dehydration Symptoms
Symptoms of dehydration include dry mouth, thirst, dizziness and rapid heart rate. You may also experience shortness of breath, confusion and fluid retention in your ankles, legs and feet.
What happens to your kidneys with dehydration?
If your body becomes severely dehydrated, this can lead to a prerenal state. You kidneys do not receive the fluid they need to function properly. The kidneys pump blood throughout the body to enable all of our organs to work properly. When the kidneys become impaired, the condition is called a prerenal state.
A prerenal state is one step away from renal failure where the kidneys are barely working. Temporary dialysis will be necessary. Depending on other factors such as age, conditioning and other syndromes or illnesses a patient has will determine if dialysis will become a part of your life or if after dialysis the patient can continue life with the kidneys back to working order.
How to prevent dehydration
Always check with your physician but for the elderly and for children, monitor their fluid intake and how many times they go the bathroom. If you have a loved one in the hospital or in a rehabilitation/nursing home, do not let up on the supervision. Unless they have intravenous fluid going in, do not think that they are taking in enough fluids. There is no more ice water container given to patients unless they ask, so there is no extra fluid during the day other than at meals. Push the fluid for adults and add Pediasure for children. The Pediasure helps to hydrate and also has vitamins that a child would need.
