Thomas J. Sims, MD
I never believed it would happen to me.
I’d spent my entire adult life in Alaska and the mountains of Oregon, where I practiced Family Medicine for 25 years. Because of the mild climate, I never experienced or recognized any physical symptoms related to hot weather in myself or in any patients I treated. Then … it happened to me, and it nearly did me in.
One lovely summer day during our first July in Arizona, when temperatures peaked at 115 degrees, my wife Pat and I took a quick trip to Scottsdale. When it was time to head home, Pat asked me to fetch the car from our outdoor parking lot while she waited inside an air-conditioned store. Happy to do it, I set out for a short 20-minute walk, routed by Google Maps. Being a bit directionally challenged, I got turned around—and what was supposed to be a 20-minute walk ended up taking about 40. When I finally found the car, I gathered Pat and headed home.
On the drive back to SaddleBrooke Ranch, I began to feel lightheaded, extremely tired, and nauseated with a pounding heart. I even had trouble staying alert enough to drive safely. Of course, I said nothing to Pat. I just wanted to get home.
Around 7 p.m., we pulled into our driveway, and I immediately went to bed. At 4 a.m., awakening with a throbbing headache and racing heart, I rushed to the fire hall, asking to have an EKG. Thirty minutes later, I was in an ambulance headed to the hospital with a cardiac arrhythmia and severe dehydration.
Diagnosis: Heat exhaustion with imminent heat stroke. Atrial fibrillation.
A recent issue of the medical journal American Family Physician featured an article titled “Heat-Related Illnesses” by Robert L. Gauer, MD, et al. The article was so timely and packed with information vital to us “desert rats” who choose to live in the Arizona desert I felt compelled to paraphrase it and share what it included with everyone at SaddleBrooke Ranch. The information it provided could be lifesaving.
What Does the Term “Heat-Related Illinesses” Mean?
In the medical community, the term “Heat Related Illnesses” refers to a spectrum of disorders that range from mildly annoying symptoms like excessive thirst, sweating, and muscle cramps to severe life-threatening conditions that can cause fatal heat strokes.
Heat-Related Illness Is a Serious Health Problem
In the United States, from 1999 to 2023, heat-related deaths increased by 117%. Most fatalities occurred in 2023, coinciding with the rise in our planet’s temperature. Nearly 120,000 heat-related emergency room visits occurred in 2023, with 92% happening between May and September, primarily among people over 65.
In next month’s issue, Risk Factors for heat-related illness will be discussed along with advice on how to lower risk and prevent disease.
About the author: Dr. Tom Sims and his wife Pat have been residents of SaddleBrooke Ranch since 2023. Tom retired from Family Medicine to become a full-time writer with his Alaska memoir ‘On Call in The Arctic’ becoming an Amazon #1 Bestseller and currently in Hollywood being considered by Netflix as a series. He has a novel on the way. Tom can be reached through his website www.ThomasJSims.com.