Water. We all know we need it, but often don’t drink enough, especially at shows. Overpriced vending, nasty bathrooms, and getting fucked up just get in the way.
Brain cells are really vulnerable to dehydration; because of this one of the first signs is mental confusion (then confusing that with the confusion caused by your last seven beers). Other signs are tiredness, irritability, tight/heavy feeling muscles, headache, dry mouth and lips.
Excessive sweating, decreased water intake, vomiting, and diarrhea are among the top few causes of dehydration.
Many of us have seen someone hit the ground at a show because they passed out from a heat disorder. The combination of heat and dehydration can cause heat exhaustion, and the very dangerous heatstroke.
Heat exhaustion is not really serious. Body temperature is not high. The pulse is slowed; the skin cold,pale and clammy. It makes people confused, weak, anxious and fatigued. Flag down a wookie with a skateboard and a cooler of gatorade, and you’ll be drinking bud light with your friends again in no time.
Heatstroke, on the other hand, is serious. Body temp gets dangerously high fast, risking brain and other organ damage, even death. The pulse is rapid; skin hot, flushed and usually dry. Cool this person off, and hopefully they won’t pass out and/or have convulsions. Getting help for them is a good idea at this point.
Back to getting fucked up. As you know, alcohol hurts more in the morning when you haven’t had enough water the night before. Alcohol is a diuretic (which makes you pee more, causing the kidneys to excrete more than the usual amount of sodium, potassium and water). So is caffeine. Dehydration causes the brain to shrink away from the skull slightly. This triggers pain sensors on the outside surface of your brain (a splitting headache).
Ecstasy is also an issue. When you take ecstasy (or any stimulant drug) your body temperature rises. When you take ecstasy in a hot place your body temperature rises even more. If you dance energetically, up it goes again. At these very high levels there is a risk of developing heatstroke. Some ravers lose pints and pints of fluid when dancing on E in hot places.
It’s not that hard to bring lots of water to camping events. Many commercial concert venues let you to bring sealed containers of water in with you. Find out ahead what the deal is and go in with a couple—it’s that much more money you’ll have to spend on beer inside. |
