Excerpts from kctv5.com:
A Kansas City firefighter is awake from a coma after suffering a heat stroke, and doctors are trying to determine if energy drinks may have played a part in his condition.
The Kansas City Fire Department says he was participating in a training exercise last Saturday, June 10, when he suffered a heat stroke. He was taken to the hospital and was in a coma until Saturday morning, June 17.
The fire department said that the firefighter may have consumed some energy drinks. Temperatures last weekend were in the upper 80s and low 90’s. The training exercise was two hours long and “was a routine, hands-on operation utilizing a vacant home that did not involve fire.”
“Despite monitoring heat conditions and taking regular breaks for hydration, the firefighter collapsed shortly after noon,” the fire department said. “While this was a routine training exercise, it has caused us to reevaluate our temperature restrictions for outdoor training activity … We are actively investigating all aspects of this situation in order to ensure the safety of personnel.”
Dr. Steven Owens, a cardiologist at the University of Kansas Health System, says a young healthy person with a heat-related illness can usually recover with hydration and cooling.
“The caffeine in an energy drink is actually in a little bit of a diuretic. In other words, it actually causes you to lose fluid a little faster than you would otherwise so you are really working against yourself if you’re just trying to stay hydrated with an energy drink,” he said.
