In a rare case, a woman in the United Kingdom was hospitalized with severe heat stroke after spending too long in a sauna, doctors have revealed.
The woman, who was in her early 70s at the time, had been stretching in an indoor sauna at her local gym for around 45 minutes when she suddenly fell unconscious.
Paramedics soon arrived at the scene and noted that the woman’s core body temperature had skyrocketed to 107.6 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius) — approximately 9 F (5 C) higher than normal levels. For context, 102.2 F (39 C) would be considered a high fever.
The woman’s blood pressure had also fallen, while her heart rate had accelerated, prompting the paramedics to rush her to an emergency department for treatment.
Related: What Is Heat Exhaustion?
Following admission, the woman was diagnosed with a severe form of exertional heat stroke. This is a serious condition in which a person’s core body temperature rises to above 104 F (40 C) as a result of exercising in hot conditions. This overwhelms the body’s inbuilt thermostat that helps to cool the body off when it’s too hot. Exertional heat stroke can trigger multi-organ failure and death if it is not quickly diagnosed and treated.
In this case, the woman experienced numerous medical complications because of her heat stroke, including a seizure, heart attack, liver and kidney injury and blood clotting issues.
But doctors swiftly gave her intravenous fluids and drugs to manage her symptoms and stabilize her vitals, while also cooling her down with a fan and wet towels. Within an hour of her arrival at the emergency department, the woman’s core body temperature had normalized to 97.5 F (36.4 C), and two hours later she regained consciousness.
In a report of her case, published Jan. 7 in the journal BMJ Case Reports, doctors reported that the woman “made a full recovery without need for advanced organ support” and was discharged from hospital after 12 days.
To date, fewer than 10 people worldwide have been documented as having heat stroke after a sauna visit, according to the case report authors. Three of these individuals died of their illness. In general, patients over the age of 60 are more vulnerable to dying from heat stroke, compared with other age groups.
The woman in the recent case was described as being “extremely physically active,” as she worked out at the gym every day, and she didn’t smoke or drink alcohol “to excess.” However, she was likely dehydrated at the time, as she said she hadn’t consumed “enough” water prior to the incident — a known risk factor for exertional heat stress.
“The main health implications of our article are to warn of the potential dangers of sauna use, especially prolonged unsupervised use, and in patients with pre-existing health conditions or dehydration,” study co-author Dr. William McIver, an academic clinical fellow in anaesthetics at the University of Birmingham in the U.K., told Live Science in an email.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.
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