# Feeling sick after being in the sun a short time



## Plarka

Even if I drink lots of water, I can only be in the sun about 15 minutes and then I start feeling funny and dizzy. Then later when I get home, I feel really nauseous and dizzy and it lasts all evening and most of the night. Oh and really tired. I think it's getting worse. Yesterday was really bad. Has anyone ever heard of this or had it? I plan to go to the doctor next week but expect them to have no clue.


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## SandyMom

Does it feel like it's more from the actual sun itself, or from the heat?

How is your overall health?

I had extreme sensitivities to temperatures when my adrenals and thyroid were struggling.

Also, are your hormones in balance? I know it's hard to know, but these are just some ideas to take w/ you to doctor's appointment. hopefully others will have more ideas.


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## mbravebird

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SandyMom*
> 
> Does it feel like it's more from the actual sun itself, or from the heat?
> 
> How is your overall health?
> 
> I had extreme sensitivities to temperatures when my adrenals and thyroid were struggling.
> 
> Also, are your hormones in balance? I know it's hard to know, but these are just some ideas to take w/ you to doctor's appointment. hopefully others will have more ideas.


This. My adrenals used to give me symptoms like that. Adrenals are involved in body temperature regulation and in how the body processes salt and water. Thus, on a hot day you can get those symptoms from both dehydration and overheating, even if you're drinking lots of water. Before I knew what was going on and began to fix it, I used to not be able to deal with 15 minutes of high heat and movement without getting dizzy, splitting headache, and nausea. Then I would throw up later in the night. Some summer nights I would just throw up and have a headache by the end of the day, no matter what.

Once I started being able to get more sleep and started an adrenal repair program, things got steadily better. I will now get those symptoms if I've lost a lot of sleep during a hot spell, but I know how to support my body to head it off.

Dehydration symptoms are an less common presentation of adrenal fatigue, so be prepared for your doc to not know about it. But the research is there and reputable if he looks for it.


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## mbravebird

Oh, and just a piece of advice for water-drinking -- if these symptoms are caused by your adrenals, drinking plain water can sometimes make it worse, as can drinking store-bought electrolyte drinks. The problem is sodium depletion, because the adrenals create a hormone that binds to salt and excretes it out of the body. Drinking plain water increases the problem as the body searches for more sodium to balance the H2O, and drinking water with lots of potassium does the same thing. If you add salt or kelp to your water, your body will process it better.

Before I figured out that I had adrenal fatigue, but I HAD figured out that I was having dehydration symptoms, I used to get so confused that sometimes my nausea/headache would come on quicker if I drank a bunch of water, especially when I drank it all at once. Drink it slowly throughout the day, and add salt.


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## Plarka

Wow, this is awesome information. It does seem that the more water I drink, the worse it gets, or at least it doesn't really help. Dh was saying something about my salts not being right. So, how much salt do you add to the water? I don't want to add too little and have it not help.

I don't know if it's just heat because where I live, it hasn't been really hot yet, and rarely gets that way, it's usually cool in the shade. The direct sun is strong though and that's how I've experienced the symptoms. I'm going to NY in a couple weeks where it will probably be really hot, so unfortunately I'll find out then!


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## Plarka

I've just read about adrenal fatigue on Wikipedia, and it says it's only recognized by alternative medicine and not mainstream institutions. What should I ask my doctor to check? What kind of tests? I'm going to try and get an appointment tomorrow.


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## mbravebird

I'd say salt to taste, because if you put too much in it really becomes hard to drink. So experiment and put as much as you can in. Start with a 1/4 tsp or less. Anything you get in there will make it easier to process (IF this is adrenal fatigue you're dealing with.)

You would need a saliva test, done over the course of a day, to get a picture of your cortisol levels. Although it is less of a mainstream diagnosis, it is still very medical in nature, and plenty of MD's work with it. I think Dr. Rind's site is the most comprehensive:

http://www.drrind.com/therapies/metabolic-therapy#diagnosing

In particular, his metabolic scorecard is really useful to get a picture of how your adrenals and thyroid are functioning:

http://www.drrind.com/therapies/metabolic-symptoms-matrix

And doing a thorough body temp tracking can help you get a good picture of the adrenal/thyroid mix as well. Adrenal problems will always show up in your temps, although they will look different at different times of health. Here's a good explanation:

http://www.drrind.com/therapies/metabolic-temperature-graph

It's not necessary to get a saliva test, if you fit the symptoms and temperature fluctuations and the treatment gives you improvement. But knowing your exact cortisol fluctuation can help you know how to treat it best (when to take glandulars, etc.).

Hope this helps you figure it all out! I'd read all that stuff above carefully before going to the doc tomorrow -- because they will be thinking Addison's disease only when it comes to adrenal malfunction. But I think all mothers who've gone through pregnancy (requires tripled adrenal function), lost sleep chronically, are exposed to artificial light at night (prevents your adrenals from turning off) and haven't consumed glands like our ancestors used to are at risk -- it makes sense, really. Another unintended side effect of modern life.


