dangerously hot bath?

[arnquist]

So, this is reeeeeally random, but I figure people here know a lot about the human body and have an interest in how it works and reacts to things, so here goes. I just took a really hot bath, hotter than usual, and when I got out of the water I nearly passed out, my skin got all tingly and I felt like I was going to throw up and lose control of my bowels, I was in so much pain, so dizzy, my vision was blurry... I took my temperature and it was over 100, and when I looked at myself in the mirror I looked like a ghost, I was so pale, even my lips were about the same color as my skin. But after about 5 minutes it passed, my body regained equilibrium or something and I gradually started feeling normal again. Weird stuff. I wonder if it was the hot water alone, or maybe I have some tiny unnoticeable sickness and the hot water just lowered my immune system's defenses so it manifested itself? Anyway, just curious if anyone has ever had a similar experience or if anyone has a medical or chi/energy related explanation of what happened.

[mantis]

this has happened to me when switching from cold to hot really fast, ie. going from jacuzzi into pool.

[Mantra68]

I like to take a hot-as-I-can-stand bath for an hour and drink a whole gallon of water while in there. I alternate the gallons between regular water and water with a lime squeezed into it.

 

Ooze out the jive.

 

It might help to cool yourself down with colder water before you stand up.

[WhiteTiger]

Pretty simple, if it passed away and you still have no symptoms, and your not sick at the time. Its pretty obvious that you switched from hot to cool way to fast, blood couldn't keep up help yourself fast enough. I'm sure through the hot bath you even got rid of some water in your system by sweating. Which made you have even worse symptoms and/or made you take a little longer to recover.

[Taomeow]

Tingly skin -- and the rest of the symptoms -- sounds like chlorine poisoning to me. Hot water will cause it to penetrate more actively and will evaporate it in larger amounts, so you both breathe it in and get it absorbed through the skin at a higher-than-normal rate. If you're sensitive to chlorine (as I am), it may happen. However, if the symptoms ever occur under some other conditions, get a check-up, OK? (I'm hoping they won't. If you still want to take hot baths, install a filter! )

[WhiteTiger]

Tingly skin -- bah i missed that symptom. Gee I feel dumb now

[cheya]

 

 

I just took a really hot bath, hotter than usual, and when I got out of the water I nearly passed out, my skin got all tingly and I felt like I was going to throw up and lose control of my bowels, I was in so much pain, so dizzy, my vision was blurry... I took my temperature and it was over 100, and when I looked at myself in the mirror I looked like a ghost, I was so pale, even my lips were about the same color as my skin. But after about 5 minutes it passed, my body regained equilibrium or something and I gradually started feeling normal again.

Did you drink extra water before/during this bath? Especially if you put epsom salts in the bath, you can get REALLY dehydrated, low blood pressure etc., and your body needs fluids to cool itself. I don't drink as much as Mantra, but I do at least two quarts with any hot bath. Also, once after a hot clay bath I had a similar reaction when I coated my dried out skin with lotion before I had cooled off. Very bad idea. Body couldn't cool off properly, and I nearly went into heat stroke.

Hope you figure it out!

 

[steve]

How long were you in the tub? If it was a relatively long time in very hot water it was likely due to the changes your body makes to accomodate to the higher temperature to keep the core (ie brain) temperature in the safe range. When you're in very hot water for a long time the body uses the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system to shunt heat to the extremities (skin, hands, feet, bowels) in any way it can to get rid of heat and keep the brain cool. This involves increasing blood flow to these other areas and away from the brain and other temperature sensitive vital organs. If you exceed it's capacity to do that, you'll feel everything you felt. This is why in the US, no spas, hot tubs... can exceed 104F by law and there are warnings about time spent in a hot tub. Other things could be contributing but this is the most likely explanation.

[gendao]

^ Agreed. This same thing basically happened to me a few months ago. I took a long, really hot bath and nearly gave myself heat stroke.

 

Basically, this happens when your core temperature keeps rising, but you can't cool off because your sweat can't evaporate for whatever reason. Like, say you're submerged underwater or you're dehydrated and out of fluids to sweat off...

 

NO BUENO, dude. VERY dangerous - and life-threatening, in fact.

[arnquist]

Thanks for the info everyone, I was in there a long time, trying to be 'macho' and endure the heat, lol. I'll be more careful from now on.