Symptoms of Dehydration, Diagnosis, Tests, and Warning Signs

Warning Signs of Dehydration & Diagnosis Methods

Hydration is essential for proper body functioning. However, not many people are aware of the right way of dehydration diagnosis and assessing hydration levels accurately. This blog intends to help you by answering necessary questions relating to hydration and how it affects your body.

Introduction

A human body consists of 78% water, and you lose water through either sweating or urination. When the loss of this water is greater than the intake of it, it causes dehydration. You tend to experience thirst when you are mildly dehydrated, along with other signs such as headache, fatigue, dizziness and more.  

What are the Symptoms of Dehydration?

There are prominent signs of dehydration. These might be initial signs of a mild level or warning signs of dehydration. Here is a list of symptoms for both children and adults that you must look out for so that you can initiate a dehydration diagnosis:

1. Symptoms in Children

• Dryness around the tongue and mouth
• Lack of tears while crying
• Less than six nappies in a day (infant) and no wet nappies or urine for about seven to eight hours.
• Observing a soft, sunken spot on your infant’s forehead
• Sunken eyes
• Taking deep, longer and short breaths
• Having cold and blotchy hands

2. Symptoms in Adults

• Experiencing delirium, headache or confusion
• Fatigue
• Feeling dizzy, weak or light-headed
• High heart rate along with low blood pressure levels
• Loss of appetite, however, cravings for something sweet
• Red Skin
• Swollen legs and feet
• Muscle Cramps
• Relieving urine that is dark in colour. Normal urine is either pale or clear in colour.

What Causes Dehydration?

The body continuously loses water through various ways, such as perspiration, breathing, urinating, passing stool, and tears or saliva (spit). This loss is made up by directly consuming water or eating food that has water content. Dehydration occurs when you lose excessive water from your body or do not intake enough water to replace the loss.

You are more susceptible to losing water under these situations:

• Having Fever
• Diarrhoea
• Vomiting
• Sweating excessively
• Urinating more often (diabetic patients or individuals under medication such as water pills or diuretics).

You are not replacing water for the following reasons:

• You forgot to drink water because you are too occupied.
• Avoiding water because you are suffering from a sore throat or other issues like mouth sores.

You are unable to realise that you feel thirsty.

What are the Tests for Dehydration Diagnosis?

If you observe symptoms that indicate dehydration, visit a medical expert.

• Symptoms Analysis: They will review your symptoms to eradicate the possibility of any other conditions that exhibit similar signs. They will study your medical history and check for warning signs of dehydration, such as checking blood pressure or heart rate. Dehydration is often indicated by a rapid heart rate and low blood pressure.
• Electrolyte Test: The blood test report is further used to test your body's electrolyte level, indicating fluid loss.
• Creatinine Level Test: Experts might also study your creatinine level to determine how efficiently your kidneys function. This will give an exact analysis of dehydration diagnosis.
• Urine Test: Apart from this, urinalysis is a urine sample-based examination that checks whether the urine has bacteria and electrolyte loss. The colour of the urine and other symptoms are also self-explanatory. However, relying on the colour alone might be misleading.
• Weight Measurement: Under certain circumstances, experts may compare your previous and current body weight to identify dehydration.

How to Do Dehydration Diagnosis at Home?

You can perform dehydration tests at home following these illustrations:

• Examining Urine: The easiest way to identify if you are facing dehydration is by examining your urine. To do this, observe the colour of your urine. If it appears lighter and clearer, you are more hydrated. However, if urine is dark in colour, it indicates signs of dehydration.
• Hand Test: Performing a hand test is also simple yet effective. You have to pinch an area of skin like the back of your hand (around the knuckle region). Lift the skin and then release it. If the skin slowly goes back to normal or does not go back to normal, it is one of the signs of dehydration.   
• Blood Test: You can give your blood sample for testing. When your reports arrive, look for potassium levels and sodium levels in a blood sample. This sodium and electrolyte test indicates whether you have normal or low potassium or sodium levels.

What are the Risks of Dehydration?

When the body is dehydrated, you might experience various complications because it contains 78% water. Dehydration can disrupt the functioning of vital organs due to low blood flow or your kidneys trying to hold onto more fluid. Let us know about other complications as well:

• Seizures due to loss of electrolytes
• Kidney Failure
• Shock
• Swelling of the Brain
• Having a heat stroke or experiencing heat exhaustion
• Coma
• Having low blood shock, where both the amount of oxygen in the blood and blood pressure are low.

What are the Strategies to Deal with Dehydration?

Treating dehydration post-dehydration diagnosis at home includes electrolyte replacement, rehydrating methods, and taking medication for diarrhoea or vomiting. If you are experiencing dehydration, having plain water is not as beneficial; consider having an electrolyte-rehydration drink. These can be low-sugar sports drinks or electrolyte drinks, or an oral rehydration solution.

You can also prepare a homemade rehydration solution by mixing 1/2 teaspoon salt and 6 teaspoons sugar in a litre of water. However, when you are making this concoction, be mindful that you maintain the measurements, as using more can be lethal.

How to Treat Dehydration?

The treatment of dehydration is as easy as dehydration diagnosis. It can be taken care of at home as well by inculcating a few new habits, such as:

• Carry a water bottle and keep refilling it. During summertime, if you need a cool, refreshing drink, you might keep water in freezer-safe water bottles overnight to carry it with you the next day.  
• Drink sufficient water before each meal.
• You can infuse your water with either a slice of lemon, cucumber, or mint leaves to add flavour, making it more enjoyable to drink.
• Replace sugary, alcoholic, and caffeinated drinks with water whenever you want to quench your thirst.
• If you are often busy, try scheduling your water breaks between working hours.
• Be aware when your body needs water and drink it immediately when you feel thirsty.
• You can also challenge yourself or your loved ones to stay motivated to drink more water.
• You can also incorporate water-rich foods such as fruits, vegetables or soups in your diet.

Takeaway

Dehydration is common when you are in situations where you lose more water due to exercise, weather conditions, or an illness. The simplest form of dehydration diagnosis is when you feel parched. You can also have electrolytes in extreme situations, such as diarrhoea or hot and humid summers.