Heat exhaustion can quickly turn into heatstroke if left untreated. Dr. Audrey Baria, medical director with WellMed at 9th Ave. North, discusses the early signs of heat exhaustion and how to stay cool this summer.
June 26, 2024
Docs in a Pod focuses on health issues affecting adults. Providers and partners discuss stories, topics and tips to help you live healthier with hosts Ron Aaron, Dr. Audrey Baria and Dr. Tamika Perry.
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Show transcript
Podcast transcript
INTRO
Welcome to Docs in a Pod, presented by WellMed. Over the next half hour, Docs in a Pod will educate you about the health and wellness of adults everywhere. Co-hosts Dr. Audrey Baria and former television broadcaster Gina Galaviz will share information to improve your health and wellbeing. And now here are Gina Galaviz and Dr. Audrey Baria. ,
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Welcome to the award-winning Docs in a Pod presented by WellMed. I'm your host, Gina Galaviz Eisenberg sitting in today for Ron Aaron, who's on special assignment. We're so pleased to have you with us today. Docs in a Pod is available on podcast wherever you get your podcasts. And we're also on the radio in several cities in Texas and Florida. Each week, we talk about a variety of health and wellness issues as they impact Medicare-eligible seniors and others. Our co-host and expert today is Dr. Audrey Baria. Thanks for being with us today. This is, this is a treat for me to see you and hear you.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Oh, same here, Gina. It's been a while and I've missed being on our podcast.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
And you know, this is a topic that's like dear and near to our hearts because you're in Florida where it's hot. I'm in Texas where it's hot. We're talking about heat and sun. I worry about it when the kids are outside playing, I'm worried to go out.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
I want to start off with a little story that just happened to me this past weekend. I want to say it was Saturday. And I had to go to the grocery store. Now I had my list. I knew I had to go to two different grocery stores and I went to the first one. By the time I got done and got all the groceries into the car, I was thinking that even if I went to the second one, which was literally down the street, there was no way that I could have kept the groceries, the perishables, especially in the car, even for 10 minutes, because it was so brutally hot and humid. The temperature must have been in the high 90s. They would have been spoiled before I even made it home. So, I went home to drop off the first batch. And just from that little excursion, I wasn't even outside very long, I was already exhausted from all the heat and humidity. And I'm like, I'm not going out of this house again. If me, a youngin, I say that jokingly, can feel that way, I don't even want to imagine what our elderly patient population feels like just walking outside to get their newspaper or mail or whatever it is. That's why I wanted to talk about this topic today.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
How dangerous is it even just to go walk around your block in the summer with the heat?
DR. AUDREY BARIA
You have got to be careful with that. The elderly patients have got to be careful. They've already lost muscle mass, so they're already down as far as their weight and what they can retain, right? And they have to hydrate. If you are somebody that has a lot of comorbidities, meaning more than one medical diagnosis or chronic condition, you may not be able to drink as much water because you might be on a water restriction. So, you have to be careful about that because one of the first things that we say to prevent heat exhaustion is to stay hydrated, right? Make sure you don't get dehydrated. But if you're in that category where you're not allowed to drink more than a certain amount of water, you have to be careful. When I say that, what I'm talking about is don't go out during the hottest parts of the day. Go out first thing in the morning when it's still cooler, the sun is not at its peak. Or go out after sunset where its still light out, but the sun's not blazing because at least it's going to be cooler. This way you you're not in the crux of the hottest parts of the day. Also, this brings us to sun protection, right? You need to wear a hat. Wear something that's going to cover your head. It's funny just as a little experiment, if you will, people who are listening to us should, the next time that they're out and about at the beach or just walking around where there's a lot of people around, look to see how many bald men actually put sunscreen on their heads, or if they're actually wearing a hat. I think men tend to forget that the scalp is part of their body and that they need to put sunscreen on it, especially if they don't have the protection from hair and actually use a hat.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
I know they're cooking their brain. That's what I always say. I always wear a hat now, but I'm worried about skin cancer, all of that and aging. I mean, the sun is wonderful, but it can also be a killer. And before I ask you the next question about heat and exhaustion, just going to take a moment to let those who may have just joined us, let them know that you're listening to the award-winning Docs in a Pod. Our podcast is available wherever you get your podcasts. Our co-host and expert for the day is Dr. Audrey Baria. Well, she's always our expert, but she's our expert, expert today. She's a WellMed physician and medical director, and we're talking about sun and heat exhaustion and more. My big worry is during the summer, the winter as well, but the summer when in Texas we're talking about the grid and, hey, do we have enough power? Are you going to make us turn off our lights? Are we going to do brownouts or blackouts? How do you survive something like that in the summer when it's hot? You don't have access to a fan because there's no electricity. How should we be prepared if we're seniors and we're already very sensitive to all kinds of things?
