Fever Caused By Sunstroke And Ways To Cope At Home

Sunstroke is a serious medical condition in which your body gets overheated. It usually happens when a person is exposed to high temperatures for a long period of time. An emergency situation develops when sunstroke is accompanied by fever.

If you live in an area where the temperature generally goes above 40°C during summers, you should know more about sunstroke and how to cope with it. Down below is a complete guide on what sunstroke is and how to cope when your body temperature rises during a sunstroke. Read on.

What Is Sunstroke?

Physical exertion in high temperatures can overheat your body. In geographical regions where the temperature often goes above 40°C, this overheating of the body causes sunstroke. Also known as heatstroke, this condition requires immediate treatment.

Here are a few major symptoms that are accompanied by sunstroke:

• Fast breathing or pulse
• Headache
• Cramps in the arms, legs and stomach
• Dizziness and confusion
• A high temperature of 40°c or above
• Loss of appetite and feeling sick
• Excessive sweating and pale, clammy skin
• Seizures
• Unconsciousness
• Being very thirsty

In some cases, people suffering from sunstroke do not show any symptoms. Hence, it is often suggested by the doctors not to perform intense work in high-temperature areas or cool your body down immediately after prolonged exposure to sunlight.

Your body temperature should start lowering down within 30 to 40 minutes of giving the first aid. Ideally, it should lower down to 101 or 100 from 104 F.

How To Cope With Sunstroke Fever

Delaying a prompt medical response in case of sunstroke can lead to serious medical situations. If you or someone near you has a heatstroke, the below-mentioned first aid can help. Just keep in mind that even if you do not have a thermometer to check the body temperature, you can still initiate the below mentioned first aid. Read on:

• Getting To A Cool Area

The very first thing you should do is move away from the high-temperature area into an air-conditioned environment. If there is no air-conditioned environment around, you should at least get in a cool and shady area.

• Remove Clothes

Remove as many clothes as possible from your body. At this point, your body is dissipating heat energy from the body. The lesser clothes on your body, the more heat can your body dissipate quickly.

• Cool Down the Skin

Though your body will naturally cool down by dissipating energy, you can fasten that process with various methods. The easiest method is by spraying cool water on the skin and then getting under the fan. Preferably, you should also get cold packs around the neck, groin, and armpit. These body areas have a lot of blood vessels near the skin. So, cooling these body areas will reduce the body temperature quickly.

• Get Hydrated

After getting to a cool area and cooling down your skin, the next thing you should do is get hydrated. Drink plenty of water or rehydration drinks. Alternately, you can also drink sports drinks.

• Cool Water Immersion

If you are young and healthy, and the reason behind the sunstroke is vigorous exercise, an ice bath or cool water immersion can help you cool down the body. Such types of sunstrokes are not actually caused by sunlight and are hence called exertional heatstroke's.

The cool water immersion and ice bath technique should not be used on patients with chronic illness, children and older people. They work best only on healthy people who suffer from heatstroke after intense physical work.

• Lie Down

At this point, you are probably already lying down to cool down your skin. If not, you should lie down first. After that, raise your feet slightly. You can place your feet on a block or a stack of pillows. This will help move more blood towards the heart.

Your body temperature should start lowering down within 30 to 40 minutes of giving the first aid. Ideally, it should lower down to 101 or 100 from 104 F.

When To Seek Medical Help

Sunstroke is an emergency medical condition that requires an immediate response in the form of first aid. Most doctors suggest calling for medical help even if you know how to give first aid because sunstroke can prove to be lethal for the patient.

As soon as you experience sunstroke symptoms, you should call an ambulance or go to a hospital with the help of someone else. Supervision of a medical expert is essential even if you have taken first aid and your body temperature is getting down.

The medical expert will make sure that all your vitals are normal. In case the Ambulance does not arrive early, you should call a doctor to seek further instructions. Meanwhile, a person should always stay with you because sunstroke can cause dizziness, dizziness, and other similar conditions.

Summing It Up

Sunstroke is a medical condition in which your body temperature goes up to 104 F because of exposure to heat. Its most common symptoms are fast breathing, headache, and fever. If you notice sunstroke symptoms, you should immediately call a hospital for emergency service and then start first aid.

The first aid includes getting into a shady place and then cooling down your body temperature. There are various ways through which you can lower your body temperature, such as removing clothes, spraying cool water, cool packs, and so on. Even if your temperature cools down, you should definitely seek medical help.

Reference Links:

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319570

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16425-heat-illness

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/heat-exhaustion-heatstroke/

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