Severe Dehydration Symptoms and How to Avoid Them
We need to drink enough water to stay hydrated. Using water filters helps ensure the water you're drinking is clean. If you become dehydrated, it takes more than water to help you get better. In this article, we discuss severe dehydration symptoms and how you can avoid becoming seriously dehydrated.
What is Severe Dehydration?
Your organs need fluid to work properly. Dehydration happens when your body loses too much fluid and cannot function normally. Fluid loss happens in several ways; you are either not consuming enough water, or you are losing too much water through diarrhea, vomiting, sweating, or exercise.
In lower-stakes cases of dehydration, your body can borrow fluid from your blood and other tissues to tide it over until you drink more water. When you are severely dehydrated, you cannot reabsorb fluid from the blood to service your organs.
How It Differs From Moderate Dehydration
When you lose more fluid than you take in, your body loses both water and salt (electrolytes). If fluids are not replaced soon enough, the dehydration process begins. Severe dehydration differs from moderate dehydration because the organs may go into shock from lack of fluid, which can cause death. Unlike mild and moderate dehydration, which can be rectified by drinking more fluids, severe dehydration requires emergency medical treatment.
Severe Dehydration Causes
Several causes of dehydration can diminish fluid levels in the body:
- Diarrhea and vomiting. They can both cause you to lose an immense amount of water and electrolytes quickly. In these cases, the body is not holding onto much (if any) fluid, and a doctor should be consulted if symptoms persist.
- Excessive sweating. This causes you to lose fluid through your skin. In hot, humid areas or as a result of vigorous physical activity, sweating can make you lose more water than you are taking in.
- High fevers. A high fever can cause you to become dehydrated. This loss of fluid is compounded if it happens along with diarrhea and vomiting.
- Type 1 diabetes. If it is undiagnosed or uncontrolled it may cause you to lose water through increased urination.
Risk Factors for Severe Dehydration
Anyone can get severe dehydration if they are losing an excessive amount of fluid without consuming more. Those in the most dangerous risk categories are babies, small children and older adults. In these cases, they may be unable to communicate thirst. Babies may also have episodes of gastroenteritis, where they are not able to conserve as much water. Pay particular attention to those close to you who fall in these age categories to make sure they stay hydrated.
Other risk factors include:
- Mobility issues that inhibit a person’s ability to get water for themselves.
- Chronic illnesses that require medication that affects urination, such as uncontrolled diabetes or kidney disease.
- Chronic illnesses that decrease awareness of what the body needs, such as dementia.
- Those who work or exercise outside when it is hot and humid.
Symptoms of Severe Dehydration
There are many symptoms of severe dehydration, including:
- Muscle cramps or contractions in the arms, legs, stomach and back.
- Becoming lethargic or unconscious.
- Low or unstable blood pressure.
- Convulsions.
- Bloated stomach.
- A sunken soft spot on the head (for dehydrated infants).
- Sunken dry eyes, with few or no tears.
- Lack of skin elasticity; it looks wrinkled, and when pinched the skin takes more than two seconds to go back where it started.
- Rapid and deep breathing.
- Lack of urine output (if any, the urine is dark).
- Evidence of hypovolaemic shock.
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Complications of Severe Dehydration
As the body loses more and more fluid without replenishing it, severe complications may arise:
- Heat cramps, heat exhaustion, or heatstroke.
- Swelling of the brain (cerebral edema).
- Seizures (if electrolytes are out of balance).
- Low blood volume shock (hypovolemic shock).
- Kidney failure.
- Heart failure.
- Coma.
- Death.
Treatment Options
Severe dehydration is a life-threatening issue, and the affected person needs urgent care. Call 911 or take them to the emergency room immediately.
Once the patient sees a doctor, the physician will perform a quick physical exam and take blood and urine samples to make a diagnosis and determine how severe the dehydration is. The doctor will also treat any shock symptoms if present.
Immediate treatment usually involves connecting the patient to an intravenous (IV) saline drip to help the body rehydrate. An IV gets the fluid to your body faster than drinking would. During this time, your medical team will monitor your blood pressure, and heart rate and keep an eye on any abnormal kidney function.
The safest way to treat dehydration is to ensure it does not happen in the first place.
Dehydration Prevention Tips
In most cases, severe dehydration is preventable. Here are a few ways to make sure you stay hydrated:
- Take in more fluids, especially in cases where you know you are losing water (vomiting, diarrhea, sweating from exercise, are ill with a fever, etc.).
- Eat more foods with high water content (fruits and vegetables).
- Track fluid intake for infants, small children and the elderly to ensure they are drinking enough; if they are not, see a doctor right away.
- Bring extra water in your drinkware with you if you are going to be out in humid and hot weather.
- Get your diabetes under control.
- Make sure that water is accessible for those with mobility issues.
Severe dehydration is a serious health concern. Have a rehydration plan to make sure you are drinking enough water (and keep extra with you if you are away from home). Consuming enough fluids throughout the day gives your body the hydration it needs to keep running smoothly.
