Heat and Age

[B. White]

Be careful if you are getting old and live in an area with high temps this week. It never bothered me until one day when I got close to 60 I stayed on a tractor 6-7 hrs and felt fine....until I got off and started seeing stars. I was a couple of miles down the road and temp gauge in the truck showed 113. I thought it was just heat from the road and engine, but checked local personal weather stations when I got home and all were in that range. Cold shower and some cold watermelon I had in the fridge had me feeling better in a couple of hours.

Went outside this morning and picked squash, cucumbers and okra and had a neighbor come get some corn and talked to him a while in the shade. Went back to his place on the ranger and checked something out with him, nothing strenuous. Came home and felt fine, but when looked at the computer started noticing a little tunnel vision and things harder to read. Took about 15 mins to clear up followed by a slight headache all day.

I'm mentioning this in case you are getting older and have never had any problems. When it happens, if you are like me, there is no advance warning like you might imagine. My guess it is more difficult to stay hydrated with age. I've mixed in some gatorade and a few hours of it doesn't bother me, but multiple mornings in 99% humidity will take it out of you.

 

[joeysmith]

Big thing a lot of guys an gals forget is proper hydration starts the day before not just while you are out in it

 

[Richard G.]

Be careful if you are getting old and live in an area with high temps this week. It never bothered me until one day when I got close to 60 I stayed on a tractor 6-7 hrs and felt fine....until I got off and started seeing stars. I was a couple of miles down the road and temp gauge in the truck showed 113. I thought it was just heat from the road and engine, but checked local personal weather stations when I got home and all were in that range. Cold shower and some cold watermelon I had in the fridge had me feeling better in a couple of hours.

Went outside this morning and picked squash, cucumbers and okra and had a neighbor come get some corn and talked to him a while in the shade. Went back to his place on the ranger and checked something out with him, nothing strenuous. Came home and felt fine, but when looked at the computer started noticing a little tunnel vision and things harder to read. Took about 15 mins to clear up followed by a slight headache all day.

I'm mentioning this in case you are getting older and have never had any problems. When it happens, if you are like me, there is no advance warning like you might imagine. My guess it is more difficult to stay hydrated with age. I've mixed in some gatorade and a few hours of it doesn't bother me, but multiple mornings in 99% humidity will take it out of you.

I have had heat exhaustion 6 or 7 times since the early 80's.
First time I did not know what was happening.
Now when I feel it coming on, I stop and run cold water over my arms.
I will be 74 this year and the heat is harder on me than 40 years ago.
The temps are not hotter.
I am older.

 

[Steve in VA]

Be careful if you are getting old and live in an area with high temps this week. It never bothered me until one day when I got close to 60 I stayed on a tractor 6-7 hrs and felt fine....until I got off and started seeing stars. I was a couple of miles down the road and temp gauge in the truck showed 113. I thought it was just heat from the road and engine, but checked local personal weather stations when I got home and all were in that range. Cold shower and some cold watermelon I had in the fridge had me feeling better in a couple of hours.

Went outside this morning and picked squash, cucumbers and okra and had a neighbor come get some corn and talked to him a while in the shade. Went back to his place on the ranger and checked something out with him, nothing strenuous. Came home and felt fine, but when looked at the computer started noticing a little tunnel vision and things harder to read. Took about 15 mins to clear up followed by a slight headache all day.

I'm mentioning this in case you are getting older and have never had any problems. When it happens, if you are like me, there is no advance warning like you might imagine. My guess it is more difficult to stay hydrated with age. I've mixed in some gatorade and a few hours of it doesn't bother me, but multiple mornings in 99% humidity will take it out of you.

After a buddy had heat exhaustion while we were doing roof work, his doctor told him that once you've been there, the next one comes in sooner.

 

[rrlund]

I had heat stroke when I was in my 30s. Weather like this was more than I could stand for the next 15 years or more. I've been good for almost ten now. I'd get so bad haying with an open tractor in the heat that I'd be off, leaning over the tire puking, splitting headache, it was bad..

