heat exhaustion

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csutherland

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 12, 2002
Messages
314
Location
Springfield Mo area
Does anyone have knowledge of whether a single episode of heat exhaustion can cause lingering after-effects for weeks? My daughter's mother-in-law is 66, EXTREMELY fit, healthy and active. She was mowing her large yard a couple of months ago and got sick, was taken to ER and diagnosed with probable heat exhaustion.

Since then, she has gone from bad to worse. Weakness, fatigue, depression, negativity, afraid of being alone to the point of not wanting to go back to her home. This is highly unusual. She's a widow living alone and liking it, normally tireless, taking exceptionally good care of the house and large yard and flowers, etc.

She has been checked from top to bottom for everything imaginable. My daughter says this is not the mother-in-law she's known for over 20 years. We've researched heat exhaustion and heat stroke on the web but nothing is ever said about lingering symptoms. (In fact more things are being added all the time to the list of symptoms)

Thoughts, anyone?
 
I doubt it's just heat exhaustion. Sounds like something else going on that is going undetected as of yet. What it may be is anyones guess. Anything tramatic gone on with her lately that she hasn't told anyone about? Just a guess.
 
Just a suggestion

Just a suggestion

Some times when people such as this person who are " tough
as nails and never been sick a day in their life" type and something happens to them that really make them accept their
own mortal, it can cause them to have a post-tramatic experience
where they don't want to do anything out of fear it might happen again. Many heart and stroke patients experience this. You might
suggest therapy to her dr. if he can't find anything else. Of course, drs. do miss things and she still could have some underlying problem that has gone undetected.
Good luck to you and your family!
 
Heat Exhaustion post revisited

Heat Exhaustion post revisited

After several more weeks of tests--holter monitor, 24-hr urine collection, echo, ekg, mri, etc. etc. finally they've come up with a heart valve problem for this woman. The family had about decided she was having panic/anxiety attacks, but that usually presents itself in the teens or 20s. She's almost 67.

The thing that finally happened was that she has very cold legs and sometimes hands. Also they feel numb at times. She had some bruising around one of the numb places on her leg and my daughter called the dr's office one more time and told the nurse. She was scheduled for an arterial doppler test in response to that call. It is our understanding that this is how the heart valve diagnosis was made. My daughter's in-laws are not as inquisitive as our side of the family! No one asked which valve, why it didn't show up on the echo, etc. Meanwhile, I have been researching and it sounds more like MVP to me with a "sub-condition" MVPS (syndrome). This does include panic attacks, cold extremities, numbness, etc.

Anyone ever heard of this or had experience? She's to see the cardio in 2 weeks. She's encouraged to have some kind of answer. As I said in the earlier post, she has turned into someone we don't even know with the stress of it all.
 
Hi,

I am sorry it took so long to get an answer. Maybe now her stress level will calm down somewhat. Will she be seeing one of the cardio's your husband sees?

I will keep your family in my prayers for a positive outcome.
Take care,
 
It's good that they found a cause. I'm sure that is a relief.

For depression and anxiety, it might be beneficial to see a psychologist for counceling. Her PCP may also want to prescribe an appropriate antidepressant. Several contributors have commented that Zoloft has helped them cope with their anxieties.

'AL'
 
Could be that there was no heat stroke at all - but the heart acting up. When we reach a certain age, most anything can happen, especially when doing more than the body wants to do. And it won't always show up in the usual testing - deeper tests must be done and sometimes the discovery of the problem is hard to come by. I hope that her doctors will be able to find out exactly what it is and fix it. Research her medicines, because sometimes there are side effects that are not good - I do this with my brother's and my own. I pray that her health will return to normal. God bless Ann
 
I'm sorry to hear of your family's dilemma.

My grandmother who was still driving and managing her 100-acre horse farm at age 94, had a mini-stroke and seemed depressed afterwards. I remember seeing her sitting alone on the couch of her front room, doing absolutely nothing. This was so out of character for her.

If the diagnostics all came out normal and the head scan didn't show any sign of stroke, (can they detect even small ones?), then another thought is an undetected virus from an insect bite.

Peace,
 
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