Hyperthermia

**Hyperthermia** is a high body temperature. It happens when a person is not able to control their body temperature. This can happen for many reasons, like very hot weather, fever, and some medicines or illegal drugs.

Doctors  hyperthermia as a body temperature that is over 101 degrees Fahrenheit (equal to 38.3 degrees Celsius).
* Weather: Weather that is very hot, sunny, and humid
* Activity: Exercising or working a lot, especially if it is hot out
* Older people and infants can get hyperthermia even if they are resting inside, if the weather outside is hot and humid, and they are not getting enough cool air. This can happen because very old and very young people have trouble controlling their body temperatures.
* Illegal drugs, especially ecstasy and amphetamines, can make the body's temperature get very hot, very quickly

Other things that make a person more likely to get hyperthermia, especially if they are exercising or working, include: It is one of the most common causes of death in sports that can be .

Heat stroke happens when a person gets so hot that their body cannot do anything to bring their temperature down. The body has tried every strategy it has to cool itself down. But the body is so hot that none of those strategies work any more. This causes the body temperature to rise very quickly. The body gets so hot inside that its tissues, especially the brain, get damaged. Usually, people with heat stroke have a body temperature of 104 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. The brain cannot survive for long at these temperatures. Heat stroke can very quickly cause damage to the brain, heart, kidneys, and muscles.

### Symptoms 
#### Early symptoms 
Often, the first signs of heat stroke are:
* Agitation (the person gets upset and restless)
* Confusion
* A strong, fast heart rate

#### Late symptoms 
As heat stroke gets worse, symptoms that can kill the person start to appear. For example:
* Seizures, especially status epilepticus
* Very low blood pressure (too low to get blood and oxygen to the brain)
* A weak, slow heart rate (this is a sign that the heart cannot beat strongly enough to get blood and oxygen to the body)
* Delirium or coma (caused by the brain getting so hot that it cannot work, and not getting enough oxygen)
* The patient's skin will also be flushed (red), hot, and dry (because the body is no longer able to cool itself by sweating)

### Treatment 
People with heat stroke always need emergency medical treatment as soon as possible. If a person might have heat stroke, 9-1-1 or another emergency telephone number should be called right away. The emergency medical dispatcher can explain what to do to help the person until an ambulance gets there.

Once the person with heat stroke gets to an ambulance or a hospital, treatments for heat stroke may include:
* Cooling the person down as fast as possible. Ways to do this include:
** Taking the person's clothes off
** Covering the person with wet towels
** Turning up the air conditioning or turning on a fan, if possible
** Putting ice packs in the person's armpits, on the back of their neck, and in their groin
** Putting the person into an ice bath 
** Giving cold intravenous fluids, both to help cool the person down and to help with dehydration
* Giving benzodiazepines to stop shivering from being cooled down so quickly (shivering makes the body even warmer)
* Giving medicines to stop seizures
* Giving medicines to help heart problems caused by the heat stroke
* Giving oxygen, or putting a tube down the person's throat to help them breathe (this is called intubation)

### Prognosis
The prognosis for people with heat stroke depends on how high their body temperature got, how quickly their body temperature increased, and how quickly they got treatment.

Up to 80% of people who do not get treatment for heat stroke right away die. But cooling people with heat stroke down right away, and getting them treatment very quickly, can change this so that only 10% die. But some people who survive have brain damage or other health problems caused by their heat stroke.

## References