HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Timaru Herald, Volume CL, Issue 22156, 27 December 1941, Page 2

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

, HEAT EXHAUSTION (Prepared, and issued by the Health Department.) There’s nothing like a bout of really hot weather to “take the kick” out of us. You know, when your clothes cling uncomfortably and any exertion raises a fresh bath of perspiration. The idea is to find the coolest spot in the place, lie down, flat out and motionless, and postively ignore everyone. And it is a good idea, too. It’s the best way of easing the strain of the heat, and warding off possible heat exhaustion, particularly in elderly people. Plenty or rest in a well-ven-tilated room, and copious drinks of cold water, especially before going to bed. arid a light diet featuring fruit and vegetables make the best precaution. In very hot weather an ounce of salt added to a gallon of water is a big help. Drink freely of this saline solution. Heat exhaustion is a circulatory upset that is nob usually dangerous to life itself; but it can lead to heat stroke, which is often fatal where temperatures are extreme. Heat stroke will be discussed in the next bulletin. The symptoms of heat exhaustion are not severe, but they are many, and they are frequently highly disturbing. In critical cases the doctor may find it necessary to go as far as giving heart stimulant by injection, but ordinary commonsense measures relieve the siuation. A sharp rise in body temperature is the principal feature of heat exhaustion. It comonly soars to 10, and with this movement will occur all those complementary symphoms—a weak and rapid pulse, faintness, langour, dizziness, loss of appetite, abdominal discomfort, general exhaustion, and perhaps mild or severe cramps in the muscles. And the patient looks terrible. Remove the patient to as cool a place as possible, and supply aperients and saline drinks. Call in your doctor without delay. Recovery is the rule except, perhaps, where the patient is over sixty years of age.