November 30th, 2009 
Dorothy Yamich People should be cautious when they travel on vacations and holidays to hot climates if they are not accustomed to the tropical sun and humidity. Severe sunburns, heatstroke, and heat exhaustion can cause serious medical problems, and even death. The information below may help you when you travel on a vacation or holiday to very hot climates.
Even though these sun related problems, sunburn, heatstroke, and heat exhaustion are not diseases, they can be very serious and could ruin your vacation. They say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and this is particularly true when dealing with the sun. Keep in mind that the sun’s rays in the tropics are more intense between noon hour and three p.m., as well as at high altitudes, even if it’s a cloudy or overcast day.
How can you prevent getting a sunburn?
In general, the lighter or fairer your skin is, the easier you may sunburn. Clouds offer little or no protection from a severe sunburn, so why take a chance of ruining your holidays when getting a painful sunburn is easy to protect against? To prevent getting a bad sunburn, especially if you sunburn easily, you should use a high SPF (Sun Protection Factor) of 30, or stronger if possible. Use sunscreen liberally, wear a wide-brimmed hat, buy UVA & UVB protection certified sunglasses, and wear long-sleeved shirts and slacks. If you can, try to stay out of the sun between noon and three in the p.m.. Build up your exposure to the sun gradually each day. Limit the time that you spend in the sun to approximately fifteen minutes the first day, and increase your time in the sun gradually on subsequent days.
What can you do to treat a severe sunburn?
The pain of a sunburn can be eased by soaking in a cool bath three to four times a day. By adding some baking soda to each bath, it will help even more. Cool showers will more than likely hurt too much, and not be as effective or soothing as cool, relaxing baths. If you have headaches, or pain and swelling, you could take aspirin or other pain medication such as Advil or Ibuprofen. Don’t take any aspirin-based pain medications if you are on blood thinners or have an ulcer. If you are not sure if it’s safe to take any these pain medications, check with a doctor or medical clinic. To avoid dehydration, try and drink six to eight glasses of water a day. Don’t break any blisters if you can help it. Broken blisters can get infected easily, especially in the humid weather of the tropics. If they do break, you should wash them gently with soap and warm water.
If your sunburn does not appear to be getting better and you still have pain after a couple of days, you develop a high temperature or fever, have a splitting headache that won’t go away, are vomiting or have diarrhea, feel dizzy or confused, or your eyes hurt and light bothers them, you must seek medical attention immediately.
How can you prevent heat exhaustion?
Heat exhaustion is absolutely preventable. If you wear a wide-brimmed sunhat, drink lots of liquids, and stay out of intense heat and humidity, you can you avoid this serious problem.
What can you do if you have any symptoms of heat exhaustion?
Heat exhaustion is caused by a combination of extremely high temperatures and humidity. This may result in loss of fluids from your body due to excess sweating. These fluids have to be replaced immediately or heat exhaustion can result.
The symptoms include headache, fatigue, lethargy, giddiness, and muscle cramps. The treatment is to immediately move out of the sun or heat and drink plenty of liquids, preferably commercial beverages containing electrolytes, such as Gatorade. Do not drink any alcohol as this will make your condition worse.
If you do not feel better and show positive signs of recovery within a very short period of time, have someone help you get to a hospital immediately as your condition could easily progress into a true medical emergency called heatstroke.
What has to be done immediately if you do if you get heat stroke?
If heat exhaustion is not successfully treated immediately, it can result in an extremely serious medical emergency. Heatstroke is characterized by a very high body temperature of 102 to 106 degrees Fahrenheit, or 39 to 41 degrees Centigrade. There is also cessation of sweating. The symptoms of heatstroke include flushed and red skin, a severe headache, confusion which can progress quickly into delirium and convulsions This can be fatal.
Note: Someone must help you get out of the sun or heat and rush you immediately to a hospital or medical center.
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