This morning I needed to get to from Point A to Point B, and I felt like walking.  Never mind the headline, “Boiling Heat Refuses to Simmer.”  So what if the temperature is going to hit 100.

As I walked, I thought of Eric Northman, the fictional character from the TV show True Blood.  Eric is a Vampire.  As we all know, sunlight destroys vampires, unless of course they have sucked a Fairy dry.

Last episode, Eric sucked Sookie’s Fairy Godmother dry!  Filled up and high on fairy blood, he headed outdoors.  Standing in full sunlight he reveled in the ecstasy of the heat and the daylight.

As all good things must come to an end, so did the effects of the Fairy Blood.  Eric began to blister, burn and sizzle.  He had to hightail it out of the sun, and get back to his underground lightless dungeon.

I lasted a good eight blocks, before I started to overheat.  Similar to Eric’s experience, once the heat started to take hold, I went from fine to fried in less than one quick second.   I ducked into a market, re-hydrated, cooled down and then, took a fast and air-conditioned taxi home!  (Praise Be for New York City Taxis)

On these hot and humid days of summer, you may feel fine and be actually enjoying the extreme heat, but beware, because both heat exhaustion and heatstroke can sneak up on you, come on fast and knock you over and out!

The symptoms of heat exhaustion are:

Profuse sweating
Muscle cramps
Cool, clammy skin
Dizziness

What to do?
Grab yourself some shade.
Drink water.
Rest for a good 15 minutes.

Heatstroke is another matter and is life threatening.
The symptoms are:

victim may be confused,
hallucinating and/or
lose consciousness.
His/her skin will be hot and dry,
and his/her body may have lost its ability to self-cool.

What to do?
Call 911 and ask for medical assistance.
While waiting for an ambulance (Yikes),
move the heatstroke victim out of the sun and into the shade or into a cooler place.
Give her/him water.
If you have anything that can be used as a fan, get fanning!

Before you head out into the sun, into these hot and humidv100 degree days of summer, grab a hat, sunglasses and water!  Walk on the shady side of the street!

Spread the word … NOT the icing!

Janice
wise * fun * utterly useful

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