[TFDA] TONIGHT - Forest Hills (Durham) - TGTTF @ 6 PM - If You Think Heat Stroke Is Fun, You'll LOVE Tonight ...
John Eyles
jge at cs.unc.edu
Tue Aug 5 14:28:14 EDT 2008
> CDC's FAQs about Extreme Heat
> http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/extremeheat/faq.asp
It is disappointing (but not surprsing) that this link barely mentions the
need to replace electrolytes (it does, briefly, in item #17).
I've posted this stuff before, but it doesn't hurt to repeat ...
I am very familiar with issues of exercise in extreme heat, having become
a pretty active Grand Canyon backpacker in my post-ultimate days. There is
a condition called hyponatremia, which is a dangerous lowering of the sodium
levels in your body (from the Latin "natrium", hence the chemical symbol "Na"
for sodium). It kills more people than dehydration but has symptoms that
mimic heat-exhasution in some respects. And MDs don't seem to be that good
at recognizing it - they think it's something that just happens to really sick
people in the hospital; I have seem people in the GC who had hyponatremia, and
doctors who happened along the trail suspected hypoglycemia. (At least they
didn't say "dehydration" and prescribe more water, without electrolytes !)
Low patassium can mess you up too. Cramps, for example.
I like to get a thing of Country Time pink lemonade mix (I think it's the
8 quart size, maybe the size of a grapefruit) and add two tablespoons each
of Morton's Lite Salt (half potassium chloride) and regular salt (or one of
the sea salt type products available at Whole Paycheck, probably has some
good trace minerals). Put 2 tbsp or so of this mix in a liter of water.
You'll feel a lot better, I promise. (Bruce Aiken, an artist, aka. pump
system engineer, who lived along the North Kaibab trail in Grand Canyon for
30 years, regularly served pitchers of this mix to passing hikers, and
probably saved a lot of people).
John
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