Rare case of heatstroke highlights the hidden dangers of the sauna

A trip to the sauna can be incredibly relaxing, just make sure you stay hydrated. In a new report this week, doctors warn of the potential danger of not adhering to this advice: a rare but life-threatening case of heat stroke.

Doctors in the United Kingdom have detailed the unusual incident, which involved a 70-year-old woman who was found unconscious with heat stroke in the sauna of her local gym. Although the woman was hospitalized for nearly two weeks as a result, she eventually recovered. But the cautionary tale highlights the importance of regular hydration during sauna days.

According to the paper, published Tuesday in BMJ Case ReportsThe woman was a sauna enthusiast who had never had any previous problems. But that fateful day, she was found unconscious in the sauna of her local gym 45 minutes into stretching exercises. She was taken to the emergency room with a dangerously high body temperature, where she was quickly cooled with wet towels and ventilators, as well as given intravenous fluids and blood products.

The woman developed a seizure early in her visit to the hospital, and tests revealed that she had also had a minor heart attack and damage to her kidneys and other organs. But two hours after his temperature stabilized, he began to regain consciousness. By the third day, she was no longer confused or drowsy, and had recovered well enough to be discharged 12 days after she was first hospitalized. A month after her heatstroke, she had almost fully recovered, apart from mild fatigue and liver damage.

The woman had a history of type 1 diabetes and hypothyroidism, but she also exercised regularly and avoided smoking and drinking. So he wasn’t at particularly high risk for heat stroke from hot weather conditions, his doctors said. While rare, saunas have been known to trigger cases of heat stroke in people at low risk.

“The use of the sauna is a rare but potentially important cause of classic heat stroke in patients with few risk factors for the disease,” the doctors wrote.

How rare? Well, doctors looked back through the medical literature and came across only nine other reported cases of sauna-related heat stroke. In this case, the patient herself believes that it was her lack of hydration that sealed her fate.

“As a regular sauna user, I have never suffered problems and, on reflection, I believe that I did not drink enough water,” wrote the woman in an accompanying perspective.

The most important aspect of heatstroke treatment is time, as quickly cooling someone within thirty minutes is very effective in reducing organ damage from the condition, according to doctors. So, in addition to reminding people to stay hydrated, the woman also hopes that sauna companies will do their due diligence to keep a close eye on their customers.

“My experience emphasized the dangers of the sauna and how important it is to be fully hydrated upon entering a sauna and to be regularly checked by the staff,” he said.

To which she added: “As a side note, considering what I’ve been through, I know I’m very lucky and I can’t thank the medical staff enough.”