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Oral Rehydration Salts
Electrolyte loss, especially sodium, is responsible for a general feeling of sickness (and occasionally death) as your body acclimatizes to a new heat challenge. If you have a healthy circulatory system initial heat acclimatization requires 3-5 days with 80% acclimatization occurring in 2-3 weeks, and 100% weeks to months later. Unacclimatized people loose 30-50 times their normal amount of sodium (table salt). You can avoid becoming sick during the acclimatization period by increasing your sodium intake through dietary sodium (table salt & sugar/digestible starch) every few hours during the first few days of an extreme heat challenge. If you or someone in your party becomes severely dehydrated mix a packet of ORS with one liter of water and have the patient drink it in small sips over the next hour or two. Continue with water replacement and salty foods until the patient's signs and symptoms are relieved. This ORS recipe was developed by the World Health Organization (WHO). Multiple packets of ORS solution fit into one of the divided pockets in either of our Guide First Aid Pack or our Expedition First Aid Pack.
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