Dehydration –Symptoms, Types And Treatments

Overview

Many of us face this situation of dehydration, which is a state when your body loses too much of fluid. There are two ways when you face dehydration, firstly when you stop consuming lots of water and secondly when you lose fluids than necessary. Dehydration can occur in anyone’s life, irrespective of his or her age. But it is more dangerous when occurred in babies, older adults and small children. When you don’t drink too much of water it leads to muscle cramps. You may feel giddy and at times may even faint. On loss of fluids, your body usually uses the fluid from your blood and other tissues in your body but then gradually you reach a time when there is no enough fluid in your body to get blood to the different vital organs in your body, due to which you may go into shock, which is a life- threatening condition.

Types Of Dehydration

There are 3 types of dehydration that one may come across;

1. Dehydration caused on the type of fluid loss

Hypotonic is basically a loss of electrolytes, predominantly sodium

Hypertonic is basically loss of water

Isotonic is an equal loss of most important fluid water and electrolytes

2. Dehydration can also be caused on the basis of severity, which includes

Mild dehydration is the type when the body has approximately lost about 2% of its total fluid.

Moderate dehydration is the type of severity that an individual faces when the total fluid loss reaches up to 5%

Severe dehydration is the type when your body reaches upto 10% fluid loss, which can be considered a situation of emergency.

Symptoms

A mild or a moderate dehydration can lead to a dry and sticky mouth. You may feel like drinking water but unfortunately you may be suffering from dehydration. In case of adults you may feel very sick or may have signs of fever and feel very tired than usual. In case of children, they may seem to be less active than they usually are so thereby care has to be taken that right measures are taken in case of older adults and children before it is too late. Few or no tears when crying is a symptom of dehydration which one may fail to notice. When your head seem to be heavy and you feel dizzy, it is another symptom one can take note of. Decrease in the urine outputs is one of the most important signs of dehydration.

Causes

Causes that dehydration can lead to are

Increase in urination

Burns

Excessive sweating

Less or inadequate drinking of water in a hot weather.

Frequent fever

Diarrhea

When you feel like vomiting etc

Severe dehydration can cause;

Excessive thirst

At times you may also feel unconsciousness

Increase in the heartbeat rate and frequent fever as stated earlier

Low blood pressure and sunken eyes

Diagnosis

1. One can get blood tests done. Your blood tests samples can help you know the level of electrolytes in your body and you can also come to know the performance of kidneys and their proper functioning.

2. Urinalysis – with the help of you urine tests you can come to know the level of dehydration you are suffering from and basically to what degree.

Treatment

1. For adults, in case of dehydration it is advisable to drink more and more water as it will help your body to come on track. Consumption of other fluids like fruit juices and all can worsen you situation of diarrhea.

2. For severely dehydrated people it is recommendable to take them o a hospital and get them admitted. Such people can consume fluids through their veins and not by mouth. Intravenously provides your body the nutrients and fluid much faster than oral solutions, as latter takes much longer time. It is very much essential in life threatening situations

Prevention

These are some of the tips that you can note down as prevention measures.

Drink plenty of water in the due course of your day. Drinking lots of water leads to proper functioning of your body and it organs and also prevents one from dehydrating.

You can have normal drinking water or re-hydration drinks as per your need. When you are leaving to do exercise, take a container of water along and try to drink every 15 to 20 minutes.

Let your child have ice creams and flavoured ice pops, basically an intake of extra fluids for his body. All the drinkers avoid alcohol including beer and wine as it causes dehydration and reduces your ability to make decisions.

Don’t over exert yourself while exercising. Avoid continuing your exercise if you are feeling dizzy or having a headache r if you feel too tired.

Home Remedies

Home treatment is the best for curing yourself from dehydration. Some are:-

1. Buttermilk– One can consume buttermilk, which helps you cure from dehydration much quickly and easily as it contains salt and sugar with yoghurt. It relaxes you and can be consumed anytime. People normally drink it during summers.

2. One can consume watermelon by cutting into small cubes or drinking it as a juice after blending it. This fruit contains small amounts of many vital minerals like potassium, iron, sodium, calcium etc. Such fruits restore your nutrients and help you stay in healthy state as watermelon itself consists of lots of water and minerals.

3. Coconut water is one of the amazing ways to cure yourself from dehydration as your body quickly absorbs all the nutrients from the coconut very easily.

4. Leafy vegetables like lettuce and cucumbers can help someone cure faster and aid in rehydration.

Questions To Be Asked To Your Doctor