Heat exhaustion is a serious condition that occurs when the body gets too hot due to hot weather or strenuous activity. To prevent its symptoms from worsening, prompt treatment should be administered. If ignored or left untreated, heat exhaustion can cause potentially life-threatening complications, including heatstroke, loss of consciousness, organ failure or even death.
General Complications
Heat exhaustion causes a number of early complications that require immediate attention, including faintness, dizziness, heavy sweating, cool and moist skin with goosebumps (even when in a hot environment), weak and rapid pulse, headache, nausea and fatigue. If you do not immediately rest in a cool environment and drink cool fluids to treat these symptoms, they may progress to move severe symptoms of heatstroke. The primary symptom of heatstroke is a body temperature above 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Mayo Clinic. You may also develop flushed skin, rapid and shallow breathing, a racing heart, strong pulse and a throbbing headache. Your skin may feel hot and dry to the touch due to an absence of sweating (if you have been strenuously exercising, your skin may instead feel moist). In the early stages of heatstroke, your muscles may cramp or feel tender to the touch. As heatstroke progresses, muscles may become limp or rigid.
Systemic Complications
An article published in the June 2005 issue of "American Family Physician" notes that heat exhaustion and heatstroke are on a continuum of heat-related illness, and it is not uncommon for untreated heat exhaustion to progress to the point that it causes systemic (body-wide) complications. One of these complications is disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), a disorder that occurs when the proteins responsible for controlling the clotting of blood become inactive. While in some cases this causes the formation of blood clots that increase your risk of stroke, more frequently it results in serious bleeding, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). DIC can also cause bruising, a sudden drop in blood pressure and impaired blood flow to the extremities or vital organs. Rhabdomyolysis may also occur, causing a severe breakdown of muscle fibers that results in the release of myoglobin (a protein pigment) into the bloodstream. According to the NIH, myoglobin can block structures of the kidney or cause kidney failure.
Other possible systemic complications from untreated heat exhaustion include liver failure and severe heart arrhythmias.
Shock
A sudden loss of blood flow can lead to shock, a serious condition that can lead to multi-organ damage, coma or death, according to the Mayo Clinic. Shock is characterized by extremely low blood pressure, cool and clammy skin, blue lips and nail beds, confusion, little or no urine output, shallow breathing and rapid, weak pulse. It can lead to loss of consciousness or death and should be treated as a medical emergency.
References
- Mayo Clinic: Heatstroke
- Mayo Clinic: Heat Exhaustion
- "American Family Physician"; Management of heatstroke and heat exhaustion; JL Glazer; June 2005
