Recognizing Dehydration Symptoms

Dehydration is simply a lack of enough water and electrolytes. Electrolytes are salts that the body uses in major cellular activity, especially within the muscles cells and blood cells. Because we are 70% water dehydration can lead to very serious illnesses and even death (especially in children who can die within a few days) if not remedied in time.

Dehydration symptoms are usually easy to determine, dry mouth, weakness, dry skin when it usually is oily (of course some people normally have dry skin), low blood pressure, headaches, dizziness are some signs and symptoms of dehydration. Dehydration has many causes in addition to heat exhaustion and lack of water that one would normally think of as usual causes of dehydration.. Some of these are excessive vomiting, diarrhea (especially in very young children and infants), and infection.

What causes dehydration?
dehydration symptoms are caused by several things, lack of water either by just not drinking enough or not drinking enough and adding to it extremely hot weather or an increase in exercise that overheats the body (both would be a cause of heat exhaustion and both can lead to heat stroke). Another cause would be any of several digestive problems either due to defects, illness or reaction to certain surgeries on the stomach such as a gastric bypass.

Vomiting and or diarrhea are other important causes. The vomiting might be due to the flu or any disease process therefore precautions must be taken when a loved one, again especially a child, is ill and is vomiting and or has diarrhea.

Exercising is another very important cause, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be outdoor exercising or sports, it can be football, basketball, dodge ball in a gym class. Any sport or exercise that causes one to sweat can cause dehydration if it lasts long enough, is strenuous enough or is accompanied by either hot weather or too much clothing.

In addition, drinking too much alcohol can cause dehydration; this is often the case with alcoholics. A main cause of dehydration in the elderly is due to some of the prescriptions they sometimes need to take. If necessary care needs to be taken to make sure that this is prevented.

Signs and symptoms of dehydration
Untreated dehydration can lead to shock (not enough blood to the brains and other important organs). One very important and quite reliable sign is that of extreme (10% of body weight), this can take place with a few days or sometimes within hours. Signs and symptoms of dehydration in children and infants are very important to recognize because they aren’t always old enough to be able to tell you how they are feeling. Crying without tears, at least three hours without wet diapers, dry mouth and tongue, sunken eyes, abdomen, or cheeks, general fatigue or irritability, high fever, pitting edema (this occurs when the skin doesn’t resume its previous shape when pinched and released).

Signs and symptoms in adults and teenagers are: dizziness, dark urine (orange colored and with especially strong odor), dry mouth, weakness, inability to urinate, and nausea and vomiting. Pitting edema (as in children) is also an additional symptom that occurs with dehydration in the elderly and if they are on prescriptions that might cause it then this needs to be checked periodically.

Treatment of dehydration
Prevention should be considered of utmost importance. There are sports drinks, such as Gatorade, that should be made available before, during and after sporting events. Most of these can also be used during illness to prevent dehydration. Should these symptoms be recognized then it is important to not attempt severely dehydrated patients.

The best thing to do at this point is to seek emergency medical help or get them to a doctor as fast as possible. In some cases rehydration can only be done by IV fluids and electrolytes. However, there is a recipe that was created by the WHO (world health organization) in the 1960's that can be given to prevent dehydration. This recipe can also be provided to those who are very ill and are vomiting and it usually can be kept down. This is the recipe

1. Table Salt - 3/4 teaspoon
2. Baking Powder - 1 teaspoon
3. Sugar -4 tablespoons
4. Orange juice - 1 cup
5. Water - 1 quart/liter

In addition in the US there are many grocery stores that provide special drinks for infants and very small children to use when they have diarrhea and vomiting to prevent dehydration. Since, however, most of these brands differ in concentration and ingredients then a doctor should be referred to in order to select the correct brand.

When adults are sick and are keeping all or most food down, then food should be provided, as it has been determined that fasting during an illness causes more harm than good.

Conclusion
Dehydration is a very preventable condition that can result in death in extreme situations. Care must be taken to prevent this at all times including during sporting activities and during illness. Special care must be taken to ensure that the elderly and young children do not get dehydrated.