DR. AUDREY BARIA
I would always recommend to try to find the coolest room in your house. And if it's something that's got windows, draw the blinds so that you can make it as cool as possible. Obviously if you have a generator, you're one step ahead of the game. But if you don't have a generator, you want to be in the coolest room possible. Also stockpile ice if you can, if you have the freezer space, get bags of ice so that you can have that. This way, at least you'll have things that you can use for drinking water, you know, melt the ice. You can have that for drinking water. You can also use that for, if you get overheated, you could do an ice bath if you really wanted to, or maybe just put your feet in it into a bucket of ice and that should help.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Some seniors don't have central air and heating. They just use fans. I mean, that just seems to me like it's blowing the hot air around.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Yeah. It could be. You know, they have those fans with the little mist, the water mist, the battery-operated ones. I always recommend those too, especially in the heat. And if you're going to be walking around in that cool water, that'll help.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
So, to those listening, if you have someone you love, get them that, get them that as a gift or just buy it and take it to them and it can be part of their emergency pack. What about Gatorade's electrolytes? You see athletes drink it. Is that something we should also have handy?
DR. AUDREY BARIA
You can. The only thing that I would caution people about is the amount of sugar. So, if you're a diabetic, Gatorade is not exactly the greatest thing for you because the sugar content is higher than what you want to be drinking. But there's other options out there that have lower sugars that are electrolyte replacements. If you need that, then by all means, make sure that you have that on hand, but staying hydrated with water is always my number one recommendation.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Getting a sunburn as well. A lot of people like to garden and they may say, well, we're in the shade, it shouldn't be so bad. Is that misleading?
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Yes, it is. The analogy I use for this is on a cloudy day, you actually get more sun exposure on a cloudy day than sometimes on just a sunny day. And that's a fallacy, right? Because we're kind of thinking that, oh, it's cloudy, the sun's going through all the clouds and stuff so it's being filtered, I'm not getting as much. Not true. It's more intense when we're getting it through a cloudy day. For people who love to garden, one of my favorite recommendations is the long-sleeved shirts with the SPF in them. I'm not saying don't put SPF on, I'm saying that's the second barrier to have the long-sleeve shirts that those rash guards and the hat. They make hats with SPF in them now too so it's a double whammy. So put the sunscreen on your scalp and then put your hat on. That works a lot better than just doing nothing at all.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
The humidity in Texas, as in Florida, is just so great. I know when we've traveled to say Arizona or New Mexico, we're like, well, it's a dry heat. I mean, heat is heat or is there something about the barometric pressure or the humidity that we should really be mindful of?
DR. AUDREY BARIA
I have been told and I've actually experienced this firsthand that whenever the barometric pressure goes up, my sinuses always alert me that the barometric pressure is up. So, be conscious of that. There's not much else you can do but again, if you walk outside and you're having a hard time breathing, turn around, go back. Don't try to go for your one-mile walk or get your 10,000 steps in. If you want to do your exercising, a lot of malls in the communities open earlier than when the stores open up so that you can be a mall walker, and you'll be in an air-conditioned space and still get your 10,000 steps in.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
With that said, if you don't have air conditioning, just a fan, and we've talked about keeping your mind active, go to a library, maybe spend an hour or two there reading a book.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Yes, find anywhere cool that you can be. Libraries mall walking, you could go to a movie theater and go watch a movie.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Oh, you could do that, too. Or go visit your grandkids, who have really good air conditioning. How do you know that you have heat stroke?
DR. AUDREY BARIA
You could become disoriented, and you could pass out. Your body temperature is going to be a lot higher than your 98.6. Those are all very common symptoms.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
So, more than 98.6. Is that something to head to the doctor for?
DR. AUDREY BARIA
No, it's going to be a lot higher because it's going to be over a hundred.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Oh, wow.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
It's not just going to be your core body temperature. It's going to be other signs that I just mentioned that you're also going to have.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
So, if you live alone, do you call EMS or do you call someone to take you to the hospital or what?
