With temperatures in the D.C. region topping out in the mid-90s Tuesday and Wednesday, a local emergency room doctor is sharing the warning signs of heat-related illness, which she said poses a greater threat this early in the year.
Dr. Miriam Fischer, a senior attending emergency physician with MedStar Health, said the body hasn’t had time to adjust after a long, cold winter, making the first heat wave of the season far more dangerous than the typical heat of July and August.
“This is new to us,” Fischer said, adding people should give themselves time and slowly expose themselves to the heat.
By August, she said, the body will have adjusted.
Two of the biggest risks posed by the heat are heat exhaustion — the milder of the two — and heat stroke.
People should look for signs such as sweating, lightheadedness, nausea, headaches, cramping and weakness, Fischer said, which indicate heat exhaustion is setting in.
Her advice: Listen to your body, cool down and get inside.
Heat stroke is the next level of illness; if you experience confusion, you should head straight to the ER.
“People can die from this,” Fischer said. “They need to be seen right away so they can be cooled.”
What makes heat stroke so dangerous, Fischer said, is that the body loses its ability to regulate temperature altogether. People stop sweating, can’t cool themselves down and their core temperature climbs to a deadly level.
Fisher said as the summer progresses, the body does eventually adapt to heat by increasing blood flow to the skin and producing more sweat. But that process takes time, which is exactly why early summer heat waves catch people off guard.
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