There are a few different types of heat-related illnesses, but heat stroke is the most severe. This condition can occur when your body temperature rises to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, which may be the result of prolonged exposure to heat or intense exercise in hot temperatures. Wearing excess layers of clothing, drinking alcohol, and not drinking enough water can all increase your risk of experiencing the condition. Young children and the elderly are especially at risk, but it’s possible for anyone to have heat stroke.
If you have heat stroke, you need to seek emergency treatment immediately. If it goes untreated, the condition can damage your brain, muscles, and organs. The longer you go without medical attention, the greater your risk of permanent damage or even death. While you wait for emergency services, you should get inside or in the shade and cool off with ice packs, a cold shower, a garden hose, or whatever is available to you. If you or someone else starts showing the signs of overheating, it’s important to take immediate action. You should become familiar with the effects of the condition, so you can recognize what’s going on before it’s too late. Here are nine signs and symptoms of heat stroke:
1. Throbbing Headache
A throbbing or pounding headache is one of the most common symptoms of heat stroke. Most people feel the pain around the back or sides of their head. The headache may come on suddenly and become extremely painful very quickly. Excessive heat causes your body to sweat in an attempt to cool down. If you’ve been in the heat for a long time, you may sweat so much that your body loses a dangerous amount of water and electrolytes. This can occur even if you’re sitting down or not exerting yourself. Exercising in the hot weather can cause heat stroke and headaches in a shorter amount of time, though.
If your body doesn’t have enough fluids, your blood vessels will narrow, reducing the supply of oxygen to your brain. The more dehydrated you are, the more severe your headache will be. Having a headache after being out in the heat doesn’t necessarily mean that you have heat stroke. It could be a sign of dehydration or heat exhaustion, which is less serious. However, if the headache occurs alongside the other symptoms of heat stroke, you should go indoors or into the shade, remove excess layers of clothing, cool down with water or ice, and seek medical attention.
2. Dizziness
If you have heat stroke, you might start to feel dizzy or disoriented. It may feel like the ground is moving or the world is spinning around you, and you may start to get tunnel vision or blurry vision. Suddenly standing up or moving around can make this symptom worse, and you could faint if the dizziness is very severe. This occurs because of lack of blood flow to the brain. Dehydration causes the blood vessels to constrict, which reduces how much blood reaches your brain. Also, heat causes more blood to flow to your skin and pool in your legs, which means your brain receives less blood. Your blood pressure might drop suddenly, too, which increases your risk of dizziness and fainting.
3. Light-Headedness
Light-headedness feels very similar to dizziness, but it doesn’t make you feel like your surroundings are moving. Instead, it makes you feel uneasy, weak, or like your head is weightless. This is often a sign that your blood pressure has dropped and that your blood is pooling in your legs. Because of the lack of blood flow to the brain, this symptom is often accompanied by an altered mental state, which is one of the most obvious external signs of heat stroke. You may suddenly feel very confused, agitated, or disoriented, and you may start slurring your words or struggling to speak at all.
4. Red, Hot, and Dry Skin
Because your body temperature is increasing and more blood is flowing to your skin, your skin may look red and flushed when you overheat. Your skin will also feel very hot to the touch, but you might not be able to feel this. Dry skin is sometimes a sign of heat stroke because your body will eventually stop sweating when it’s running out of fluids. About 50 percent of people with heat stroke stop sweating. However, your sweat can stay on your skin for a while if it’s hot and humid outside, so it’s impossible to know for sure whether you’ve stopped sweating. Therefore, sweaty skin isn’t a definite sign that you do not have heat stroke.
5. Muscle Weakness
Muscle weakness is a common symptom of heat stroke and is sometimes the earliest sign of the condition. It occurs as a result of dehydration and low blood volume. You may feel like your muscles have gone limp, or you may have trouble tensing them up. Even something as simple as forming a fist or holding up a water bottle could feel difficult because your muscles are fatigued from lack of blood flow. When the heat stroke becomes very severe, you may have trouble walking or moving much at all because your muscles are so weak. Muscle weakness combined with light-headedness and low blood pressure increases your risk of fainting or collapsing.
6. Cramps
Muscle cramps, pain, or spasms sometimes occur during heat stroke, especially in the arms and legs. The cramps often start in the hands, feet, or calves but slowly spread across the entire body. Being in the heat for a prolonged amount of time causes excessive sweating, which can deplete your body’s store of fluids and electrolytes. Without the proper levels of electrolytes, your muscles’ ability to relax and contract becomes impaired. This can lead to sudden, extreme pain as they contract involuntarily. Experiencing muscle pain without the other symptoms of heat stroke can be a sign of heat cramps, a less serious heat-related illness.
7. Nausea
Dehydration and loss of electrolytes can cause nausea or stomach pain. Feeling mildly nauseous or uneasy is often one of the earliest signs of heat stroke. As the condition gets worse, the queasiness may become very uncomfortable or painful. Nausea is an especially dangerous symptom of heat stroke because it may prevent you from drinking fluids. When your stomach is upset, you usually don’t want to eat or drink anything, but avoiding fluids will make you more dehydrated. Dizziness and light-headedness can worsen the nausea because they make you feel unsteady and disoriented. Nausea can also be accompanied by vomiting, which will further dehydrate you.
8. Rapid Heartbeat
A heart rate greater than 100 beats per minute is considered a rapid heartbeat. When you have heat stroke, this can occur for a few reasons. If your blood pools in your legs, your heart rate will increase to combat this. Your body wants your blood to keep flowing, and increasing your heart rate is its best effort to stop the blood pooling. Also, your pulse may increase because your body is working so hard to cool itself down. If you try to check your pulse, it might feel weak or faint. However, as the condition worsens, you might start to feel your heart pounding in your chest.
9. Shallow Breathing
Loss of fluids through sweating can cause your blood volume to decrease, so your body might not get enough oxygen. Rapid and shallow breathing is your body’s attempt to get more oxygen into the lungs and blood. If you’re taking more than 20 breaths per minute, you’re breathing rapidly. You may also feel light-headedness and numbness or tingling in your feet and hands if your body isn’t getting enough oxygen. If you’re also experiencing lots of other symptoms, you may not notice how shallow your breathing is. Rapid and shallow breathing is one of the most noticeable symptoms to others, though.
