BENGALURU: Are you having headaches accompanied by a sense of sudden disorientation? Chances are you are experiencing heat exhaustion or a heat stroke. Although its not even April yet, people of the city are increasingly complaining of exhaustion and shallow breathing as a result of the heat, say doctors.
With the weathermen predicting a rise in temperature in coming months, they strongly advise those who cannot avoid exposure to the sun to take extra precautions to avoid a heat stroke. “Strokes can happen to any normal person who is not in the risk group and can start off with heat cramps, a sense of disorientation and confusion and end with convulsions even,” says Dr S M Prasad, Assistant Professor, Dr BR Ambedkar Medical College , stressing that people, especially children, should avoid spending long hours out in the sun.
“Many parents are already complaining about their children having bleeding noses,” he adds.
Pointing out that people tend to drink a lot of water and sometimes from contaminated sources, he says this leads to an upset stomach and loss of body fluid through diarrheoa making them dehydrated. “People must avoid uncooked food at all costs and cut fruits sold by vendors. They should also make sure they have filtered water in hotels and restaurants," Dr Prasad adds.
“Heat exhaustion is very common in summer as the body responds to the heat through sweating but when the lost moisture is not replaced by fluids and salt there is dehydration and electrolyte disturbance in the body, leading to the condition” explains Dr Bindumathi PL, Professor and HoD, general medicine, Sapthagiri Medical College.
Luckily, the paediatric department of Bowring hospital has not seen any cases of extreme heat stroke this year. “Generally children are not allowed in the sun and as the exam season is here they are not out as much. So we have not come across many cases till now,” says Dr Chikkanarasappa Reddy, Assistant, Professor of Paediatrics at the hospital.
Symptoms
Body temperature greater than 104 degrees Fahrenheit
Headache
Dizziness
Confusion
Disorientation
Fatigue
Hot dry skin
Moist skin if stroke is due to exertion
Rapid/ shallow breathing
Rapid heartbeat
Absence of sweating
How to beat the heat
Carry an umbrella or cap to avoid direct exposure to the sun’s rays and drink plenty of water
Use a sunscreen to avoid skin problems
Consume plenty of fluids, especially high electrolyte drinks like tendercoconut , freshly prepared juices and buttermilk.
Avoid aerated drinks and other drinks with high sugar content as they dehydrate the body even more.
Why you should be worried...
City hospitals are seeing a few cases of heat exhaustion every day. Severe cases of heat stroke have not been reported yet.
Among all deaths from natural calamities, death by lighting (34 per cent) is the highest, followed by heat stroke (15 per cent ), according to a report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for 2001-2012. Heat strokes were proportionately higher compared to cold wave related deaths in most of the years of the last decade, the report notes. In 2015, there were five times more deaths from heat stroke when compared to 2001. Odisha, Andra Pradesh, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have reported over a 1000 deaths from heat stroke over the last 15 years.
