[arkieracer]

I just spent three days in the hospital from a heat stroke. I was wondering if anyone has suffered from this? How long did it take before you could ride again?

[OldRedd]

Never been actually diagnosed with it, but I have threw up and been very dizzy in the past from heat, once from a harescramble race. Can be scary.

[flip18436572]

I have never been diagnosed either, but heat exhaustion has put me down for a day. It was not in a hospital, but I did see a doctor about it. I was out in the sun working most of the day, and I was not keeping enough fluids in my body. He said mine was probably more dehydration than anything else. I have ever since then pushed a lot of water through my body.

I hope you get better. My problem was that for about two years I started feeling sick very early on very warm to hot days.

[cleonard]

Ask your doctors about it.

Heat exhaustion is usually no big deal. It is just your body telling you to take it easy. Heat stroke is when you push your body past what it can handle. It could have easily killed you. The bad part is once you have had heat stroke, it can happen again. The reason that they keep you in the hosiptal is that your bodies thermostat can take a while to start working again. They monitor your temperature to be sure that you stay close to normal.

Several medications can make heat stroke more likely. Like I said before talk to the doctors about what they think you should do.

[El Marko]

I've been hit with heat stroke a few times in the past, always while training for long runs (marathons, etc.) Puts me on my a** for a day or two, bad headache, upchuck.

Nowadays I always carry water on a run, whether it's especially hot out or not.

I also make a point of training at the hottest point of every day. Why? Because that's when I'm going to be racing, so I need my body to be used to it.

It seems to work. I can race all day long in really intense heat, and don't seem bothered by it.

[DRH]

Listen to Cleonard. Once you have had it, it is easier for you to get it again. This is not something you play with. I wouldn't reccomend testing your body during the hottest part of the day. It serves no purpose to push yopurself to the point of stroke or exhaustion. The whole idea is not to get to this point rather than trying to get through it. This is your body trying to tell you its had enough and stop already.

[El Marko]

Sorry, but if you don't train in the heat, you're MORE likely to get heat stroke, not less. Your body has to get used to it. You just take it careful, stay hydrated, be aware of any signals that you're pushing too much.

[DRH]

Not to get into a pissing match with you, but I think you are off base on your reasoning. You never want to get to the point of exhaustion. It serves absolutely no purpose, it isn't healthy and has no benefit to the body. This has the same sounds of no pain no gain, which is as inaccurate as you can get. Once the onset of exhaustion and or dehydration sets in, its to late, your done, you can't replace the water fast enough do yourself any good. Advising someone to work out in the heat of the day to ward off future heat stroke is a Karvokian approach to suicide

[CRFjustin]

i might have had one... back when i skated i got really tired and got the worst headache id ever had and threw up several times before i passed out/fell asleep... when i woke up 4 hours later i still had a killer headache... and i wasnt dehydrated

[bikeslut]

Yep...
heat stroke for me... just one day in the hospital... didn't feel "right" for about a week, and i still wig out a little when i am riding in the heat

laying in the desert, with ants biting me, having hallucinations... it really took the fun out of the ride.

[El Marko]

Not to get into a pissing match with you, but I think you are off base on your reasoning. You never want to get to the point of exhaustion. It serves absolutely no purpose, it isn't healthy and has no benefit to the body. This has the same sounds of no pain no gain, which is as inaccurate as you can get. Once the onset of exhaustion and or dehydration sets in, its to late, your done, you can't replace the water fast enough do yourself any good. Advising someone to work out in the heat of the day to ward off future heat stroke is a Karvokian approach to suicide

Well, I have 10 marathons, a few ultras and hundreds of 5K and 10K races plus a few thousand mx races to back up my training methods.

At no point did I say train to exhaustion.

Read my post. What I said was you have to train under the conditions you're going to be competing in. If you ride/race when it's hot, then you need to train when it's hot in order to prepare your body for the stresses. This is a long-established training fact.

You're reading things into my comments that simply aren't there.

[DRH]

OK OK OK.
the original post was wirten by someone who spent three days in the Hospital for heat stroke. He was asking how long befor he could ride again. If I read your post right, your advise to him was to do what you do, train in the heat of the day. I was simply expressing another view that it would be a BIG mistake for him to do what you do. He has already had heat stroke he is more likely to get it again than you or I under like conditions. Heres' one for you. If what you say is accurate and you may be, then why do race car drivers where cool suits? Why don't they just practice in death valley say at noon. You don't have to answer, Im just being a smart ass.......