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Yeah, you should. That can be very dangerous and deadly.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Don't hesitate. If you think you've overindulged in the sun, take it seriously. Well, I tell you what, we're going to take a short break and then we're going to continue talking about heat and exhaustion. I'm Gina Galaviz Eisenberg, along with our co-host and expert, Dr. Audrey Baria. You're listening to the award-winning docs in a pod. We will be right back.
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GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Thanks so much for staying with us on the award-winning Docs in a Pod. I'm Gina Galaviz Eisenberg, along with our co-host, Dr. Audrey Baria. Let's continue talking about sun and heat exhaustion. When I wake up in the morning and wash my face, I put on a moisturizer, and I put on sunscreen and I never used to do that. I mean, is that the right thing to do? I mean, I'm sure I should be putting more on.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Well, I'm so happy that you're even thinking about putting SPF on your face.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
It's more vanity because I don't want to get more wrinkles.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Hey, whatever the reason is, the fact that you're using it is a plus to you.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
I mean, it's everywhere, though. It seems like everything has sunscreen now.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Yes.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Does it really work?
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Yes, it does. It definitely really does, and it is going to help in the long run, help prevent wrinkles and sun damage and all the things that cause people to look older than they are. Especially the smokers out there know that smoking also causes skin to wrinkle a lot sooner and make you look older than you are. Can you imagine sun damage plus smoking?
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Thank goodness I never had that hobby.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
So, sunscreen for sure. And then for the rest of your body, any exposed parts of your body should also have sunscreen applied to it. If you're going to go for a walk, you may say to yourself, oh, it's only a 10-minute walk. But those 10 minutes, depending on what time of day you're going out can be all you need transcribed to be fried like a tomato, and that's not going to be pretty. Then you're going to have to deal with sunburn and potential sun poisoning and having to use aloe vera or not being able to touch your back because that's where you got sunburned and sit up, leaning up against anything because you can't have anything touching your back because it's too painful.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
I've never thought about sun poisoning. What does that look like? What kind of symptoms? How do you know that you have been poisoned by the sun?
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Sun poisoning can come up as blisters on the parts of the body that have been overly exposed to the sun. They could have had sunscreen, but then they forgot to reapply and depending on the amount of melanin, meaning if you're fair skin, light skin, darker skinned, that's how you determine how much melanin is in your body. But fair-skinned people are much more prone to getting sunburn a lot quicker. That doesn't mean that dark skin people don't, they do. It's just, it's not as quick. So, you want to be aware of all of that.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
And that can make you sick.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Nausea, vomiting, malaise, fatigue, lethargy. You literally become lethargic, and you don't want to do anything.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
How often should you reapply? I buy like 75 and 100 SPF, right? But still, how often?
DR. AUDREY BARIA
They tell you on the bottles or the cans that it's 80 minutes proof, but I tell people every hour or whenever you started, like if you started applying at 1:30, 2:30, 3:30, 4:30. Just to keep it simple, reapply. I try to help people on the hour.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
No moderation when it comes to sunscreen. In this case, go for it.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Yes. Douse yourself. Take a bath in sunscreen.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Oh, gosh. I remember when we were younger and I, well, I'll just say it ignorant. We put baby oil on our bodies.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Yes.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
What were we thinking? We wanted to be bronzed. Now you don't want that. You don't want to entertain skin cancer and all the other problems that can happen.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
I have patients that have had skin cancers on their faces and the reconstructive surgeries that they've had to get done. It's like a basal cell, usually on the tip of the nose or on the nose somewhere. I have a patient with a squamous cell right at the border of his lip and he's going to have to get reconstructive surgery for his lip and it's not pretty.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Was he a sun-worshiper or did he play golf?
DR. AUDREY BARIA
He likes to work in the garden and does not use sunscreen.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Gosh, something so simple.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
The classic excuse I hear is, oh, I just forgot.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Well, there's a price to pay for forgetting. You hear about Vitamin D also. Well, you need to be outside. You need to be out in the sun for some Vitamin D. I mean, how do we balance that?
DR. AUDREY BARIA
That is the catch 22 on Vitamin D. Until I moved to Florida, I didn't realize how prevalent vitamin D deficiency in the state of Florida was and we're the sunshine state so I was like, this does not seem right.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
How does that happen?
DR. AUDREY BARIA
But so those are the people who are actually using sunscreen because that's blocking all the sun's rays and they're Vitamin D deficient.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
So, it is a catch 22.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Yes. But you know, it has to be done in moderation. If you're walking to your car, you're still getting exposed to some sunlight, right? Hopefully that's enough to not make you become Vitamin D deficient.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
If you're Vitamin D deficient, what does that look like?
