In today's episode, Dr. discusses the symptoms and treatment for heat cramps.
The Occupational Safety Leadership Podcast
Episode 155 - Heat Cramps - Symptoms and Treatment
Welcome to the Occupational Safety Leadership Podcast, episode number 155. In today's episode, we will talk about heat cramps. And we'll go over this symptoms and the treatment. It's starting to get hot out. I'm already starting to see where some folks are -- looks like they're having a couple of the symptoms already not full-blown heat cramps, but let's sit down. We'll start breaking down the different signs and symptoms. And not just on heat cramps, but in the next couple, we'll go over heat exhaustion, heat stroke. We'll go over all those two in different episodes. Today's is just focusing on heat cramps. So the symptoms to look for. So when we look at the symptoms, it's heavy sweating during intense exercise. And of course, exercise can also mean you're working outside, digging a ditch. You're doing all kinds of things. So even though they try to stress during intense exercise, it can also happen if you're just you have an outside job and it's just hot outside too. So it also has muscle pain or spasms. So I know that I was just a bald-faced boy in the Army that I could feel some muscle spasms in my stomach on a real hot day. I was so focused on getting the task done that I wasn't thinking about having water. So even with somebody who literally knows everything, if you just don't take time to take care of yourself, it could sneak up while you do. So let's talk about what to do. So and of course, these are easier said than done out there. So the first thing is we want to stop the physical activity and move to a cool place. Obviously, if you have a shaded place, that's awesome. If you have things like air conditioning, that's even better. So we want to drink water or sports drink and then you want to wait for the cramps to go away before that you do any more physical activity. So if you have any questions or you're just not really sure, the next bit of advice is to get medical help right away if the cramps last longer than one hour, you're on a low sodium diet or you have heart problems. So there's a lot of different medications that will alter your body chemistry some. And that can add to a electrolyte imbalance and all that stuff too. So always think about, I know that I'm supposed to do this, but as I kind of follow the protocol it's been longer than an hour or that person has said they're on the low sodium diet or heart problems. So the biggest thing is to stop exercise, get help, get water, all that good stuff then. And that is it for today's episode, nice and short and sweet. We talked about the symptoms and treatment for heat cramps. So I'd like to thank everybody for joining me today. My name is Dr. David Harris, thank you, and have a safe day.
In today’s episode, Dr. discusses the symptoms and treatment for heat cramps.