need urgent advice re heat

[hatetheheat2]

Ok I know I'm a wimp to be moaning but..

I don't handle heat very well at all. Mix that with the fact that it's currently the time of the month so I'm feeling generally hotter than normal anyway. I had to nip out with the kids about an hour ago as I needed to pick up my daughters medicine. We have a car that has no air con so I made sure the kids had water, ice lolly and window open for the journey. It was only a 30 min round trip including being in the shop.

As soon as we got out of the shop and back in the car I started to feel a bit unwell. I felt dizzy and a bit spaced out so I swung by the local drive through to grab a bottle of water and drank most of it in one go. Since then I've got a pounding headache, feel dizzy if I move and feel quite nauseous. Like I said I know I'm just being a wimp but I really don't feel great. Anyone have any suggestions of the best thing to do to help myself feel better quickly? I've got a 3 and 4 year old to look after so really can't be lying down for the afternoon!

Dioralyte or fruit juice, too much water can deplete your salt levels and can make you feel ill. As others have said salty snacks, during hot weather I crave salty foods. Crisps are a good one if you aren’t feeling too hungry.

Flat fizzy drinks Iike coke or lucozade stirred and left to stand. Chill and sip, not drink down in long draughts, Tepid shower or bath.

Agree with everyone else and you do need to make sure you're looking after yourself. A watered down cold fruit juice can give you a little sugar boost if you're not eating enough during the day.

Water isn't enough if you're dehydrated, you need something like Powerade or Gatorade (or dioralyte as you've got).

And please make sure you eat. I don't eat much in the heat but I always at least make sure I have something regularly, even if it's just an ice lolly, some toast or a banana.

Put some bottles of water of in the freezer, and then shove them in a old sock and hug them. We’ve been taking them to bed at night and using them to keep a sick dog cool. (Surprisingly, the 1.5l ones are not defrosted by morning)

It sounds as though it’s at least partly anxiety, rather than physiological overheating, but it can’t hurt and if makes you feel more in control, have at it.

Not a right now job but do you use all the techniques you can to keep your house cool? Mine gets to about 27 in this temperature but I can't enact everything I'd like to.

E.g. open windows and doors once outside temp lower than inside. Ideally leave windows open overnight. Shut windows by maybe 8-9 am before temp gets high. Keep curtains closed and ideally shade the exterior of windows. Those are the key ones for me.

One quick fix is to stick your head under a tap-as the water evaporates from your hair it will cool you down.. A more drastic varient is to soak your top garment - will feel grim when you put it back on but this does work

I've had this happen before three times in the heat. A cup of tea really helps me, as does a sweet fizzy drink. Then it's ibuprofen, keep cool, and a pint of squash. Good luck

Cold bottle of water rolled under bare feet, chilled gel eye mask or flannel soak in cold water on your face.

So true. I got some blackout material last year and made my own window coverings - the difference they make is astonishing.

Definitely don't think it's anxiety related as it came on very suddenly

Anxiety attacks absolutely can come on very suddenly. Mine always do! Literally one minute I'll be OK and the next minute I feel awful.

I think quite a few people who think they are feeling ill from the heat are actually feeling ill because they are anxious about potentially feeling ill.

A 30-minute drive in a car with an open window, in temperatures of 30ish, would be highly unlikely to cause heat exhaustion. It's a really hot day, of course - but it's not freakishly hot weather for human beings to cope with. If it was 40C that might be different, but I think you're probably feeling rotten because you hate the heat and you're stressed, rather than because you have any kind of heat-induced physical illness.

You must drink at least three litres of water a day. Any less than this and you will feel sick and dizzy. I realised this after I collapsed at work.

Take 2 ibuprofen, it sound like a heat induced headache or migraine. I get these fairly regularly, heat and bright sunlight are my worst triggers.

It’s really not that hot in terms of extreme heat, ffs. Make sure you’ve drawn the curtains in any rooms which get direct sunlight. Drink lots of water, and move more slowly than you might otherwise. You could also set up a fan with a wet, wrung out sheet in front of it (put fan on floor, drape wet, but not dripping, sheet or towel over a clothes horse or the like. This cools the air slightly and moves it around.

if you live in a badly designed modern house, stay downstairs, and keep windows closed until the sun I’d off your house. For future hot summers, plant trees near your house on the sunny side , for shade.

lots of people survive far hotter conditions for up to 4 months of the year (US, Australia).

I doubt it’s heat exhaustion - you’ve not eaten enough, basically, and as a lot of our hydration actually comes via food, you’re probably dehydrated. 30 minutes in a car in 30 degrees is really not enough for heat exhaustion - it might be if it were 40 degrees and 95% -100% humidity. It’ll cool down by 4pm, just close curtains and windows.

We have an amber heat health alert, precisely because high heat, especially when prolonged has signficant health impacts on the population.

Dioralite or full fat coke.

Wow what cars don't have air con these days?! Consider a new car if you're effected this badly by heat as its only going to get worse year on year.

Drink, drink, then drink some more. Sprinkle salt on your food, not too much but you need a tad more than usual.
My blood pressure drops in hot weather, presumably because I don’t move around as much or as quickly as I normally do. That gives me the spaced out feeling. Can you check your be?

Lots of people can't afford cars that come with air con, even second hand - there's still plenty of them about.

To add to all the good advice above, during the last heatwave I wet some facecloths, put them in individual plastic bags, and put those in the freezer.

Applying one to the back of my neck every so often really helped me to cool down. I also did the same with some guest towels and wrapped them round my neck or put them on my head, but they weren’t as effective. I think this was because the facecloths were thicker and held more frozen water.

I am from a very hot country and I have seen/heard people get heat stroke even less hot days and lost their lives.
If your dizziness dont go away, you should ring an ambulance as you might need an IV, water or salted water is sometimes not good enough.
Even if you dont have a high temperature or sweat, your internal organs have been damaged by dehydration, this can be checked at a hospital.
I am not a medical expert so best to contact the GP or NHS now, not internet or mumsnet😅(I love mumsnet though)
Take care!!

Thanks for all the advice. Just to confirm I think it was definitely from the heat, I drank some
Dioralyte and had a cool shower and felt better within half an hour.
Just to clear up a few things. For those saying it was anxiety, I'm almost certain it wasn't. I'm on quite strong meds for anxiety which is fully under control and I completely understand what an anxiety attack feels like and this was nothing like that. It happened because I was in a very hot shop with no air con looking after two kids running around and I got too hot and bothered and hadn't eaten enough. A big factor was most likely that I've barely eaten for the last few days and hadn't had much to drink all morning.
Also to the poster who suggested I get a new car, honestly just think about the current situation people are in and consider that this isn't affordable. We have an old car to ensure we can afford our mortgage and bill payments so it's not as easy as just going out and buying a new car.
And for the posters saying it's hardly hot compared to other countries, of course it isn't but we aren't set up or used to this weather so of course people may feel unwell in it when they aren't used to it.
Thank you to all the posters for the helpful advice though, the tips really worked!

If your house is well insulated it should keep the heat out too. Keep windows and curtains closed during the day

The house is awful, it's almost unliveable in the summer. It keeps all the heat as we are south facing and a mid terrace new build. I try to keep the curtains closed all day and only open the windows first thing and once the heat has gone in the evening but it doesn't make much difference. Me and my hubby have spoken about saving up to get air con in the future but it's so expensive. I'm definitely going to look in to ways to help keep the heat out though