DR. AUDREY BARIA
You might not even know it. You might just feel tired, and you might actually not even realize like all of your other numbers could come back great on your lab results until somebody does a Vitamin D level on you and realize that, oh, hey, maybe that's why. In severe cases, you could. Become anemic. But, usually just feeling tired.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Be out in the sun, but carefully.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Yes.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Moderation. I've noticed sometimes even when I'm in the car, my arm where the sun is depending on what side it's on.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
One side might be darker than the other.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Yeah. I mean, I've noticed that one side is freckled more than the other. I'm like, well, I got to put all the sunscreen on my arm too. I don't mind wearing long sleeves in the summer just because of that. Whatever to protect.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Most people have their left arms are a little bit darker because that's the one that's out by the window on the driver's side if you're the driver.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
And I am the driver so that is happening to me. Walk me through some steps. You're outside. You think you're being careful, but you're just not feeling good and it's hot. It's June or July in Texas or Florida or even August it seems hotter. Walk me through the steps that I really need some immediate medical attention.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
If you're feeling disoriented and you can't even remember, or you're close to feeling like you're going to pass out, you need medical attention. You haven't had any water, because remember, when you lose water, because you're outside or something, you're going to have to drink more than what you normally would if you were just staying indoors. The water deficit is going to be greater when you're outside sweating than if you were staying indoors in a nice cool area. So, those would definitely be things that I would look out for. Then on the flip side of that, let's say you want to go gardening. The things that I would tell somebody to do, make sure that you're either wearing long sleeves with SPF in it, or if you don't have that, make sure that you're putting SPF on your arms and pretty much any and all areas that are going to be exposed. It wouldn't be bad, just put the SPF on like it's body lotion and just put it on all over. Definitely your face and your head. Wear a hat with a brim so it covers your face. Make sure you have your hydration with you. It would be a good thing to just put some ice in there if you're drinking water and whatever vessel that you have that you're going to be drinking your water, you have the water bottles or whatever, if you have the water bottles that you can freeze in the freezer, just take one of those out because if you're working in a hot climate, then it's going to melt. So, that'll be fine. And you can also use it to put a frozen water bottle on your neck to cool you off, so it has a dual purpose. Make sure that you're taking breaks to go indoors every, you know, like half an hour, 45 minutes, or at least on the hour maximum to go get a breather in nice cool air and then come back out.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
It just seems also if you're going on a trip to the grocery store or doctor's appointments, carry water with you in your car or maybe a mini-ice chest with some ice. At least you can suck on the cubes.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Yes. Just be careful with leaving plastic water bottles in your car in the heat because it's going to leach out the plastics into the water and then you're dealing with a whole different show that we need to do on microplastics.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Holy cow. I never would have thought of that. If you have that same water bottle in your car, don't drink it.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Don't drink it.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
Note to Gina. Don't drink it. Well, I usually like to have my little Stanley whatever, Yeti kind of in the car with ice and that, that seems to do the trick. Before we sign off in about a minute, what do you say to our viewers about heat and exhaustion? What should they remember?
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, definitely hydrate. Ice is your friend in these situations and staying as cool as you possibly can, not walking out and about in the hottest part of the day, which is usually around lunchtime or like 12 to 4. Wait till things cool down. So, first thing in the morning is a great time to go for a walk or late in the evening.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
All right. That's the best way to stay healthy and safe. And we're not trying to scare people, but it's just a reality of how we have to live now. All right, Dr. Baria, thanks so much. I feel like it's ladies half hour, right? And it has been so enjoyable and everybody out there listening, thank you for joining us today on the award-winning docs in a pod. And again, Dr. Baria, I'm so excited to see you and it was an honor to co-host with you and I look forward to the next time.
DR. AUDREY BARIA
Same here.
GINA GALAVIZ EISENBERG
I'm Gina Galaviz Eisenberg and in the words of the late Charles Osgood, I will see you on the radio. Bye everybody.
OUTRO
Executive producers for Docs in a Pod are Dan Calderon and Lia Medrano. Associate producer is Cherese Pendleton. Thank you for listening to Docs in a Pod, presented by WellMed. We welcome your emails with suggestions and comments on this program at radio@wellmed.net. Be sure to listen next week to Docs in a Pod, presented by WellMed.
DISCLAIMER
This transcript is generated using a podcast editing tool; there may be small differences between this transcript and the recorded audio content.
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