Heat Illness Kills Athletes And This Doctor Wants You To Know The Signs

Heatstroke and Heat related illnesses are especially a concern in Minnesota during what has been a heatwave over the past week.  Dr. Paul Meirick, Sports Medicine & Internal Medicine with CentraCare M Physicians Orthopedics joined me on WJON.

Heat Illness

Dr. Meirick says heatstroke is one of the many forms of heat illness.  He says heat illness is a spectrum of conditions that happens when the heat in your body is rising quicker than you can rid of it.  Dr. Meirick says there is a 25% chance of fatality if you reach the level of heatstroke and heat illness is the 3rd leading cause of death for athletes.  He says since 1992 there have been 60 deaths among American football players due to heatstroke.

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Heat Cramps

Heat cramps are typically the first sign of a problem according to Meirick.  He says if that goes on long enough, heat exhaustion would be the next step followed by heatstroke.  Symptoms of early heat illness include cramping in your muscles, feeling clammy, sweaty, weak and fatigued.

Reverse or Stop Symptoms

There are ways to stop and reverse the symptoms.  Dr. Meirick says the first is to remove the affected person from the environment, cool them down as quick as possible, massage cramping muscles, and give them rest and hydration.  He says this typically calms down the cramps but it doesn't always work.  Dr. Meirick says it is possible for athletes to return to play the same day after dealing with heat related cramping if they have strength and range of motion.

Heat Related Factors

Dr. Meirick says there are 4 heat related factors. They include the ambient temperature, humidity, radiant heat, and air movement.

Heat Exhaustion

Cramping due to heat can lead to heat exhaustion.  Dr. Meirick says symptoms of heat exhaustion include cramps, sweaty skin, nausea, weakness, fatigue, heart rate increase, and blood pressure fluctuates. He says a sign you are suffering from heat exhaustion is your body temperature increases to 101 to 102 degrees.  Dr. Meirick says that this point you are still thinking straight.

Heatstroke

A person having heatstroke aren't having a stroke.  Dr. Meirick says if you've gone through cramps and heat exhaustion, the next step is heatstroke.  He says the biggest difference between heat exhaustion and heatstroke is the mental status of the patient.  Symptoms of heatstroke include cramping, fatigue, high heart rate, high body temperature, and high blood pressure.  Dr. Meirick says a person suffering from heatstroke has mental status changes like not making sense and doing things outside their personality.  A cold water/ice tub could be a treatment for someone suffering from heatstroke.

Who's at Risk

People who are the highest risk for heatstroke or heat exhaustion include those that work outside, people who are you very young or very old, those with lower economic status because they don't have air cooling devices, people who are overweight, those who have had heatstroke before, people who are sick, alcohol use,  and those on certain types of medications,

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Dr. Meirick, click below.