Furthermore, alcohol rub also must be avoided!
5. Lack of salt and liquid also should be concerned! Therefore, make sure patient keep hydrated! Both dehydration and lack of salt may trigger the symptoms of heatstroke. Ask a doctor to get to know the right amount of liquid and salt needed by your body, particularly if you have certain health condition associated with low-sodium diet.
6. You can also use some ice packs, and then apply them to some crucial areas where more blood vessels closer to the skin (such as back, groin, neck, and armpits)!

However, heat stroke is serious life-threatening and therefore any signs that occur must be more concerned! In general, the case of this disease is not enough treated with home treatment -- call 911 immediately if you or someone with you experience any sign of heatstroke! Call and ask more additional instructions from the hospital emergency if the emergency response is delayed!

Additionally, after patient has recovered from the attack of heat stroke, she/he still tends to be more sensitive to certain condition of high temperature level during the following week. Therefore, doctors usually ask their patients to avoid hot weather, hot shower and excessive/heavy exercise for certain period of time.

How to prevent heatstroke?

Though heat stroke is a kind of potentially life-threatening, but fortunately it is also preventable & predictable. If you have one or some of heatstroke risk factors, take a few minutes to read the following helpful prevention tips!

1. Consider what you wear! The wrong cloth that you wear can lead to poor circulation and then will increase the temperature of the body. Therefore, it’s much better to avoid using excess clothing and dark-colored clothing. Wide-brimmed hat, loose-fitting clothing, and even light-colored clothing are more recommended.
2. As mentioned before, it is important to keep hydrated! Having adequate fluid in the body will help your body to control the body’s temperature through sweating.
3. Don’t stay too long in certain places that can generate more heat, such as parking area. Furthermore, don’t leave kids or someone with high risk of experiencing heatstroke in a parked car, particularly if the car is parked in the sun.
4. For your regular exercise, it is more recommended to do it in the evening or early morning when the weather temperature is not too hot. And don’t forget to avoid exercise excessively! Consult more with a doctor or professional trainer to get more advices!
5. If you have certain outdoor activity, choose the friendly time when the weather temperature level is not too high for better result.
6. Monitor the level of your weight before and after doing your physical activity! This is simple idea but usually will be helpful to get to know how much water/liquid you have to drink in order to keep hydrated. Moreover, don’t forget to frequently analyze your urine -- very light color of the urine is sign of no-dehydration, and on the other hand darker color of urine is a symptom of dehydration.
7. And as written before, alcohol and caffeine can make the body lose more water/liquids. Both also can make the symptoms of your heatstroke worse. Therefore, it is much better to avoid both substances in your beverages.

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Reference: MayoClinic and WebMD
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