The Story of How I Suffered a Heat Stroke and Dehydration in Puerto Rico

One of my best friends had told me the night before I returned from Puerto Rico to my home in Virginia that she often wondered who, besides elderly people who forgot to turn their air conditioners on, suffered heat strokes and dehydration. The answer is the awkward me.

I was born in the island of Puerto Rico (a United States’ territory!) (Puerto Ricans are born US citizens!), which is situated in the Caribbean (not in f@cking Mexico or Costa Rica!). The island has a hot temperature most of the year. Being born and growing up there means that you supposedly must love the heat and hate the cold. In my case, that is an utterly false assumption. I detest the heat and love the cold. I even prefer winter clothes.

The point is that I detest the heat, although I love the beaches and food of my island. We decided to go on vacation to Puerto Rico rather than Canada because we are moving soon twice, and we are expecting baby number two. For these reasons, we will not have the time to visit later.

When we arrived to Puerto Rico on 13 June 2012, I was in my 10 week of pregnancy. I have read and being told that the worst weeks of a pregnancy are between the 8 week and 14 week. The heat in the island was unbearable for me since I stepped out of the airport. The news even announced that the heat indexes were going to be dangerous during the week. It was about 94 degrees, but it felt like 110 degrees. Fantastic! I knew I was f@cked!

I enjoyed my stay there for the first couple of days. I visited my mother, brother and sister, and then we went on to celebrate our fifth anniversary at the Gran Melia Hotel in Rio Grande. The heat was crazy! I could only go to the pool after 5:30 pm because I could not bear the heat during the day. I continuously drank bottles of water and Gatorade. The evidence of this can be seen in my vacation pictures in which I am holding bottles most of the time.

I started to notice weird symptoms since my first day in Puerto Rico. I began to have diarrhea every morning. I lost my appetite. I was getting dizzy and lightheaded a lot. Also, I suffered headaches most of the afternoons. I got so lightheaded once that I almost fall. I was cleaning my daughter’s teeth when suddenly the bathroom was spinning. I left my daughter with her mouth full of toothpaste and went straight to the floor in order to prevent falling down. After this happen, we decided that it was time for me to pay a visit to the ER.

The Gran Melia's main pool.

Watching the sun set. See the bottle of Gatorade next to my chair?

Me before getting very sick.

We spent a whole day waiting at the ER. They took some blood samples, but these came out excellent, except that the doctor noticed that the white cells were going up. The doctor just told me to eat better and drink more water. He also noticed that I was a little dehydrated, but did nothing about it. He should have put me on an IV (intravenous therapy). He said that he was not a gynecologist; therefore, he wrongfully did not order me to do a urine sample. If I felt bad again, I needed to return. NOT!

Needless to say, the next day I got worst. I ate like the doctor told me and everything ended down the toilet. I decided to call my gynecologist in Virginia. I told her about my symptoms and what had been going on with me. Her answer was: “I NEED you to go to the ER RIGHT NOW. You may be dehydrated, and the baby might suffer from dehydration too.”  I did exactly as she said.

This time I went to one of the best hospitals in Puerto Rico, which incidentally is where my first daughter was born. These doctors rapidly put me on an IV and gave me an antacid. They also performed blood, urine and excrete samples. Everything was excellent, but I was VERY dehydrated, which was extremely dangerous for my baby. In addition, I lost weight which is not recommended during pregnancy. Both dehydration and weight loss during pregnancy may cause a miscarriage.

I spent all day and most of the night in the ER and was given not one but THREE IVs before being let go. I would have to follow a specific diet for the next 48 hours. Thank God, the next day was time to return home. Two days after, I went on an appointment with my gynecologist. She let us know that my eight tubes of blood showed that I was in excellent health, but I needed to gain more weight since I had no fat reserves left in my body. She prescribed Imodium in case I suffered from diarrhea again. What is more important, the baby was fine. 

I have been feeling better as each day passes. Finally, I feel more like myself. The dizziness, headaches, and diarrhea have ceased. What have not changed is that I cannot stand the heat. Fortunately, I have central air conditioner at my house.