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## SandyMom

salt is so critical for me. But it's very important to use sea salt - not the processed table salt. I buy Celtic sea salt in bulk at my hfs.


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## mbravebird

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SandyMom*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> salt is so critical for me. But it's very important to use sea salt - not the processed table salt. I buy Celtic sea salt in bulk at my hfs.


Oh, good point! I'm using sea salt here too. It makes a big difference to the body which you use.


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## Plarka

Do you add salt to all water you ever drink no matter how you feel, or just when you feel the dehydration?


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## mbravebird

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Plarka*
> 
> Do you add salt to all water you ever drink no matter how you feel, or just when you feel the dehydration?


I'm well enough now that I don't feel the symptoms very often, and when I do feel them I recognize them veeerrrry early -- even before the headache comes, I start to feel a particular kind of weirdness that is a precursor feeling to all the symptoms. So I'll drink it then. Or, if I'm aware that I haven't drunk very much water that day and I'm about to go out in the hot sun for a few hours, I'll drink some salty water instead of regular water.

I had a relapse of adrenal symptoms after my last pregnancy and baby-related sleep loss, but this time around I've been able to get a handle on them more quickly. The three things that really helped me heal the first time around was nettle infusion, high-quality glandulars (the only one I can really feel a difference from is Dr. Ron's), and high doses of virgin coconut oil. The second time around, I used mainly the Dr. Ron's glandular, but I've also found real help from the Nat. Mur cell salt. That's something quick and easy you could try right away, and pick up at your local HFS. It assists with water distribution in the body.

Two other easy things you could consider, that in my experience really help with adrenal exhaustion? Getting rid of all artificial light sources at night, even small ones like clock lights. Even small amounts of artificial light prevent the body from making melatonin, which is the chemical that allows your adrenals to rest and stop making cortisol at night. Without melatonin, your adrenals make cortisol all night long. Second, there have been some studies showing that people using grounding tools to simulate contact with the earth (something our human bodies evolved with) are able to normalize their cortisol levels, whether they're making too much or too little. You can read about it more at earthing.com, but there's a really cheap grounding footband you can wear while sleeping that, for me, has turned around my nighttime headache/nausea symptoms when I let them get too far. That totally amazed me, to go to sleep and wake up feeling better rather than wake up throwing up. My experience has definitely born out the research.

Hope this helps!


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## Plarka

Thank you so much! Every day I keep hoping you still want to reply back to me on here, because you are giving me so much good information! I've called my doctor's office to have a doctor call me later to talk about this and I want to ask if they do a 24 hour saliva test, and maybe other thyroid or adrenal tests, but I don't expect them to be much help. I've also just called the clinic of natural medicine in our town and he's going to speak to the other guys there and call me back. SO, do you think I should see one of these guys, they have an herbalist, acupuncture, homeopathy...things like that. It's expensive, but should I really see them instead of trying what I find online, or from you, or from a book (Dr James Wilson)?

I'm in England, and usually there is a lot more stuff like this available in the US.. But we're going there next week to see my family. Not sure if I'll find out what I should buy before then though.


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## mbravebird

That's funny, I was thinking I was giving too much info. There's so much out there, and it can be overwhelming. A good HCP can really help with guiding you through all the options for adrenal fatigue, although plenty of folks can get a lot better sorting through all the info on their own. Acupuncture, for me, has been very helpful, and my acupuncturist is also a chinese herbalist, which was wonderful and very effective. He was very helpful, but I wasn't able to go to him as often as I would have liked, so I relied on other things for the long term. I did it mostly by myself.

How much sleep are you able to get these days? That, honestly, is the bottom line. The supplements got me through the final days of my sleep deprivation, but I didn't start to really heal until I started to get sleep. I'm in the same position now -- I haven't quite hit the "getting consistent sleep again" phase after my last pregnancy and baby. But I've done enough healing in general that I'm doing OK.

It also matters *when* you go to sleep, honestly. That part's hard. The body doesn't start making melatonin full on for 2-3 hours after going to sleep, and then the body starts ramping up cortisol levels again around 3AM, so if you want to get a few hours where your adrenals are truly resting and not producing cortisol, you have to go to bed around 9pm. Sometimes that's hard for me, because so much of my day is spent for others, and that's my only wind down time, it seems. But my health really works better when I go to bed by 9 or 9:30. Sigh.

What are your symptoms other than the dehydration?


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## Plarka

Ugh, yes, I have a major battle within, each night, to get myself to bed! I feel like I am ready for bed around 8 or 9 but I always drag it out and fight it! I will try harder, after seeing what you said. It's the same for me, after spending my whole day taking care of other people, I want to do stuff for me!!

My other symptoms off the top of my head are hypoglycemia (I need to eat often or I get dizzy) never refreshed when I wake up (I thought it was because my 15 month old wakes a few nights for a bf. I feel worse when I get up in the morning than when I went to bed), my body clock is just as described on the adrenal fatigue websites-energy after 10am, then tired all day and more energy after 6pm, dry skin (some cosmetic lady at a store tested it with a computer thing and says it's extremely dehydrated).

