We live a very healthy lifestyle. My son who was VERY healthy suprisingly got heat stroke, even though he had electrolytes and lots of water. He has been in recovery for three months. He is still weak and cannot take the heat outside and his body temperature will not raise back up to 98.6 where it used to be. It stays at 97 now, sometimes it drops even lower. Any thoughts on natural ways to help the body return to its normal temperature?
Replied by Tom (Regina, Sk) on 09/06/2010
Is he SWEATING normally in hot sun now, or was he before he got the heatstroke?
Heatstroke's basic cause is an elevated and then potentially deadly runaway rise in body temperature from insufficient cooling from lack of sweat production and evaporation.
http://cypress.he.net/~bigmacnc/drflechas/iodine.htm
20% of all iodine in the human body is stored in the skin, specifically in the sweat glands. Lack of iodine in the sweat glands manifests as dry skin with a decreased ability to sweat. Iodine can also be concentrated in the stomach tissue, and the lack of iodine in the stomach manifests as achlorhydria (lack of digestive acid production). Iodine is used by the stomach cells, also known as parietal cells, to concentrate chloride which is necessary to produce hydrochloric acid (digestive acid). With the prolonged presence of achlorhydria, there is a much higher incidence of stomach cancer. Iodine is concentrated in the lacrymal glands of the eye, and a lack of iodine can cause dry eyes. Iodine can also be concentrated in the parotid and submandibular glands of the mouth, and iodine deficiency here can result in dry mouth. Iodine can be concentrated in the ovaries, and Russian studies done some years ago showed a relationship between iodine deficiency and the presence of cysts in the ovaries. The greater the iodine deficiency, the more ovarian cysts a woman produces. In its extreme form, this condition is known as polycystic ovarian disease. Very suspiciously, his current symptom, hypothermia, has as a main cause hypothyroidism, which can be from lack of adequate iodine stores in the body! Also, as a formerly active outdoor person as you say, it sounds like he was taking lots of fluids to prevent dehydration, but what kind of fluids?
Was it lots of soda pop, especially those known well to be loaded with bromides which push out the Iodine very well?
Here is a note from Dr. Fletchas:
Bromide. Bromide builds up in the Central Nervous System and results in many problems. In the 1920s BromoSeltzer
Was a bromide based medicine that used to be used for hangovers, calming the stomach, and headaches. It often resulted in acute paranoid psychosis with large doses. Today, beverages (Mountain Dew, Fresca, and citric Gatorade) contain bromide in the form of "brominated vegetable oil". It is used as an emulsifier in citrus flavored soft drinks. The bromide functions as a CNS depressant and triggers a number of symptoms like paranoia. Bromide is also found in flour and bread. Brazil recently outlawed bromide in flour products.
If you think this is correct, then see 'Iodine' under the Remedies Tab for an Iodine supplement protocol here:
https://www.earthclinic.com/remedies/iodine.htmlReplied by Joyce (Lowell, Ar) on 09/30/2010
Thank you for your input. I had considered the iodine issue but you have added some information I did not know. His diet is excellent. I have practiced good nutrition in the home for over 20 years. No premade food, some organic meat, nuts beans and lots of living vegetables. Always Water... NO POP.. When outside in heat we also try to keep a good electrolyte source in the water. We are not sure what caused the heat stroke. He drinks great. One nutritionists said he believed the root cause was vit D3 deficience??? so we got him on that too. It is more clear from your post that iodine could really have been the issue. I will ask him whether he is sweating normal yet, and I will re-continue iodine supplementation. He was waking up in the morning with his temp as low as 95! Now his waking temp is more like 96. Better, but not good. Thank you for any insight.Replied by Tom (Regina, Sk) on 10/03/2010
Hello, Joyce, good of you to reply to give some feedback! After some detailed reading of several sites, this MD Dr. Lam has a superb site layout of information on the entire spectrum of adrenal fatigue to exhaustion to how it is still most often misdiagnosed as hypothyroidism today.
http://www.drlam.com/index.asp
There are good timechart curves drawn under several links showing the time progression from stress to fatigue to exhaustion if there's no remediation or intercession. The iodine now added may be acting as a boost to the thyroid function, in a way similar to how added thyroid hormone or extract acts, but if the problem is actually an initial manifestation of ADRENAL gland stress, then he'd have the symptoms he's having, with temperature sluggish to respond. In general, the initial shock (infection or severe stress?) Will lead to cortisol output increasing , which could manifest as normal-high BP and higher than normal blood sugar.
But as the adrenals exhaust their output capacity, the body tends toward LOW BP AND blood sugar symptoms, even though lab results may read normal! http://www.drlam.com/articles/Adrenal_fatigue_and_hypoglycemia.asp
This last page link especially gives a symptom chart, and explains how/why the problem must be determined first and foremost as an adrenal axis imbalance before pursuing any thyroid treatment. The low temperature symptom is a key one.
Hope this helps you out! http://www.drlam.com/articles/adrenalfatiguevshypothyroidism.asp