[El Marko]

OK OK OK.
the original post was wirten by someone who spent three days in the Hospital for heat stroke. He was asking how long befor he could ride again. If I read your post right, your advise to him was to do what you do, train in the heat of the day. I was simply expressing another view that it would be a BIG mistake for him to do what you do. He has already had heat stroke he is more likely to get it again than you or I under like conditions. Heres' one for you. If what you say is accurate and you may be, then why do race car drivers where cool suits? Why don't they just practice in death valley say at noon. You don't have to answer, Im just being a smart ass.......

Yes, if he wants to ride when it's hot, he also needs to train when it's hot. One of the reasons he got heat stroke was that his body wasn't used to dealing with all the heat, plus he probably was dehydrated and didn't recognize the signs of pending heat exhaustion and heat stroke (you can feel it coming on if you know what you're doing).

I've watched fellow runners who are faster than me crash and burn when they have to do a hot weather race and they're done all their training indoors in an air-conditioned gym or a cold climate.

[triumph406]

FWIW I've never suffered from heat exhaustion, although I think I may have been close a few times.
Thesedays, as soon as I get in the truck I start drinking water, by the time I get to where I'm riding, and ready to ride, I'll have drunk 3-4 quarts of water. Then I keep topping up along the ride, and eat some energy bars along the way too.

I've been out on some very hot days, and feel OK, seems to work.

[LedZep]

got a serious heatstroke when i was 18 while in the worst raining week in the army.:bonk:
lost conciseness for 45 min body temp was over 42C
was in hospital for a moth and a half..:eek:

had to wait another 2 months till they let me back in my unit and not before they put me in a closed room with full heat AC and humidity that simulated 37C degrees and made me run on a treadmill for 2 hrs while monitoring my heart blood pressure etc.

once i passed the test i was fine to go back to full infantry activity, been 16 years since that incident to no affect on my health or physical abilities, i race enduros and HS.

talk with your doctors it looks like you had not the worst heatstroke you will be just fine, listen to your body when it says i can't go on anymore its time to stop.

[DRH]

OK. Last ditch effort. I have no marathons to my credit. but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn and I have logged thousands of miles and have won my share of MX and hare scrambles. My worst day was a practice ride in Livermore, I was alone, I got stuck in a canyon and could not ride out. For two hours I wrestled my 400 YZ to no avail. I finally decided to launch my bike over a series of waterfalls. I had to do this because I was on the brink of exhaustion. When I got back to my truck, I used the last bit of energy to load my bike. I was soaking wet from persperation. My helmet flowed sweat like a leaky faucet. I couldn't talk my knees were unsteady and I was shaking. Are you picturing this? Outside temp. was maybe 55 degrees. So by your reasoning, I should have had more practice in cold temps? Wouldn't my work outs in hot temps voided this? What happened? I can tell you what happened. The outside temp had absolutely nothing to do with this. It was the temps under my clothing and under my helmet which caused this. The energy being spent by me was creating enough heat to void my body of water and thus causing me to over heat. Nothing short of leaving my bike ( Not an option at the time) could have prevented this case.

[128racecar]

Some very good points have been made, however, I am concerned the topic of heat stroke is being over simplified. As a rider, trail runner (5Ks to ultramarathons), and physician, heat exhaustion and heat stroke have become an interest of mine. After having had to render life saving measures on three seperate occasions to runners with heat stroke out on the trail (thank heavens all three survived, although I almost died of fright:eek: ), I have made the prevention of this disorder a passion of mine. Acclimatization and/or adequate hydration are only part of preventing this condition. There are many scholarly articles out there on this subject, however, sometimes as physicians we don't do a very good job of make such information readable to those who need it most. I believe the following article should be mandatory reading for all riders from the slowest trail rider (me:bonk: ) to the fastest mxer.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=164365

Let keep this topic at the forefront and keep our tempers (and temperatures:crazy: ) low, as it is very important one.

Have fun- ride safe!:ride:
Marc in Indy
2000 ATK 250LQ