A heat reminder for older hikers

same here, started taking a diuretic – hydrochlorothiazide

In hot weather after a few hours it was like I hit a wall.  And had horrible leg cramps at night.

the diuretic removes sodium from your blood which is how it lowers blood pressure.  Sweating also removes sodium from blood.

I took a BP meter with me.  My systolic pressure was 90 when I hit the wall.

So, I take half dose of diuretic and take an electrolyte if I’m sweating a lot.

If you drink just water, you are not correcting the electrolyte problem.  Although, you’re also probably dehydrated so you need to drink water in that case.

or, worn you that if you sweat a lot that your blood pressure can get very low

my cardiologist first said just to drink water

the second time I saw him, I showed him the 10 readings I took at home and averaged, then he seemed to believe me more, I wasn’t just taking one reading that can be misleading.  He sort of went along with my plan to take half dose and electrolytes.  He agreed that a BP of 90 and hitting a wall was something to address.

the next time I see him I’ll show him my results – that is, BP readings while I’m on a hot trip taking electrolytes

I think that cardiologists mostly work with unhealthy people that don’t exercise for hours in the heat and sweat a lot so this isn’t top of mind for them.

Before I took the diuretic, I noticed that if I took an extra teaspoon of salt, it didn’t raise my BP.  My kidneys must have had the capacity to get rid of it.  Now, taking the diuretic, I have no unused kidney capacity to remove sodium, the diuretic uses that all up.  So eating more or less sodium will change my BP.  I think.  They might mention this to patients, but it’s sort of complicated and they don’t have enough time to talk about complicated things.  Instead, they just want to say that if people eat less salt it will lower their BP.  Which is true for some people.  Population wise, the average BP will be less.

I use my watch’s heart rate monitor as the deciding factor for when its time to slow down.

According to this, that’s probably a bad idea for heat stress as by that time conditions may be bordering on heat stroke.

Thanks for this reminder to give more consideration to other symptoms when in the heat

I’ve done that on hot trips.

Wake up when it’s still dark and use headlamp to eat breakfast and pack.  Start hiking when it’s light.  I can get 10 miles in before it gets hot.  Then, rest in the shade.

“I think that cardiologists mostly work with unhealthy people.”  Probably true.

My PCP / internist has run several Iditarods (1,049 miles in an Alaskan winter), is just a few years younger than me, and has known me for 28 years, so we’re on the same wavelength about staying active.

“Wake up when it’s still dark and use headlamp to eat breakfast and pack.”

Or, when not BPing with my wife who believes in savoring her morning cup of tea (we just got back from the Aleutian Islands), I bring a breakfast I can eat as I walk.  1) You make more miles, 2) therefore have more time in the mid-day when the weather is nice or so hot you want to take a break, 3) hiking warms me while 4) standing around a stove watching a pot of water heat up cools me off.

Or, in hot climates, it’s that much more hiking done early when it’s cooler.

So I work long and hard in advance to prepare convenient, trail-edible breakfasts with oatmeal (carbs and fiber), dried fruit, plus some sugar and fats:

“So I work long and hard in advance to prepare convenient, trail-edible breakfasts with oatmeal (carbs and fiber), dried fruit, plus some sugar and fats…”

Damn! David started Trader Joe’s just so he could have a portable breakfast when out backpacking. I guess that’s what it takes to get ahead these days.

Jerry: When we moved to Alaska in 1998, my wife wrote TJs explaining that they both (she and TJs) started in Pasadena in 1967, both came to SF in 1990, and Seattle in 1995.  She wasn’t expecting them to follow her to Kenai, but was hoping for Anchorage.

The President of Trader Joes wrote her back that they’d considered Anchorage several times, but it was too logistically difficult to offer the full range of products including fresh produce at that distance.

There are some off-brand warehouse stores in town that stock items from TJs and Costco and we’ve long smuggled simmer sauces, two-buck chuck, trail mix, and pound+ chocolate bars over Canada using our free baggage allowance.

I never bought beer illegally at TJ’s in Pasadena. It may have been 74′ though. Their hotdogs taste like their bologna. It’s all in a name.

I stopped drinking alcohol to deal with the heat. I also cut out sugary drinks. They affect your sweat. I think when you’re sweating out toxins, you don’t cool off efficiently. I also try not to drink too much bottled water as it can dilute my electrolytes. Take advantage of the shadows in the canyons and the breezes on the ridges. Start early and work into the heat. Wear a hat, carry an umbrella.

Or I’ve never been to TJ’s in Pasadena.

It is all training! I started the PCT on May 9th. Prior to the start date, I put in 375 miles in 2 months in the afternoon heat here in Austin, Texas – which is hilly. Used to do 11 miles starting at 2ish PM for 3 to 4 consecutive days many many times (and probably 100+ miles before that every month). My first day on PCT, I did 28.6 miles, then 26.6 miles (I resupplied and ate an 1 hour lunch in a restaurant – else I would have hit 30) and so on. I did big miles every day in the heat often doing 5000 feet elevation gain almost every day and a few 6800+ feet. I credit all of this to my training. I usually get up at 4AM and am out of camp by 5:30 AM and hike till 6:30-7PM. Also 5 NUUN tablets by lunch time and 4 Gatorade packets in the afternoon. Never had a cramp! Never took a break in the afternoon like many do to escape the heat.

Most of the problems happen because folks don’t train in the conditions they are going to be hiking in.

Train!

I disagree. Hot is hot regardless of training. You simply learn that you’re probably not going to die if you follow the rules.

AK – thanks – I am retired – so have time to train :-)

Terran – read the book “A Walk in the park” – talks about 2 guys who backpacked 700-800 miles of Grand canyon. The first time they entered the park – they had not trained at all and one of the guys was close to dying with dehydration with “what appeared like a rat pulsing through this body”. They abandoned the first section after 10 days…..then they started training and they did complete the 800 mile section over two years. One of the most punishing hikes in heat in the world. These two are young guys.

There are scores of examples of older guys doing incredible things – Ed Whitlock who ran a sub 3 hour marathon in his mid 70’s and a sub 4 hour marathon when he was 85! Dag Aabye (Google a YouTube clip of him) – another guy in his 70’s completing the 128 KM “Death race” in Canada for several years. I know a 73 year old man who runs 5 miles in my neighborhood in the Austin, Texas heat every day.

If you keep doing it,  you can keep doing it!