diyhealth.com

Dehydration Causes

Dehydration: Causes


Top Causes

1. High fever

A patient who suffers from high fever can often suffer from dehydration. High fever is such a condition when the body temperature rises so high that it leads to a superficial dryness of the mucous membranes within the body. The lips, tongue, throat feels dry. Such a situation needs to be recovered from by generous intake of water. But, when the fever is immensely high, it often makes the patient incapable of drinking as much water as required as fever can sometimes be associated with vomiting, nausea, dizziness etc. Thus, it hints towards dehydration.

2. Incapability to drink water

The simplest way to make up for fluid loss in the body is by means of drinking water. But there are several factors that prevent a victim from drinking sufficient quantity of water. One of the most common situations, found especially among kids, is that they do not like to drink water at all. This becomes a chief cause of dehydration. There are certain medical conditions too when the sufferer cannot drink as much water as required by his or her system. Some of those situations are intense nausea, excessive vomiting, fainting, hydrophobia etc. This inevitably leads to dehydration when at times the only alternative to water intake becomes intravenous saline transfusion.

3. Deep burns

While drinking water is a way to increase the volume of fluid inside the body, the skin acts as a natural barrier that retains body fluid and protects the body against moisture and fluid loss. But severe burn is a condition when the epidermal layer of the skin gets damaged. As a result, the natural ability of the body to retain the body fluid gets deteriorated vehemently. So, a victim of skin burn often suffers from severe dehydration as fluids seep out from the ruptured skin.

4. Vomiting

Vomiting can sometimes be the sole cause for dehydration. It can be due to several factors, like indigestion, acute acidity, allergy towards something, high fever and many other health consequences that lead to vomiting. At every jerk of vomiting, there is expulsion of fluids along with food particles and bile juices. Hence, if it persists for longer duration, it can lead to excessive loss of body fluid.

5. Acute diarrhea

Diarrhea is a medical condition that often triggers dehydration. It is a situation that is accompanied by loose motion and vomiting. This leads to tremendous loss of body fluids and electrolytes within a very short time. Vomiting further aggravates the situation, leading to loss of body fluids. This is a common factor of dehydration that mostly affects children. It is extremely difficult to replenish this huge loss of fluid and it often calls for medical attention and hospitalization.

6. Increased rate of urination

Urination is a natural process that is undertaken to counter balance the intake of water. It washes the toxins out of the system and keeps the kidneys healthy, thereby promoting normal metabolic activities. But there are people who experience increased rate of urination. This situation often underlines some ailments. One of the most prominent circumstances is diabetes, when the sufferer experiences increased rate of thirst and more frequent urination. This situation is due to the inability of the kidneys to store sufficient water. Thus, it leads to dehydration.

7. Excessive sweating

Sweating is a common phenomenon each of us experience when we involve ourselves in strenuous workouts, remain outdoors on a hot sunny day or indulge in physical labor. This is a natural phenomenon. When there is a sudden elevation in body temperature due to external factors, it is cooled down and gets normalized again due to sweating. But sweating can also become fatal if it is in excess. If you participate in activities that lead to sweating but do not do anything to replenish the lost fluid from the body as a consequence of this natural process, you can suffer from dehydration.

Today's Top Articles:

Scroll to Top