It seems to us that rest is complete relaxation and unrestrained joy, but some situations can ruin everything.
PhD in Medicine, therapist
Water got into the ears, there was a feeling of discomfort, noise is constantly heard.
An approximate diagnosis. This is the most common disease of bathers – otitis media, it is also called “swimmer’s ear”.
What to do? If water gets into your ears, go ashore immediately. Tilt your head to the side to the left, hold your right ear with your hand and jump on one leg. Repeat the exercise with your head tilted to the right and pinching your left ear. Then dry your ears with a dry towel. Warm your ears by exposing them to the sun. If there is noise, apply anti-inflammatory ear drops. You can also make a compress – dilute the vodka with water one to one, in the middle of a piece of gauze, make an incision for the ear and moisten the gauze in a solution of vodka. Put the gauze over your ear, attach a plastic bag on top, then a thick layer of cotton wool. Keep the compress for 2 hours. If the next day there is pain in the ears, hearing loss, fever, go to the otolaryngologist urgently.
How to avoid? Going into the water, plug your ears with cotton wool or special silicone earplugs. Try to keep your head high above the water.
Lying in the sun, feeling weak, headache, nausea, pulse and breathing increased, trying to get up – you are staggering …
An approximate diagnosis. Sunstroke.
What to do? Move quickly to the shade, to a cool place. Lie with your head down and your legs raised. If you are dressed, unbutton your collar or strip to the waist. Drink cold water. Place a towel or ice soaked in cold water on your head, in your heart, under your arms, and on your feet. Inhale the ammonia applied to the cotton swab. If it doesn’t get better, call an ambulance.
How to avoid? Wear a light-colored headdress, dress in light, loose clothing. While in the sun, periodically douse yourself with cool water. Before going to the beach, do not overeat fatty and protein foods, drink acidified tea and kvass. Remember that people suffering from cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, vegetative-vascular dystonia, endocrine disorders, and obesity are especially susceptible to sunstroke.
We sailed far from the shore, and the muscle cramped.
What to do? Do not try feverishly to paddle to the shore, it could get worse. Call for help at the top of your lungs and try to relieve the cramp at the same time. If your fingers are clenched, quickly clench and unclench your fist; if a brush – press hard on the palm; shoulder – bend and unbend your arms at the elbow; abdominal muscles – quickly pull your knees to your stomach and straighten your legs; hip – bend your knee with a jerk; calves or toes – pinch your legs strongly and massage intensively, try to sharply bend and straighten your leg several times. If you feel better, swim to the shore calmly, without sudden movements, otherwise the cramp may recur.
How to avoid? Do not swim in cold water and never let children in cold water: they have a higher predisposition to muscle cramps than adults. Do not jump into water if you are overheated in the sun, cool in the shade first. Enter the pond slowly, pouring water over yourself. By the way, a sharp change in temperature – air in the sun and cool water – is very harmful to hypertensive patients and heart patients and can even lead to vasospasm.
Have bathed in cool water, become covered with “goose bumps”, tremble and feel chills.
What to do? Rub your skin with a towel, sit in direct sunlight, and if there is no sun, get dressed, drink hot sweet tea. You can take 50 g of vodka or brandy.
How to avoid? In Russia, summer is short, and rivers and reservoirs do not have time to warm up properly, so doctors recommend staying in the water for no more than 20 minutes.
The skin on the body turns red, itches, hurts, there was a feeling of tightness, nausea, weakness, fever appeared.
Approximate diagnosis: sunburn.
What to do? Take a pain reliever for severe pain. Apply a soothing compress of gauze soaked in boiled water to which several ice cubes have been added to the burned areas several times a day for 15 minutes. Apply to the skin a cream or lotion containing panthenol, vitamin C or regenerating gels with aloe extract, hyaluronic acid. If the redness persists, go to the doctor – burns can give infectious complications.
How to avoid? Go to the beach before 11 am, which is the time with the densest ozone layer to block ultraviolet rays, or after 16 pm. Do not lie in the open sun, only under awning or foliage. After the swim, dry off with a towel: water droplets, like lenses, focus the sunlight. Use sunscreen.
Itching between the toes, the skin is peeling
Approximate diagnosis: looks like you’ve got a fungus.
What to do? Do not self-medicate – it is useless. See a mycologist.
How to avoid? Walk on the beach in slates, use only a personal towel, wash your feet well after the beach, wipe dry and spread with any antifungal agent.
The skin tingles, the body itches, redness, rash, or blisters appear.
Approximate diagnosis: if you swam in polluted waters, especially where ducks swim, then you may have contracted cercariasis or bather’s itch.
What to do? Once out of the water, wipe off immediately with a dry, hard towel. Try to shower no later than 20 minutes after leaving the pond. Do not itch, it will only get worse! Drink an anti-allergic drug – claritin, suprastin, diphenhydramine. If symptoms persist, see a dermatologist.
How to avoid? Swim only in places recommended by the Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision.