Heat Casualty

[ma91c1an]

You know, I really do not know why you remain predisposed to further heat injuries after you suffer from one. We will need to get one of the real docs to weigh in on that one.

Regardless of the attitude of the docs that are failing to treat you seriously, get your lab work done. If nothing else, it will either reassure you that you are within normal limits, or, it may reveal some underlying pathology that you did not know about. If you are ill, if you have some imbalance, that can make you vulnerable before you even walk out the door. No matter how correctly that you manage yourself, if you have some underlying pathology, you may be destined to take a hard fall.

The thing is, depending on the effects of your heat injury, you can actually damage your kidneys, and it can take some time for them to recover. You also need to look at liver values. If you are taking medications, for example, your liver may not be successfully metabolizing them, predisposing you to issues.

I have a buddy here who was taking a big fat cocktail of meds for blood pressure, PTSD, depression, cholesterol, and I do not know what else, something like 14 pills in a single day, and he got hammered by his liver.

I last saw him at Christmas. He was fine. In perfect health, for a man in his '50's, with a lot of wear and tear on his body.

A month ago, I was shocked by his appearance. It turns out that he suffered sudden and nearly fatal kidney and liver failure. No shit. The guy almost died. He spent several days in the hospital, and he is now down to far fewer meds per day. He was just taking too many meds, and for too long (more than ten years in his case), and one day his liver decided to puke. His kidneys followed.

That scared the shit out of me. I dx'd most of my meds, and cut down to just the critical ones that help me sleep at night.

Good living is the best treatment for depression and PTSD, anyway. Keeping the drama index low is the key.

[ANGRYCivilian]

I just met with the civilian doc, not the PA. I explained the entire story, starting a few days before when I started to prepare for the event. Everything looks good...almost. My creatinine level is high considering the massive amount of water I drink. Could be kidney damage due to a concentration of toxins which were not flushed out of my body like they normally would. My hemoglobin is low, which is probably also from overhydration. I had VA labs drawn this morning, and should have an apt next week to discuss them. I also have another lab apt with the civilian doc in two weeks to check the levels again. Hopefully, the creatinine will go down.

I have the results report, and can scan them and post it if anyone would like to look at it.

I do appreciate everyone's input. If it wasn't for the suggestion to get lab work done, I would not have.

[ANGRYCivilian]

Here's the report.

[Ardent Lady]

The good news out of this, is I'm improving for Bataan in March, and haven't died yet. :D Some things I've learned about my body/mind: There's nothing I can do when my body just totally stops working; other than that, I have full control and have no issue pushing through pain and weakness. The bad news is, I have to experience something before I can fully understand it; an unfortunately being a heat casualty was one of those things that's never happened before, so...

Got an AAR, Angry? Just wondering how it went.

I'm BTDT on dehydration/ heat casualty, too, and know that it definitely is super easy to let it happen again.