Heat Exhaustion cause heat sensitivity?

About a month ago I completed a 2-hour, 40 mile bike ride in the summer heat & humidity and suffered severe heat exhaustion which included nausea, dizziness, extremely high rate, dehydration, etc.  Ever since that time it seems by body has become extremely intolerant to high heat & humidity.  Just being out in the heat in a sedentary manner causes my heart to beat out of my chest and I end up extremely dizzy & lightheaded.  Formerly easy exercises in the heat now cause my heart to beat very rapidly with lightheadedness.  Just sitting out in the sun by the pool has the same effect.

Seems my body is not reacting very well to the heat since I suffered that extreme bout of heat exhaustion.  I've been doing triathlons for 15 years and now can not even exercise comfortably without my heart rate going through the roof.

Is it possible for the body to become temporarily or even permanently heat intolerant once you suffer extreme heat exhaustion?  

[Dr Vinod]

You might be losing too many salts due to sweating and on that exhaustion episode might have lost minerals in salts. You have to rehydreate yourself with water and salts. Measure your blood pressure and keep it in normal range and go for testing of your minerals. Take care!

[liquidorca]

Is there such a condition as "heat sensitivity or heat intolerance" following a severe case of heat exhaustion or heat stroke?  I've been a competitive athlete most of my life and ever since I suffered heat exhaustion a month ago, I experience very rapid heart rate, fatigue and dizziness when even sitting sedentary in a hot environment.  Never experienced this before in my lifetime.  

No matter how much I hydrate beforehand, my body is reacting adversely while exposed to the heat.

[Dr Vinod]

This heat exhaustion is only for that episode the complications do not continue like a disease if your replenish your salts and minerals and continue drinking sufficient water. Only if you had a stroke, unconsciousness then you have to worry.
Now check your mineral balance and keep it on track or else visit a Physician for further course of action. Take care!

[daisylamb]

Many years ago I had a similar experience on a very hot day, this made me sick for two years. Then I got back into exercise and after six years of very strenuous exercise my business moved to a very warm place and after a few weeks in this room it returned and stayed for 25 years this time. It is called  Hyperadrenergic POTS ( a type of dysautonomia).  A Tilt Table Test(TTT) would be a test that would tell you if your blood pressure is ok, or take it laying, setting, standing. On the standing wait 2 min.then 5 total, 15min. would be good if you felt good enough. If I had known what was wrong with me after the first heat stroke or what ever it was( very hot dry skin and nausea, dizziness, fast pounding pulse and could not stand because I was light-headed. I would have lived my life at a much slower pace if I had known that I had POTS an maybe the 25 years would not have happened. Hope you  get better soon.

[Dr Vinod]

If you have any other major symptoms then you have to reassess your case. Check your vitals, BP, HR etc.

But with such severe exercise schedule since 15 years, doing triatholons we did not suspect any endocrine disorder for you. You can always go for major testing of your system if the mineral imbalance does not work.

Take care and come back to us for further queries.

[stevemor909]

It happened to me over 20 years ago playing tennis in the heat and sun (hot day).  I used to do it all the time and than one day I got heat exhaustion.  I continued to play and sure enough a couple weeks later, it happened again.  I continued to play tennis later in the day or on less hot days, but ever since than I am sensitive to heat.  Every summer I experience it, I get fatigue, headaches, nausea, and a general wiped out feeling on the hottest days.  Even if I am not outside, if it gets very hot, it affects me.  There is no way I could ever do sports again in the heat, the brain can be affected.  It's actually someone like a real stroke but heat stroke or heat exhaustion affects the brain in a different way and the ongoing symptoms are related to the body's reaction to heat or sun.  Not everyone experiences ongoing sensitivity, and yours may ease off.  But in my case, it was permanent.  I remember those two incidents very well to this day, man I was sick (unbelievable).  So in a way I am not surprised.