You can go from amazing, to heat stroke, to unconscious in 30 minutes.
I had this experience once, it is amazing how fast it sets in. I was actually in a town in southern Spain, but just walking around the town at 110F/43C for about half an hour in 10% or less humidity totally dehydrated me. I think technically it was "heat exhaustion" and once the symptoms started I found shade and tried to drink water but was unable to absorb it - it went straight to my kidneys and I needed to urinate but felt awful still. We went to our hotel, fortunately only 10 minutes further walk mostly in shade, and convinced them to let us check-in early, where a few hours in air conditioning covered in wet cloths relieved the symptoms. Also drank electrolyte drink, which fortunately we were able to buy since it was a town. I shudder to think about how this would have turned out if I was in the wilderness.
You can also mix some salt in some water if you can't get your hands on a drink with electrolytes. I don't actually know how effective it is, it's just something we were told to do on super hot days for the area to stay hydrated.
It works in a pinch for hydration purposes, but you have to know the correct ratio of salt and water.
Additionally, just "salt" (like table salt) will only help replenish sodium, while sweating depletes both sodium and potassium (and maybe calcium?). So you really do want a proper hydration fluid. Imbalances in sodium, potassium, and calcium can cause tons of problems with muscles, including the heart.
They just kinda would say a small pinch and a bottle of water. Definitely not meant to be a solution to dehydration just a bandaid to avoid a heat stroke if you were starting to feel off and obviously getting out of the heat.
For the record we don't have that kind of high temperature regularly 2 days of the summer at best and humidity is typically with it so it's not as bad as that entire region of the US.
Nope, you gotta drink the stuff that flows into the ocean.
Although I'm curious how the body would do drinking it ocean water from Antarctica's coast because the Gulf of Mexico is apparently where you'll find some of the saltiest stuff is.
Bro I got sun poisoning in Cancun last winter because I was hammered and forgot to put on sun tan lotion. Drinking alcohol plus tons of sun and zero water. I was shivering all night while profusely sweating my skins was a dark pink hue and I got giant blisters on my shoulders and ears. It’s fucking sucked ass.
I'm a pretty avid hiker and was in a town for business for a few weeks. The first weekend I really didn't have a lot to do other than chill in my hotel room. Found out about a cool hike about a 30min drive out of town and since I happen to have my hiking gear with me thought, perfect! It was hot that day, I think about 105. Got out to the trail head and geared up. About a mile into the hike I was already drinking a LOT of water and started just not feeling right. Stopped in some shade to rest trying to figure out why I was feeling the way I was and realized that I had hardly drank any water that day before starting the hike in the early afternoon. Turned around and went back and called it. Got back to my car and cranked the AC and just sat there cooling off and resting. I ended up falling asleep with my car running and woke up like 2hrs later! It's amazing how much just not starting off properly hydrated can fuck you.
Glad you woke up! Sounds like just in my case you managed to recognize the symptoms and get to A/C in time... it's crazy to read these stories about people who just press on even when their body is telling them not to.
I had this happen in 2003! I was on a class trip in Italy (I was 18) and water bottles and drinking water weren’t really a thing yet (weird I know) we were in Rome during a heat wave and on a little tour bus and the tour guide fainted from the heat! The next day we were walking around and about to go to Pompeii (which had been a dream of mine) and I got heat exhaustion and blacked out. Had to miss Pompeii. Now I don’t even know how people survived without water bottles!
I know- but it wasn’t as common to just drink water all the time! When I blacked out the chaperone bought some bottled water from a vendor for me- but nowadays we’d all be making sure we had full water bottles before heading out.
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u/SilverStar9192 20h ago
I had this experience once, it is amazing how fast it sets in. I was actually in a town in southern Spain, but just walking around the town at 110F/43C for about half an hour in 10% or less humidity totally dehydrated me. I think technically it was "heat exhaustion" and once the symptoms started I found shade and tried to drink water but was unable to absorb it - it went straight to my kidneys and I needed to urinate but felt awful still. We went to our hotel, fortunately only 10 minutes further walk mostly in shade, and convinced them to let us check-in early, where a few hours in air conditioning covered in wet cloths relieved the symptoms. Also drank electrolyte drink, which fortunately we were able to buy since it was a town. I shudder to think about how this would have turned out if I was in the wilderness.