Heat Stroke Treatment Questions and Answers

Heat stroke can cause major damage if the correct treatments are not being implemented to help cool the body down. If you think you might be suffering from heat stroke or someone else is, walk in to AFC Urgent Care Tyrone St. Petersburg today! We are available to help treat heat stroke symptoms. We are located at 2241 66th St N St Petersburg FL 33710..

What causes heat stroke?

Heat stroke is one of the most serious forms of a heat injury you can receive. Heat stroke can be minor or cause major damage. It often occurs from milder heat-related illness such as heat cramps, fainting from heat and heat exhaustion. However, it can still strike even if you have shown no previous signs of heat injury.

Heat stroke is when you are exposed to prolonged high temperatures and dehydrated, your body’s temperature starts to fail as it can’t keep you cool enough. It can cause many complications with the nervous system if you are continued to be exposed to high temperatures.

How do you treat heat stroke?

Heat stroke is evident to all doctors; however, lab results can confirm the doctors diagnoses and rule out any other causes for your symptoms and assess any organ damage. The tests that can be done and are available at AFC Urgent Care Tyrone St. Petersburg are:

• Rectal Temperature

Check your bodies core temperature. Most accurate way of determining your cores body temperature is and more accurate than getting temperatures from your mouth or forehead

• Blood Test

Check the sodium or potassium levels and the content of gases in your blood to see if there is any damage to your central nervous system

• Urine Test

If the urine is darker, you could have a heat-related condition. Urine tests also check your kidney function which can be affected by heatstroke

• Muscle Function Test

Helps to review for serious damage in your muscle tissue

• X-rays and Other Imaging Tests

Finally, this helps to check for any damage that may have been caused to your internal organs from the heat stroke

Heatstroke treatment focuses on cooling your bodies temperature to normal temperature levels to prevent or reduce any damage it may be causing. To do this, your doctor may do the following:

• Immerse you in cold water

A bath of cold or even ice water has been proven to be the most effective way of lowering your bodies core temperature

• Use evaporation cooling techniques

Healthcare professionals may try to lower the body temperature using evaporation cooling techniques by misting cool water over your entire body while warm air if fanned over you, causing the water to evaporate and cool your skin

• Pack you with ice and cooling blankets

Wrapping you with special cooling blankets and inserting ice packs near your groin, neck, back and armpits to help lower your bodies temperature

• Medication to stop the shivering

If the above treatments make you shiver, your doctor may provide a muscle relaxant medication to help stop the shivering

What happens to your body during heat stroke?

Many suffer from heat-related sickness when the body’s core temperature starts to go into overdrive. Under some conditions, sweating is not enough. If a person’s body temperature rises too fast, it can cause damage to your brain or other vital organs. When humidity is high, the sweat you are experiencing will not evaporate as quickly, preventing the body from releasing the heat rising in your body quickly. Other issues that can limit your body’s ability to regulate temperatures include old age, youth (0-4) obesity, fever, dehydration, heart disease, mental illness, poor circulation, sunburn and substance use.

What is the difference between heat stroke and sun stroke?

The symptoms of heat stroke and sun stroke are the same. Sun stroke is another term for heat stroke, but includes sun burn.

If you or someone is showing signs or symptoms of heat stroke, and they aren’t able to cool themselves, walk in to an urgent care immediately to get treatment. If the heat stroke symptoms are severe like fainting or vomiting, immediately go to the nearest hospital emergency room to get treatment, as the heat stroke could be causing more severe damage.