GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — If you spent any time outside in the last week you felt those 90 degree temperatures. At times, it felt even hotter than that and you need to keep yourself and your family safe.
Sports medicine doctor Shane Hudnall from Cone Health Med Center in High Point joined us on WFMY News 2 to break down a heat stroke and the signs.
He says basically heat stroke is when your body's internal mechanism for regulating temperature gets overwhelmed. It's kind of like when the air conditioning goes out out your house, the body's temperature is just going to keep going up. Eventually if it goes up over 104 degrees, you get problems with your nervous system and your brain can't function properly.
Doctors Hudnall says all of us have probably experienced heat illness at some point. That includes a mild headache, dizziness, muscle cramping. But as that progresses your headache can become more severe, you get nauseous and vomiting, that's when heat stroke sets in.
If you think someone is having a heat stroke, get them out of the heat, try to cool them down as fast as possible, then call 911. The best way to cool a person down is by getting them in a tub with ice water.
If you've been sick, your risk of heat illness goes up. Certain medications can also raise you risk like decongestants, antihistamines, and blood pressure medications.