Posts Tagged ‘Dehydration Treatment’
Symptoms and Special Care for Dehydration
Symptoms of dehydration
- Sed. It is one of the first symptoms of the need for water in the body. This feeling drives us to drink the water we need. However, there are two population groups in which this mechanism is not sufficient: in infants, who can not show it or get the water they need for themselves, and the elderly, where the sensation of thirst diminishes even if they needed water intake .
- Decreased urination. Urinating less and less frequently. This is a consequence of the efforts of the kidney to concentrate urine and remove the little water as possible.
- Dry skin. The skin loses its elasticity and in extreme cases produce what he calls the “sign of the fold” by pinching the skin, the back of the hand for example, the skin is elevated, wrinkled and takes too long to return to their place.
In addition, the skin is cold and pale. The skin condition is a valuable indicator in children than in adults and elderly by the natural loss of skin elasticity characteristic of the age.
- Dry mucous membranes: as dry skin, occurs in the absence of extracellular water. Decreases or blocks the formation of mucus and dry out the nasal passages. Decreased production of saliva and mouth feel thick.
- Tiredness, dizziness and confusion. The brain receives less oxygen to decrease the amount of circulating blood. Water shortage affects the entire body, also reducing blood volume, which lowers blood pressure and cardiac output. To compensate for low blood oxygen reaching the cells, it causes increased heart rate and blood pulse.
How to Prevention of Dehydration?
* We must offer the child water every so often and monitor the amount of urine.
* We must be strict when it comes to preparing bottles, adding scoops of milk corresponding to the amount of water and also making up well these scoops to ensure that the proportion of water and dust is appropriate.
* It is important to consult a physician if vomiting or diarrhea.
* We should not expose infants to high temperatures or direct sunlight. Of course, not ever leave a baby or a child in a closed car for a minute when temperatures are high, as they can die from the heat.
In the elderly: The elderly are also problems of dehydration, which can have serious consequences mild dehydration because they may unbalance the basic diseases. The most common cause of dehydration in the elderly is the lack of fluid intake and loss due to vomiting or diarrhea or taking diuretics.
In the elderly decreases the sensation of thirst, but thirst nullify some neurological disorders such as dementia. Other times there are alterations that prevent drinking as digestive diseases or states of unconsciousness. Also the elderly to drink water every so often, but they are not thirsty, to monitor the time and the amount you urinate, be careful with the medicines they take, making it solely on the advice of your doctor, not exposed to high temperatures or the sun without protection .
If we are in charge an old man, we must be attentive to their level of awareness and the presence of dizziness, especially when changing position or join. Other symptoms of advanced dehydration can be headache, nausea, cramps or hypotension.
How to Avoid Dehydration?
Dehydration. What are they and how to avoid them
Dehydration is a more or less severe decrease in the amount of water in the body, which also affects the concentration of electrolytes. Children need special attention, the elderly and the sick.
What is dehydration?
Dehydration is the lack of water needed for the body. May be due to an excessive loss of fluids through sweat, vomiting, with diarrhea, to excessive discharge of urine (diuretic drug or untreated diabetes) or a lack of fluid intake. As a result, alter the body’s functions and there is a series of clinical signs ranging from thirst or dry skin to coma and death in extreme cases.
Normally, you lose a certain amount of water daily through breathing, sweating (half a liter a day) and urine, and tears, or feces. But it is not uncommon abnormal losses occur due to vomiting, diarrhea, fever, or dehydration from excessive heat. Excessive losses may also occur in the urine in certain diseases such as uncontrolled diabetes or intake of drugs called diuretics that promote urination. In other cases there may be loss of fluid from burns or internal or external bleeding.