Toshali Sands

Beat the Heat

There are certain common observations made when you are away from your home on tour. Most of these require either preventive measurance. Only a handful of symptomatologies requires medical attention. But it is always safe to have yourself medically examined before disposing of the so called ailments.

Sleeplessness A very common symptom complained by people while on tour. The most common reason is a sudden change of environment which the body takes time to adjust. The erratic time schedule of the tour and anxiety are also responsible for this. A change of bed may also end up in lack of sleep. This is of course the light side of the problem. A person suffering from high blood pressure, anxiety and other associated ailments may get themselves examined by the doctor or take appropriate measures to correct these by way of medication.

Excessive Thirst This is complained by tourists during Summer or in hot climate. This is purely a problem of supply and demand. As they keeping moving from place to place in hot sun, the body fluid becomes scarce and hence the body requires more and more water for maintaining the fluid balance. This can be taken by:

(1) avoiding movement in the hot Sun
(2) taking adequate liquids in form of water or watery drinks.
The ideal stuff is tender coconut, barley, water, water melon. Soft drinks may be sparingly used. At times water with sugar or salt and buttermilk may also help. In case there is not much of a relief, this symptom can be taken as an early measure of any metabolic disorder or like diabetes. Hence a proper investigation is required.

Urinary Problem This could be in the form of high coloured urine, frequent urination, painful urination, scanty urination, blood in the urine etc. during journey. In such case the water intake has to be increased to ensure optimum fluid balance in the body. If the body water content is less, kidney filters less of urine for excretion or hence scanty urination may occur, sometimes high coloured urine may occur in Jaundice which needs immediate attention.

Blood in the urine may also occur due to a small stone in the urine passage and it needs medical attention. It is seen in some people at time there is a stoppage of urine flow and the person may have retention of urine. There could be different causes of this, depending upon the age and other concomitant history. In younger individuals the cause of retention of urine could be due to narrowing of the urinary passage due to “Stricture of Urethra” which gets aggravated during journeys. This needs immediate attention.

In elderly people the cause of retention may be due to the enlargement of prostrate or disease in kidney or heart, which also have to be dealt with by suitable intervention. Infection of the urinary track may be a common cause of painful mictusation and passage of pus and blood in the urine. This of course can be detected with other associated features like fever, body ache, vomiting etc. Medical attention is required to eradicate these symptoms.

Headache This is a common day-to-day problem of every individual irrespective of age and sex. During tours one is likely to experience this uncomfortable feeling. Tension, lack of adequate rest, change of climates, onset of common cold, change of diet are few of the common causes of headache.

Exposure to excessive heart or excessive cold may also result in headache. In addition to the above, people with organic ailments like migraine, chronic cold, high blood pressure, sinusitis etc. may get aggravated during tours due to anxiety, tension, irregular time schedule, disturbed biorhythm. In some cased travelling by bus or can may aggravate motion sickness and headache. While flying abroad on usually experiences “jet lag’ while corssing the time zone. Climbing his altitudes may also result in severe headaches due to lack of atmospheric oxygen and also lack of oxygen in the circulating blood. Barring the common causes which may require mild painkiller of anxiolytis, other factors in the cases of headaches may require medical attention.

Some of the common ailments mentioned above may be frequently met with, while undertaking a tour. As said earlier, attention for the preventive aspect in such cases may be rewarding.