 

[trackrat]

Ive had a heat stroke went into convulsions don't want to go there again was in my early forties then 74 now when I get hot, I find some cool in house or truck just can't take the heat anymore

 

[Tony in SD]

I listen to the radio for livestock and fat old man warnings.

 

[Richard G.]

After a buddy had heat exhaustion while we were doing roof work, his doctor told him that once you've been there, the next one comes in sooner.

That is true Sir.
I had a cousin that had a heat stroke at HS football camp many years ago.
They kept him packed in ice for 3 days to keep his temp down.
Told the family he was going to die.
He is still kicking, but has never been strong.

 

[rrlund]

Ive had a heat stroke went into convulsions don't want to go there again was in my early forties then 74 now when I get hot, I find some cool in house or truck just can't take the heat anymore

I didn't go in to convulsions, but I passed out.

 

[SweetFeet]

Be careful if you are getting old and live in an area with high temps this week. It never bothered me until one day when I got close to 60 I stayed on a tractor 6-7 hrs and felt fine....until I got off and started seeing stars. I was a couple of miles down the road and temp gauge in the truck showed 113. I thought it was just heat from the road and engine, but checked local personal weather stations when I got home and all were in that range. Cold shower and some cold watermelon I had in the fridge had me feeling better in a couple of hours.

Went outside this morning and picked squash, cucumbers and okra and had a neighbor come get some corn and talked to him a while in the shade. Went back to his place on the ranger and checked something out with him, nothing strenuous. Came home and felt fine, but when looked at the computer started noticing a little tunnel vision and things harder to read. Took about 15 mins to clear up followed by a slight headache all day.

I'm mentioning this in case you are getting older and have never had any problems. When it happens, if you are like me, there is no advance warning like you might imagine. My guess it is more difficult to stay hydrated with age. I've mixed in some gatorade and a few hours of it doesn't bother me, but multiple mornings in 99% humidity will take it out of you.

Yup, extreme heat is nothing to mess with!

I have never tolerated it well- not even as a kid.

Stay hydrated... move slow... and get into shade or air conditioning when it's too blamed hot.

 

[flying belgian]

I had a heat stroke. Must have been 30 yrs ago. I'm 73 now. I am smarter now than I was then. The work is just going to have to wait until tomorrow. It will still be there. The world will not end if I don't get it all done today.

 

[Steven Allen]

I used to thrive in it; not anymore. I went down once in the field while serving an artillery piece at a reenactment (the action had come to an end, I did my art in securing the piece, and then my vision narrowed, and I collapsed). Cool drinks, cool compresses, and lying in the shade brought me around. I have been more susceptible ever since.

Part of the problem is that, over the years, my work has kept me more and more inside. The less time I can spend outside acclimating as the year warms up, the less I can tolerate the heat.

 

[DPittman]

I used to thrive in it too Steven. Spent 40 years in foundry, 30 cooking ductile iron on days like we’re having and to me it was just another day, just drink more water.
I can still tolerate heat well but it does slow me down.

 

[NDIHC]

Add me to the list of those who can't tolerate the heat and humidity. When I was in my teens through my 30s it didn't bother me. But now in my later 50s I can't handle it. If I'm outside working in the heat I'll start sweating profusely and will have a hard time catching my breath. I have to get to the house to cool down. I lose coordination and the ability to reason and will hyperventilate if I don't get cooled down. Recently we were at an event on a hot day in a venue with no air conditioning. I felt the heat getting to me and spent over an hour in the car with the ac blasting before I started feeling normal again. I never went back to the event and we left for home.

 

[Steve in VA]

I used to thrive in it too Steven. Spent 40 years in foundry, 30 cooking ductile iron on days like we’re having and to me it was just another day, just drink more water.
I can still tolerate heat well but it does slow me down.

What always amazed me when I worked for money, was the operators. They would be in a cold control room and step out into the turbine hall. The delta was crazy. They wore coats in the control room. Why they didn't all die of pneumonia still stuns me.