HEALTH - DEHYDRATION
What Is Dehydration?
Dehydration is a condition that occurs when someone loses more fluids than he or she takes in. Dehydration isn't as serious a problem for teens as it can be for babies or young children. But if you ignore your thirst, dehydration can slow you down.
Our bodies are about two thirds water. When someone gets dehydrated, it means the amount of water in his or her body has dropped below the level needed for normal body function. Small decreases don't cause problems, and in most cases, they go completely unnoticed. But losing larger amounts of water can sometimes make a person feel quite sick.
Causes of Dehydration
One common cause of dehydration in teens is gastrointestinal illness. When you're flattened by a stomach bug, you lose fluid through vomiting and diarrhea.
You might also hear that you can get dehydrated from playing sports. In reality, it's rare to reach a level of even moderate dehydration during sports or other normal outdoor activity. But if you don't replace fluid you lose through sweat as you go, you can become dehydrated from lots of physical activity, especially on a hot day.
Some athletes, such as wrestlers who need to reach a certain weight to compete, dehydrate themselves on purpose to drop weight quickly before a big game or event by sweating in saunas or using laxatives or diuretics, which make a person go to the bathroom more. This practice usually hurts more than it helps, though. Athletes who do this feel weaker, which affects performance. They can also have more serious problems, like abnormalities in the salt and potassium levels in the body. Such changes can also lead to problems with the heart's rhythm.
Dieting can sap someone's water reserves as well. Beware of diets or supplements, including laxatives and diuretics that emphasize shedding "water weight" as a quick way to lose weight. Losing water weight is not the same thing as losing actual fat.
When to See a Doctor
Dehydration can usually be treated by drinking fluids. But if you faint or feel weak or dizzy every time you stand up or if you have very little urine output, you should tell an adult and visit your doctor. The doctor will probably look for a cause for the dehydration and encourage you to drink more fluids.
If you're more dehydrated than you realized, especially if you can't hold fluids down because of vomiting, you may need to receive fluids through an IV to speed up the rehydration process. An IV is an intravenous tube that goes directly into a vein.
Occasionally, dehydration might be a sign of something more serious, such as diabetes, so your doctor may run tests to rule out any other potential problems.
In general, dehydration is preventable. So just keep drinking that H2O for healthy hydration.
Dehydration treatment
Rehydration through oral or intravenous route with water and electrolytes, treat the other conditions accordingly.
Dehydration treatment with homeopathy – Homeopathy is one of the most popular holistic systems of medicine. The selection of remedy is based upon the theory of individualization and symptoms similarity by using holistic approach. This is the only way through which a state of complete health can be regained by removing all the sign and symptoms from which the patient is suffering. The aim of homeopathy is not only to treat dehydration but to address its underlying cause and individual susceptibility. As far as therapeutic medication is concerned, several well-proved medicines are available for dehydration treatment that can be selected on the basis of cause, condition, sensation and modalities of the complaints. For individualized remedy selection and treatment, the patient should consult a qualified homeopathic doctor in person. Some important remedies are given below for dehydration treatment:Camphora, Veratrum album, Cup Met, Aethusa, Arsenic Album, Carbo Veg, Lachesis, Elaterium, Secale Cor, Jatropha.
Other natural and alternative modes of dehydration treatment – to treat its underlying condition include mainly naturopathy, Ayurveda, acupuncture, acupressure, etc.
More -
www.healthcaremagic.com/healthpage/dehydration
www.cylex-uk.co.uk/dehydration.html
www.medilexicon.com