The heat and humidity in the state has led to a spurt in summer illnesses. City hospitals are flooded with patients seeking treatment for heat exhaustion, severe dehydration, unexplained fever and skin ailments such as boils and dermatitis. Doctors advise the general public to remain indoors during daytime and drink plenty of fluids. Juicy fruits are also handy to keep dehydration at bay.
Eating healthy is important to keep away water and food-borne illnesses such as diarrhoea, typhoid and jaundice. Doctors say drinks prepared by roadside vendors are often unhygienic. The ice used in them might be made of unclean water.
Doctors also busted the myth that energy drinks can help one reduce dehydration. Any cold drink or energy drink has concentrated sugar. When that goes to body, it may lead to osmotic dehydration, promoting water from a cell to come out to absorb extra sugar. That is the reason one feels thirst after a while after taking such drinks, said Dr Diwakar Tejaswi, adding one might instead take electoral powder.
He advised one should avoid strenuous work, including exercises, during the warmest part of the day. "Many heat emergencies are experienced by people exercising or working during the day such as sales executives," the doctor said. He said drinking plenty of water can help ward off many heat-related illnesses.
One should also avoid sudden change in temperature. Doctors say the tendency of people walking straight out of airconditioned rooms and cars into the hot sunshine or gulping cold drinks to beat the heat is harmful. "The best way to identity the symptoms of the sun being harsh on you is looking out for weakness, a dry tongue or cramps in your legs. One should opt for the shade and have lots of liquids," a doctor advised.
Hypertensive people need some special precaution. President of Bihar chapter of Cardiological Society of India, Dr U C Samal, said the dosage of medicine given to heart patients might need a change due to loss of salt from body during summer. If proper monitoring of medicine is not done, a hypertensive may even suffer kidney shut down. Blood pressure patients also need to manage drug doses during summer as per doctors' advice.
Sweltering heat can affect the skin, too, if precautions such as wearing of appropriate clothing and application of sunscreen are not taken. "Fungal allergies are also common during summer because of excessive sweating," said Dr Amarkant Jha 'Amar' who advises one should take bath twice a day, wear cotton clothes and use anti-fungal powder.
Cross-infection from swimming pools is another major problem. Doctors suggest that one should have a good bath after swimming to avoid them.
source :TOI
No comments:
Post a Comment