Symptoms of heat stroke include hot, dry skin, nausea, confusion, convulsions, and unconsciousness. Heat stroke should be considered life threatening, and medical attention should be immediately sought. Activate your local emergency medical service immediately. While waiting for emergency medical personnel to arrive, move the victim to a cool place. Cool the victim with cool water and apply ice packs to the victim s underarms and groin area if ice is available.
Heat cramps are very painful, and occur when the body loses salt through exercise or exertion.
This is fairly common in victims whose muscles are not acclimated to certain types of work or physical exercise. First aid for heat cramps includes resting the cramped muscle and drinking electrolyte drinks such as Gatorade or Powerade. Drinking water will help replace lost fluids, but may not adequately replace the salt that was lost. Severe cases may require a doctor to provide intravenous saline solution. Using good common sense and learning to recognize early warning signs will go a long way toward preventing heat-related illnesses.