Heat stroke. Information. | GTAMotorcycle.com

Heat stroke. Information.

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I am sure that many of you are aware of the complications of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
The signs and symptoms.
However, I am going to add this.
I have seen many sports people, pouring water on their head.
Very dangerous. DO NOT DO THIS.
When you pour cold water on the head/brain it thinks the body is cooling down. This is not true. What happens is the organs think the body is cooling down and the organs will continue to heat up. Causing heat exhaustion then leading to heat stroke. Then Death.
When you get to this state you might not be aware you are in dangerous terrority.
Confused and many other signs and symptoms.
So what do you do?
Go inside. Somewhere cool. You need to bring your body temperature down.
When i go cycling in this heat. I take with me a cooler, For the end of the ride. Keep the body hydrated.
Do not think you will be ok and you can drink when you get thirsty. No true. Drink lots and lots of fluids.
What is in my cooler. Lots of ice and cold water/ice. Fluids. No alchocol or smoking. Nope not even a joint.
I have a small towel which has been soaked in the cooler with the cccold water. It is the wrapped around my neck. Thus helping to cool the organs downs. Also. Maybe ice packs/towel under the armpits and if so in the groin.
Remember we treat heat with cold and cold with hot.
Both in moderation so that it does not go the opposite way.
Example hyperthermia or heat stroke.
Remember, if you think you or your friend/ relative etc. need an ambulance for any medical reason you need an Ambulance. Do not wait. You are dead for an awful long time.
Also know how to do CPR. In many parts of the Country you do not need to do mouth to mouth. Compressions hard and fast. Depending on the size of the person. Adult Child infant.
Do a course. Many companies will/might pay for it. If not, it is good to know it.
 
Good advice.

IMO if you're out for 1 - 2 hours locally your risk is minimal. If you're on a day long ride then you need to ensure you're drinking enough water to remain hydrated. Stopping every 2 hours to guzzle a liter bottle is not the same as sipping water every 15 - 20 minutes from a hydration bag.

Web has a number of sites that tell you amount of water to drink in an hour to offset dehydration.


I use a hydration bag similar to this.

 
I stick to a fairly low-salt diet and it took me a while to clue in to the right balance of water to electrolytes. I'd drink tons of water in hot weather activities to the point of needing to pee very frequently, but still wake up the next day with a dehydration headache. I started adding electrolytes and the need to drink and pee was much less, and the headache the next day was gone.

If you want to get the electrolytes but skip the sugar and caffeine in most sports drinks, a 50/50 mix of regular salt and half-salt (available at your grocery store) and a squeeze of lemon juice is dirt cheap and works as well as any of the 'real' sports drinks that I've tried. I usually just add the mix to plain water until it tastes kind of bad to get the right ratio. Sports drinks add sugar to cover the taste of the salt. If you want something off the shelf that tastes good without the sugar, Mio Sport water additive is a convenient option.
 
This is a timely thread. Went out today although not too hot I wanted to test my set up. Normally I carry a large thermos with ice water and stop every now and then to drink. This time I used the water bladder on the tank bag. It started as ice water but ice melted after a couple of hours but still cool to sip. First rule I try drinking on the fly. It was good. Just had to figure how to put the hose back as the clips were stiff with gloves, but I found an alternate solution.
IMG_4740.jpegIMG_4741.jpeg
 
I use a RAM mount cupholder on the bars with a 750 ml sport drink bottle in it. I use flavoured Waterdrops as I don't like water. :rolleyes:
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I wear a C3 helmet so easy enough to take a mouthful on the fly or at a construction stop ( lots of those still cleaning up after the cyclone in January. )
I also carry a 1.3 L bottle in the top case for refills on longer rides. This time of year not an issue but give it a few months and I'll be sucking it up. Learned my lesson on hydration.
 
Sunday Rider said:
Just had to figure how to put the hose back as the clips were stiff with gloves, but I found an alternate solution.
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A retractable badge reel works well. No fumbling to stow the hose, just let it go and it reels itself back into position.
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Anybody using a cooling vest when riding in the heat?
 
When it’s really hot, I use a little trick adapted from my bicycle racing days and freeze my bladder then put it in my minimalist bladder pack, directly on my back, under my jacket (over a micro thin top, obviously). Works for awhile, then I fill the bladder with ice at the gas station/whatnot.
 
One fact about the seriousness of heat stroke and hypothermia is that they aren’t simply conditions of being too hot, or too cold, but they are critical situations where the body has become so overwhelmed that it has lost its ability to regulate itself against the ambient temperature.

Without that control, the body’s temperature will continue to rise or fall until it meets the temperature of it’s environment. So essentially, we become like “cold-blooded” animals.

The danger is that once we cross this threshold, the situation can become irreversible - there’s no turning back.

That’s why these conditions are so serious, and why we need to take their onsets seriously.
 
Damn, now you all have me worried. I rarely drink much fluids because I never feel thirsty. Even outside of riding, all I drink is a glass of water or pop with lunch and dinner (not counting a mug of coffee in the morning). That's pretty much it for the day unless I'm doing strenuous physical activity, then I'll have one more glass of water or a pop when I'm done. When I'm riding in hot weather, I do sweat - but I find the air flowing through my mesh jacket keeps me comfortable while moving. Then when I stop I sweat more, and when I move again, I cool off again. Meanwhile my kids have what look like 2L water bottles with markings on them to tell them how much to drink by what time...
 
Relax said:
Damn, now you all have me worried. I rarely drink much fluids because I never feel thirsty. Even outside of riding, all I drink is a glass of water or pop with lunch and dinner (not counting a mug of coffee in the morning). That's pretty much it for the day unless I'm doing strenuous physical activity, then I'll have one more glass of water or a pop when I'm done. When I'm riding in hot weather, I do sweat - but I find the air flowing through my mesh jacket keeps me comfortable while moving. Then when I stop I sweat more, and when I move again, I cool off again. Meanwhile my kids have what look like 2L water bottles with markings on them to tell them how much to drink by what time...
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On the bike, I normally have a camelbak on. That makes it easy to drink a little at a time so you don't get behind. In a cage, I am like you but I dry out a lot faster on the bike.
 
So, in this discussion it’s also important to parse out heat stroke ( hypothermia, by extension) from dehydration.

One is about the ability of your brain to regulate the body’s temperature and the adjustments it makes to begin shutting things down, starting with the extremities and pulling increasingly scarce resources in toward the critical organs like the heart, etc.

As this happens, your body enters a state of shock, which can set-off knock-on effects like loss of consciousness, cardiac arrest, and stroke.

The other is about your body having enough fluid for blood to flow and for the brain and organs to function.

And, while prolonged dehydration can be horrifically ugly and painful, and in the short term can cause fainting and serious fatigue, those other factors are less likely to follow-on. I’ve personally watched a family member go through this (palliative care scenario) where they went on for a week- in and out coma, but no big events triggered. Likewise, the brain still maintained awareness and things like speech, vision, and the ability to answer questions - all things you lose as shock progresses.

Death by dehydration takes days. Death by heat stroke can happen in a very short time.
 
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Baggsy said:
Anybody using a cooling vest when riding in the heat?
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I have not but when I used to commute downtown, I'd soak my shirt with water before hopping on the DVP home during 30C+ days. With the heat, the wet shirt doesn't bother me very much. It lasts for about 1.5hrs

I like to have a thermometer on my bike that measures ambient air temperatures so that you can take precautionary action before you get too hot or cold.
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