What are the symptoms of heat stroke

With the arrival of summer, hot weather is also coming, and the temperature of our living environment is gradually rising. Therefore, for some friends who work under high temperature conditions, heat stroke is one of the most common diseases. Therefore, in this case of high temperature environment, we must take measures to prevent heat stroke. So let’s take a look at the symptoms of heat stroke.

1. Causes

1. Environmental factors

Working in a workshop with high temperature is very likely to cause heatstroke if the ventilation is poor. Agricultural and outdoor work is directly exposed to the sun, and the earth is exposed to the sun, which raises the atmospheric temperature again, causing congestion of the brain meninges and ischemia of the cerebral cortex, leading to heatstroke. The increase in humidity in the air can easily induce heatstroke.

2. Personal physical factors

In public places and families, people are crowded and concentrated, heat is generated in a concentrated manner, and heat dissipation is difficult. Heat exhaustion is mainly caused by insufficient peripheral circulation, causing collapse or short-term fainting.

2. Clinical manifestations

Severe heatstroke includes heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke.

Heat cramps are sudden, painful muscle cramps that occur during or after activity, usually in the muscle groups on the back of the legs (gastrocnemius and Achilles tendon) but can also occur in the abdomen. Muscle cramps may be related to severe sodium depletion (from excessive sweating and drinking hypotonic fluids) and hyperventilation. Heat cramps can also be an early manifestation of heat stroke.

Heat exhaustion is caused by excessive loss of body fluids and salts due to excessive sweating. It often occurs in people who work or exercise in a hot environment without adequate water intake, or in people who are not adapted to hot and humid environments. Its symptoms are: profuse sweating, extreme thirst, fatigue, headache, nausea and vomiting, high body temperature, and obvious signs of dehydration such as tachycardia, orthostatic hypotension or syncope, but no obvious signs of central nervous system damage. Heat exhaustion can be an intermediary process between heat cramps and heat stroke. If not treated in time, it can develop into heat stroke.

Heat stroke is a fatal emergency. Depending on the patient's condition at the time of onset and the pathogenesis, it is clinically divided into two types: exertional heat stroke and non-exertional heat stroke. Exertional heat stroke is mainly caused by excessive endogenous heat production in a high temperature environment (such as long-distance runners in hot weather), and it can occur rapidly; non-exertional heat stroke is mainly caused by impaired temperature regulation in a high temperature environment, resulting in reduced heat dissipation (such as elderly people living without air conditioning during a heat wave), and it can occur within a few days. The symptoms are: high fever (rectal temperature ≥ 41°C), dry skin (can be moistened in the early stage), confusion, convulsions, or even unresponsiveness, peripheral circulatory failure or shock. In addition, those who exert themselves are more likely to develop rhabdomyolysis, acute renal failure, liver failure, DIC or multiple organ failure, and have a higher mortality rate.