heat stroke sunstroke

salima

havent seen a thread on this yet...

i have read about this enough to know that the old, children, diabetes and heart patients, and day laborers and poor are the hardest hit. higher humidity is worse.

has anyone had any experience with this problem? i am in bhopal and will be spending the summer and monsoon here as far as i know. does the monsoon end the threat of this? or is it worse?

my friends dont want me to go anywhere, but i think they are more in danger than i am because they are older and ill with the conditions listed above. also they have led indoor lives so they are not used to it. in america i had to walk five miles a day during summer, though of course the temperature there was nothing in comparison-but i never suffered from it then even without any sensible protection at all.

SHIMLA

A heat stroke is caused by exposing the body to a sudden and high difference in temperature, like stepping out of an air-conditioned enviroment directly into 40 degrees celsius, or the other way round: stepping into air-conditioned comfort directly after spending a few hours in the scorching sun.

One should also avoid consuming chilled liquids immediately after coming in from the heat.

As far as possible, avoid sightseeing in summer.

If you do have to roam around in the heat, make sure you have your cap or some appropriate headgear on and keep an onion in your pocket. It is said that the onion in the pocket absorbs most of the heat and prevents your body from taking it all.

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salima

hmmm...saris do not have pockets...

i hope the onion doesnt have to be peeled!!
i find that not using the desert cooler is better, i like the idea of a constant temperature even if it is hot or too hot-as long as i am only uncomfortable rather than being sick, i dont want to use any appliance to control the temperature.

so far the only place i have found in this city that is air conditioned is the atm machine...

SHIMLA

Yes, saris do not have pockets ! In that case use a 'kerchief to wrap the onion in and tuck the 'kerchief at the waist. Fortunately, the onion doesn't have to be peeled. However, a white onion is more effective.

LuAnnandJawahar

Heatstroke is just one end of a continuum of heat illness caused by dehydration, electrolyte losses, and failure of the body's ability to regulate its internal temperature.

Heat "exhaustion" occurs if the body can no longer dissipate heat adequately because of extreme environmental conditions. (Like very humid hot weather.) It can progress to heatstroke if systems that normally regular body temperature (like sweating) fail. Heat stroke is deadly.

No one is immune to these heat illnesses, even well conditioned atheletes. We're not health professionals, but the first sign that you are in trouble can be that you feel hot and are not sweating. Drinking lots of water is crucial in India at any time, especially in the hot season.

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virajverma

The best way is consuming a lot of water and not let the fluid level in the body to fall.this keeps ur body temps regulated.

Shimla's comment on not exposing yourself to suddenly changing temperatures should help you stay away from these strokes.
And the onion thing also works....I ve been seeing that here in north India for as long as I remember

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Jeroen

Onion in your pocket? Sounds like quackery to me. Wear a hat and do the siesta, I'd suggest.

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salima

the onion sounds very funny to me too. but i see those ladies carrying things in their kerchiefs and i am afraid to try it with money, so maybe an onion would be good practice. but i think it will be noticeable....have to find a small onion i guess...

of course i will do the other sensible things too. but my main idea is to go out in the sun and the heat as long as i can whenever possible instead of hiding indoors and turning on the cooler like the people i have met here are telling me to do. i have yet to see whether they also do the same, they keep saying i am not accustomed as though i have never been in the sun.

if the moon is hanging in the sky sideways over india maybe the sun is different here too, who knows...

LuAnnandJawahar

"but my main idea is to go out in the sun and the heat as long as i can whenever possible instead of hiding indoors and turning on the cooler like the people i have met here are telling me to do."

Sounds like a bad idea, especially when you are getting local advise to the contrary.

salima

the locals of the middle class and the locals of the working class have different lifestyles i notice. no auto walla or sabzi walla has given me any advice so far...maybe i should ask them! i think my former life in america was more like theirs than the people i have met here so far. my capacity for physical labor and exposure to climate probably lies somewhere in between...

AvidTrekker

A friend who had to work outdoors in the Delhi heat for a month did the needful by eating a mixture of (curds+sugar). The only small meal of roti-daal he ate was at 9 pm. This was in May. The onion thing is time tested and followed everywhere in N. India at least. The Rajasthani cloth turban is also a good way... but how many would do it in Delhi??

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salima

hehehe-i am in bhopal, everybody does towel turbans here....
well, not the ladies of course.
i wish i was a man...life would be so much easier