Symptoms
Thirst, headaches of any kind, a general feeling of weakness and difficulty concentrating, dry lips, weight loss, so-called standing skin folds (if you pinch the skin together briefly at one point and pull it up, it usually returns to its original position within seconds and you can no longer see anything. However, if the body suffers from a lack of fluid, the skin will remain in the raised position for a short while and will only slowly recede. This is a clear sign of a lack of fluid), kidney pain and problems with urination, constipation, thrombosis and a tendency to seizures.
Therefore, one should never underestimate a desiccation! If it is not noticed and treated in time, it may even become life-threatening. Doctors distinguish between three types of dehydration: isotonic dehydration, hypertonic dehydration and hypotonic dehydration.
Dehydration forms
During isotonic dehydration, the body loses both water and salts (i.e. minerals). This usually happens due to insufficient fluid intake, acute or chronic kidney failure or even vomiting and/or diarrhoea. Hypertonic dehydration occurs when the body loses water but not salts. This can happen, for example, with a fever. Hypotonic dehydration occurs when the ratio of water and salts is shifted to the disadvantage of the salts, i.e. the electrolytes.This can happen if you sweat too much, for example during sports or other physical activities, and thus sweat out and lose the salts.
Causes
Now to the general causes that such a dehydration can have. These can, as so often, be very diverse. The most common cause, however, is still, especially with older people and those in need of care, simply that they drink too little.
Of course, it is also possible that the body loses too much fluid, for example due to a serious and unnoticed and treated organic disease. This can be the case, for example, with vomiting, diarrhoea, fever, burns, misuse of laxatives (laxanthia), excessive intake of diuretics (dehydration drugs), major blood loss, diabetes mellitus or Diebetes insipidus, or renal or adrenal insufficiency (kidney or adrenal weakness). Also great heat and physical exertion and the associated increased sweat production lead to the loss of salts and thus dehydration.
At the beginning, as a healthy person, you can usually recognize an impending lack of fluids in a very simple way: you get thirsty. What may sound so normal and natural, however, may not be so for some people. Because in some people the natural sensation of thirst is restricted or completely absent, especially in older people this can often be observed.
In addition to thirst, latent headaches, lack of concentration or even dizziness and a general feeling of weakness can be the first signs of desiccation. Depending on what causes it, dark circles under the eyes, dry skin and mucous membranes, nausea, cramps and even fever can occur. The effects of a desiccosis vary and depend on whether it is isotonic, hypertonic or hypotonic.
In the vast majority of cases, the doctor can see very quickly what has caused the loss of fluid, for example diarrhea and vomiting, great heat or blood loss. However, if this is not the case, a more thorough examination of the individual organs must be carried out in order to detect any kidney damage or metabolic derailment. However, the treatment is relatively independent of the exact cause of dehydration.
In any case, it is important to compensate for the imminent or already manifest lack of fluid in order to bring your water and electrolyte balance back into balance. It is advisable to drink mineral-rich drinks such as mineral water, juice spritzers, brewed herbal or fruit teas or broths, and to drink plenty of them in sips. If the dehydration has already progressed further and a patient already shows very clear signs of exsiccosis such as a clouding of consciousness, it may be necessary to call a doctor for help so that he can give an infusion to the affected person and thus ensure the rapid administration of both liquid and electrolytes (minerals).
A mixture of sodium chloride or a glucose solution is usually used for this. In the geriatric service, i.e. in older and very old patients, a subcutaneous infusion is sometimes chosen; in this case the infusion needle is placed directly under the skin. Here it is of particular importance to assess the underlying disease and to treat it if necessary, as it could be, for example, that the desiccation was caused by an unfavorable combination of drugs.
If it is a metabolic derailment in the case of an existing diabetes mellitus, it is also important here to first of all balance the fluid balance and compensate for electrolyte deficiencies before the actual underlying disease can be treated later. If a severe fluid deficiency has already existed for a long period of time, caution is required when “replenishing” the fluid depots, as too rapid (apparent) rehabilitation can lead to the formation of cerebral oedema (i.e. fluid accumulation in and around the brain). A relatively simple measure to prevent such a sometimes fatal course of exsiccosis is to consume a lot of fruit, vegetables and other fibre-rich and pectin-containing foods. Thanks to their components, these foods bind water longer and are thus able to gradually release it into the human body through the intestines, thus counteracting and preventing dehydration.