Loo Lagna: Heat Exhaustion vs Heatstroke First Aid at Home

Heatstroke is a medical emergency, and it can kill within hours. Everything else in this article about loo lagna, the kachi keri panna, the wet cloths, the shade, comes second to recognising that one moment when home care stops and a hospital takes over.

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Heat exhaustion vs heatstroke

People use “loo lag gayi” for everything from a bad afternoon headache to a collapse in the fields. Medically, there’s a spectrum. Heat exhaustion is the body struggling but still coping. Heatstroke is the body’s cooling system failing. One can turn into the other quickly.

Loo lagna first aid: cool first, then fluids

1. Move them out of the heat. Into shade, an air-conditioned room, or the coolest room in the house under a fan.
2. Lie them down and raise their legs slightly on a pillow if they feel faint.
3. Remove extra clothing. Take off the jacket, shoes, socks and tight clothes. Loosen the shalwar string or belt.
4. Wet the skin. Spray or sponge cool tap water all over the body, or cover them with a wet thin cotton sheet or dupatta.
5. Fan them hard. The moving air over wet skin is what pulls heat out. A pedestal fan, a hand fan, a newspaper, anything.
6. If you can, sit or lay someone with suspected heatstroke in a bathtub or large tub of cool water up to the neck, supported and never left alone; it is the fastest way to cool them. Otherwise keep wetting and fanning.
7. Cold packs. Wrap ice packs or bags of ice in cloth and put them in the armpits, groin, and on the neck. Change them as they warm.
8. If fully alert, give small sips of cool water or homemade ORS, about 100 to 200 ml over 10 to 15 minutes, then keep sipping. Don’t let them gulp a litre at once.
9. Watch for 30 minutes. If they aren’t clearly getting better, or they get worse, go to hospital.

With suspected heatstroke, keep cooling during the whole trip to hospital. Wet cloths and open windows in the car or rickshaw. Cooling starts saving lives before a doctor arrives.

Heat cramps, painful spasms in the calves or stomach after hard work or sport in the heat, are a milder cousin. Stop, rest in shade, stretch the muscle gently and sip ORS or salted chaas. If cramps last more than an hour, or come with the heat exhaustion signs above, treat it as heat exhaustion.

What to drink in loo season

For someone recovering from heat exhaustion, and for everyone during a heatwave, a steady flow of fluids through the day matters more than a big glass at night. Good household options:

• Water, cool, sipped often.
• Homemade ORS if there’s been lots of sweating, vomiting or loose motions.
• Salted chaas with a pinch of roasted jeera.
• Sattu sharbat, the salty version.
• Kachi keri ka panna, lightly sweetened.

Kachi keri panna for loo season

1. Boil or pressure cook 2 medium raw green mangoes (about 400 g) in water until soft, about 15 minutes boiling or 2 whistles.
2. Cool, peel, and squeeze out all the pulp. Discard the stone and skin.
3. Blend the pulp with 4 tablespoons (about 50 g) of sugar or gur, 1 teaspoon roasted jeera powder, half a teaspoon kala namak and a quarter teaspoon regular salt.
4. This makes about 1 cup of concentrate. Store covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.
5. For one glass, mix 2 tablespoons of concentrate into 250 ml of cool water and add a few mint leaves.

People with diabetes should use far less sugar or skip panna and stick to chaas and water. Avoid alcohol, and cut back on very sweet cold drinks and lots of strong tea or coffee in a heatwave.

The day after heat exhaustion

Someone who had a bad bout of heat exhaustion often feels washed out for a day or two. That’s normal. Keep them resting indoors in the coolest room, offer fluids every hour they’re awake, and give light meals: dahi chawal, khichdi, fruit. No outdoor work, cricket or long bazaar trips in the afternoon for at least a day or two.

Watch the urine. Dark, scanty urine means they’re still behind on fluids. And keep an eye on the mind: new confusion, unusual drowsiness or a fresh fever the next day is a reason to see a doctor, not to wait.

Preventing heat illness in peak summer

• Plan outdoor work, errands and play for early morning or after sunset.
• Wear loose, light-coloured cotton, and a cap, hat or a wet scarf on the head.
• Carry water every time you leave the house. Drink before you feel thirsty.
• Never leave a child, an elderly person or a pet in a parked car, even for “two minutes”.
• Check on elderly neighbours and relatives who live alone during a heatwave.
• Take cool showers or wash face, hands and feet several times a day.
• Eat lighter: dahi, fruit, cucumbers, lauki, simple dal and rice rather than heavy fried meals.

For everyday summer comfort, see our summer heat routine. Children in summer also get nosebleeds and garmi dane, which are milder problems. More household care in Desi Remedies.