I'm still confused about why I feel sick after being in the sun. Is it just because I'm immediately getting dehydrated and something about my salts?


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## mbravebird

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Plarka*
> 
> Ugh, yes, I have a major battle within, each night, to get myself to bed! I feel like I am ready for bed around 8 or 9 but I always drag it out and fight it! I will try harder, after seeing what you said. It's the same for me, after spending my whole day taking care of other people, I want to do stuff for me!!
> 
> My other symptoms off the top of my head are hypoglycemia (I need to eat often or I get dizzy) never refreshed when I wake up (I thought it was because my 15 month old wakes a few nights for a bf. I feel worse when I get up in the morning than when I went to bed), my body clock is just as described on the adrenal fatigue websites-energy after 10am, then tired all day and more energy after 6pm, dry skin (some cosmetic lady at a store tested it with a computer thing and says it's extremely dehydrated).
> 
> I'm still confused about why I feel sick after being in the sun. Is it just because I'm immediately getting dehydrated and something about my salts?


It's two things -- first is that it taxes your adrenals to regulate your temperature, which is what your body has to do in the sun or on a hot day. Your adrenals are intimately involved in temperature regulation. And when your adrenals are taxed and trying to produce more cortisol, they are also impacting the production of a hormone called aldosterone, which is responsible for the maintenance of water and minerals in the blood. In particular, when your aldosterone levels fall chronically, your sodium levels fall, because the aldosterone binds to salt when it is excreted from your body. When blood levels of sodium get too low, your body actually pulls sodium (with water) OUT of your cells and puts it in the blood, leaving the cells in a state of dehydration. But when the cells are dehydrated because of low sodium, adding more plain water will actually dilute the sodium in the blood even further, thereby pulling even more sodium out of the cells and leaving the cells even more dehydrated. You need higher levels of sodium in the cell in order for the water to be pulled back across the membrane into the cell. And you need more sodium in your blood if you want more sodium in your cells.

So, yes, it's dehydration in response to chronic depletion and overproduction of cortisol and aldosterone. Easily triggered by the stress of your adrenals having to regulate your temperature, plus also needing more hydration because of your temperature. And having no way of getting that hydration, because your cells are already in a chronic state of dehydration. Unless you provide lots of extra sodium, and then they can begin to rehydrate again. And if you improve your adrenals, you will be able to have more normal aldosterone levels again, and your salt needs will be more normal again.

And the blood sugar -- my basic understanding is that cortisol is required in order for fats, proteins, and carbs to be converted into glucose, and that just can't be done as much with lowered cortisol. And when you're under stress, the glucose demand increases even further, exacerbating the problem and creating constantly low blood sugar.

Have you read tuberose's page on adrenal fatigue yet? http://www.tuberose.com/Adrenal_Glands.html

It's incredibly medical and hard to wade through, but sometimes that's what you want.

Hope I haven't exhausted your attention span. I really hope things get better for you soon, and also in the long term. It's two different tasks, really -- figuring out how to get through this stage of parenting and sleep loss without getting sick or sicker, and then, once you can get sleep again, healing the adrenals in a long-term way.


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## Punchy Kaby

This thread is so timely! I have been feeling dizzy in the heat that came on so suddenly. I have been drinking more water, hopefully adding sea salt will improve things. Thanks for all the info!


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## Profyl

Plarka.... I feel the EXACT same way. When I was younger I would just shake it off. I always thought that it was odd that I get sick the day after I went to Disney World or the park. I thought, "wow, good thing I wasn't sick yesterday." Now as I am older... I have noticed the trend. I take a walk down the street in the sun for 15 minutes and need to lay down for the next two hours. I have nausea and fatigue, headaches, dizziness, and just want to die.

I just was tested for low iron, not that. When you went to the doctor, what did they say?

I have NEVER spoke to a stranger online like this... but I am desperate. can you provide answers?


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## Profyl

Plarka.... I feel the EXACT same way. When I was younger I would just shake it off. I always thought that it was odd that I get sick the day after I went to Disney World or the park. I thought, "wow, good thing I wasn't sick yesterday." Now as I am older... I have noticed the trend. I take a walk down the street in the sun for 15 minutes and need to lay down for the next two hours. I have nausea and fatigue, headaches, dizziness, and just want to die.

I just was tested for low iron, not that. When you went to the doctor, what did they say?

I have NEVER spoke to a stranger online like this... but I am desperate. can you provide answers?


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## Profyl

Plarka.... I feel the EXACT same way. When I was younger I would just shake it off. I always thought that it was odd that I get sick the day after I went to Disney World or the park. I thought, "wow, good thing I wasn't sick yesterday." Now as I am older... I have noticed the trend. I take a walk down the street in the sun for 15 minutes and need to lay down for the next two hours. I have nausea and fatigue, headaches, dizziness, and just want to die.

I just was tested for low iron, not that. When you went to the doctor, what did they say?

I have NEVER spoke to a stranger online like this... but I am desperate. can you provide answers?


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