Keep gastrointestinal problems at bay by drinking more water: Docs

There is an increase in the number of people consulting doctors over gastrointestinal problems due to rise in day temperature.

“Summer came swiftly and majority of us failed to acclimatise with the sharp rise in temperature and failed to take measures such as drinking more water during the day. The result is illness due to heat,” said Dr Samir Misra, senior faculty member, King George’s Medical University.

Balrampur, Civil, Lok Bandhu hospitals and private clinics are getting more cases of heat related illnesses and each physician is getting 10-15 such cases every day.

“Most of the cases are of dehydration with headache. But as the weather is likely to be warmer in the next few days, people also need to be careful about other illness like diarrhoea and stomach infection,” said Dr PK Gupta, former president, Indian Medical Association, Lucknow.

“Hospitals have been asked to keep emergency wings ready to meet any medical requirement. Change in season may require more attention,” said Dr Manoj Agrawal, chief medical officer, Lucknow.

“Nausea, cramps, diarrhoea or a gastrointestinal problems are often early signs that the body isn’t tolerating the heat properly.

“There is hyperthermia or abnormally high body temperature in hot weather when our body fails to dissipate heat. The solution is to slow down and hydrate,” said Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary-general, Association of International Doctors.

“There can also be higher incidence of water-borne diseases. Rising temperature is congenial for amoeba and bacteria to multiply in water that we drink,” said Dr Misra.