What are the effects of dehydration?

You have all heard of dehydration, but do you really know its effects? Do you know how to recognize the effects of dehydration on your body?

Here we will give you some keys to recognize the signs of dehydration and remedy them as quickly as possible.

Dehydration is the result of a loss of salt and water isotonic to the plasma, not compensated by intake, but what are the concrete effects?

First of all, you should know that there are several types of dehydration: extracellular dehydration, intracellular dehydration and global (or chronic) dehydration. There are common effects to these dehydrations and more specific signs that allow us to distinguish them.

This is not a problem to be taken lightly because the effects of dehydration can be dramatic on health!

1. Most common causes of dehydration

Their causes are essentially the same for the three types of dehydration.

First of all, there are renal losses : among these we can cite excessive diuresis (volume of urine evacuated in 24 hours), which is found for example in the case of diabetes. They can also be caused by different pathologies: mainly renal insufficiency of different types.

Digestive losses are also a common cause of dehydration that must be treated quickly: the most obvious examples are diarrhea and vomiting.

Skin losses are a sneaky cause whose impacts are too often underestimated; they include excessive sweating, fever and heat stroke.

Just like skin losses, pulmonary losses do not necessarily seem very significant to us, but be aware that hyperventilation during sports is one of the causes of intracellular dehydration.

Other external factors can come into play to dehydrate us and excessive alcohol consumption is a very good example.

2. General effects of dehydration

We often feel thirsty, but we need to hydrate ourselves before we feel thirsty because dehydration has already started when it appears. In addition, this feeling may not appear at all or disappear after a while, so we can forget to hydrate ourselves and dehydration worsens. This is why we must ensure that children and the elderly are well hydrated in the summer.

The most common symptoms of dehydration are first and foremost: headaches, fatigue, dizziness, confusion. Sometimes we realize that we have a headache after a long day where we have not hydrated and it goes away when we rehydrate.

The evolution of the weight curve is given is very important, in fact, it is according to the weight loss that we can evaluate the severity of dehydration.

• Moderate dehydration corresponds to a weight loss of less than 10% of body weight : associated symptoms are dry mucous membranes, a depressed fontanelle, dark circles around the eyes, cold extremities.
• Severe dehydration corresponds to a loss of 10% or more of body weight: associated symptoms are persistent skin folds, very dry inner cheeks, hypotonia (low muscle tone), weight loss, coldness of the limbs extending to the elbows and/or knees, tachycardia (increased heart rate), oliguria (decreased urine volume)
• Extremely severe dehydration corresponds to a weight loss greater than 15% of body weight : associated symptoms are impaired consciousness, collapse and cold limbs down to the roots.

3. Effects of extracellular dehydration

What is this ?

This type of dehydration results from a loss of water at the extracellular level while the volume of intracellular water remains the same, an effective extracellular osmotic pressure is maintained.

Here is a list of symptoms that will point you in the direction of extracellular dehydration:

• Fatigue,
• Lack of appetite, no thirst
• The mucous membranes remain moist
• Poor weight loss
• Appearance of peripheral and jugular veins: flat with cold, discolored ends, this is a sign of low central venous pressure.
• Decrease in blood pressure with orthostatic hypotension: the consequence is an acceleration of the pulse to compensate and continue the normal supply of oxygen to the organs.
• Loss of skin tone with clear skin fold: at the level of the abdominal wall, the subclavicular region and the inner side of the thighs (difficult to interpret in the elderly).
• The eyeballs are sunken and hypotonic.

A case of severe extracellular dehydration will be suspected when: very low blood pressure (less than 80 mmHg), cold extremities and the presence of marbling on the skin

What are the risks?

Complications of severe extracellular dehydration include: hypovolemic shock with acute tubulopathy or oliguria with renal failure.

4. Effects of intracellular dehydration

What is this ?

Intracellular dehydration occurs when the intracellular sector becomes dehydrated and therefore contracts on itself: because there is an increase in plasma osmolarity (often too high a sodium concentration) that the body has compensated for by sending water from the intracellular sector into the plasma to dilute the excess sodium

Here is a list of symptoms that will point you in the direction of intracellular dehydration :

• Uncontrollable thirst with impaired consciousness ranging from confusion to coma.
• Significant weight loss of up to 20% or more.
• It is often accompanied by fever and a high respiratory rate which aggravates the loss of water.
• The mucous membranes are dry and the tongue retracted.
• Blood pressure is normal, skin veins appear normal.
• Neurological disorders after an appropriate examination.

What are the risks?

The consequences of the importance of intracellular dehydration are judged essentially on the depth of the neurological damage, often well correlated with the importance of hyperosmolarity.

Subdural hematoma is a serious neurological consequence, especially in the elderly and infants.

We find distant neuropsychiatric sequelae secondary to softening or parenchymal hemorrhages.

5. Complication: global dehydration

This type of dehydration combines the signs of both types of dehydration. It has more impact because it can become chronic and is therefore harder to remedy.

It is frequently observed in diabetic decompensations, digestive losses (diarrhea); infections in the elderly (especially pneumonia)

The exchanges involved result in hypotonic losses (diarrhea, vomiting) leading on the one hand to a contraction of the extracellular environment and on the other hand to a contraction of the intracellular environment.

6. Any tips for treating dehydration?

The population most vulnerable to dehydration is the elderly, especially in summer and during heat waves: they must be made to drink regularly if they do not think of it themselves to avoid any complications and taught the first signs of dehydration so that they can remedy it themselves.

When dehydration is diagnosed, we first determine the cause, which will allow us to provide appropriate care. We must first treat the cause of the dehydration rather than trying to compensate for it. For example, stopping vomiting is a priority because if we rehydrate while the person is still vomiting, it will be of no benefit, the water will be evacuated before it can be assimilated.

To prevent osmotic imbalances, a simple daily solution is to consume isotonic drinks: rich in electrolytes, they promote hydration and prevent water leaks from one compartment to another. This is the solution that Hydratis offers you on a daily basis, its compact and discreet packaging allows you to use it anywhere in any situation, at the gym or at home.

To learn more about isotonic drinks and electrolytes, please consult our articles on the subject.

Now that you know how to detect the signs of dehydration, you know what to do to remedy it!