Severe dehydration can be life-threatening. Water and minerals called electrolytes help put your body fluids back in balance. Learn the early signs of fluid loss, and drink more fluids to prevent dehydration. Follow-up care is a key part of your treatment and safety. Be sure to make and go to all appointments, and call your doctor or nurse advice line in most provinces and territories if you are having problems.

It's also a good idea to know your test results and keep a list of the medicines you take. Call anytime you think you may need emergency care.

For example, call if:. Call your doctor or nurse advice line now or seek immediate medical care if:. Watch closely for changes in your health, and be sure to contact your doctor or nurse advice line if:.

Enter Q in the search box to learn more about "Dehydration: Care Instructions". Author: Healthwise Staff. Blahd Jr. MD, FACEP - Emergency Medicine. Care instructions adapted under license by your healthcare professional.

If you have questions about a medical condition or this instruction, always ask your healthcare professional. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information.

Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. ca Network. It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. Please turn on JavaScript and try again. Main Content Alberta Content Related to Conditions Dehydration More Alberta Content.

Important Phone Numbers. Topic Contents Overview How can you care for yourself at home? When should you call for help? Where can you learn more? Top of the page. Overview Dehydration happens when your body loses too much fluid.

How can you care for yourself at home? Drink plenty of fluids. Choose water and other clear liquids until you feel better. If you have kidney, heart, or liver disease and have to limit fluids, talk with your doctor before you increase the amount of fluids you drink.

If you do not feel like eating or drinking, try taking small sips of water, sports drinks, or other rehydration drinks. Kids with mild dehydration can get extra liquids at home. Kids with more severe dehydration may need treatment in the ER or hospital. Mild dehydration is treated with oral by mouth rehydration.

This usually includes giving oral rehydration solution such as Pedialyte, Enfalyte, or a store brand. It has the right amounts of water, sugar, and salt to help with dehydration. You can buy it without a prescription at drugstores or supermarkets.

Other liquids can help with dehydration. Whenever your child gets sick, give extra liquids or oral rehydration solution. Give small amounts often, especially if your child is vomiting. Kids should drink often during hot weather. Those who play sports or are very physically active should drink extra liquids beforehand, and then take regular drink breaks about every 20 minutes during the activity.

KidsHealth Parents Dehydration. en español: Deshidratación. Medically reviewed by: Melanie L. Pitone, MD. Primary Care Pediatrics at Nemours Children's Health. Listen Play Stop Volume mp3 Settings Close Player. Larger text size Large text size Regular text size.

What Is Dehydration?

Caffeinated drinks: Moderate caffeine consumption up to mg per day can be a part of a healthy diet [PDF Sports drinks: These are flavored beverages that often contain carbohydrates, minerals, electrolytes, and sometimes vitamins. The average person should drink water, not sports drinks, to rehydrate.

Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Water and Healthier Drinks. Minus Related Pages. Benefits of Drinking Water On This Page. Benefits of Drinking Water Tips to Drink More Water Healthier Drink Options Other Beverages.

Water and Nutrition Basics Frequently Asked Questions about Drinking Water. Connect with Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. Page last reviewed: June 6, Content source: Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity , National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

home Healthy Weight, Nutrition, and Physical Activity. To receive email updates about this topic, enter your email address. By Mayo Clinic Staff. Oct 14, Show References.

Marx JA, et al. Infectious diarrheal disease and dehydration. In: Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. Philadelphia, Pa. Accessed Aug. Aurbach PS. Dehydration, rehydration and hyperhydration.

In: Wilderness Medicine. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Rochester, Minn. Somers MJ. Clinical assessment of hypovolemia dehydration in children. Miller HJ. Dehydration in the older adult. Journal of Gerontological Nursing. Heat and athletes. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Treatment of hypovolemia dehydration in children. Sterns RH. Etiology, clinical manifestations and diagnosis of volume depletion in adults.

Heat-related emergencies. Freedman S. Oral rehydration therapy. Thomas DT, et al. American College of Sports Medicine Joint Position Statement. Nutrition and Athletic Performance.

Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Takahashi PY expert opinion. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Hoecker JL expert opinion. News from Mayo Clinic.

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Health Issues. Tips and Tools. Our Mission. Find a Pediatrician. Drinks to Prevent Dehydration When Your Child is Vomiting.

Page Content. What causes vomiting? What is the best way to prevent dehydration in my child? How to give liquids You can give your child liquid with age-appropriate bottle or cup. What kind of fluids should I be giving my child? If not tolerated, consider a commercial rehydration solution that contains sugars and salts.

Do not use water. When to call your pediatrician Call your child's doctor right away if your child is too sick to drink, becomes lethargic, or shows any signs and symptoms of dehydration.

Horn Meghan Horn, MD, MSc, FAAP is a clinical fellow at New York Presbyterian - Weill Cornell Medicine in the department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition. About Dr. Waasdorp Hurtado Christine Waasdorp Hurtado, MD, MSCS, FAAP is a Pediatric Gastroenterologist at Children's Hospital Colorado in Colorado Springs.

The information contained on this Web site should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances. Follow Us. Back to Top.

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VNS Health offers health plans that were created to help people live well in the comfort of their homes and communities. Your body needs many different things in order to function. Air helps you breathe. Eating enough food gives you energy. And drinking enough water is a key part of preventing dehydration — yet many people struggle to get enough fluids each day.

Water plays a big role in helping your body stay at the right temperature and removing waste. Every day, your body loses about 64 ounces of water when you exhale, sweat, and urinate.

You replace most of this by drinking fluids and by eating. Factors like physical activity, extreme heat, and high humidity in the summer months can cause you to lose even more water.

If you lose more water than you take in, you can become dehydrated. Here are some important tips that can help you prevent dehydration and get the fluids your body needs to be at its best. Dehydration — which occurs when your body loses more fluid than it takes in — is a serious health risk.

Medications that increase urination, including some antihistamines and blood pressure medications, can also dehydrate you.

If you have a chronic illness that affects your kidney function, such as diabetes, you are at a higher risk for dehydration. Older adults also become dehydrated easier. As we age, our bodies do not hold on to water or respond to extreme heat and humidity as well as they once did.

You may not always feel thirsty when you are dehydrated. For example, your sense of thirst decreases with age, so by the time you feel thirsty, you may already have lost too much fluid. Rather than go by thirst, go by the color of your urine. It should be clear and light yellow. Dark or amber-colored urine is a sign of severe dehydration.

For most of us, drinking plenty of fluids and eating foods with a high water content — including most fruits and vegetables — can keep our bodies properly hydrated.

Most adults need about 64 ounces half a gallon of fluids every day, but that amount goes up with heat and humidity. How much fluid you need each day can also change based on how active you are, what medications you take, and other factors.

Before you guzzle a half gallon of water, remember that most fluids count toward your 64 ounces, as do many foods.

Raw fruits and vegetables have a high water content as well and can help you stay hydrated. This table gives the water content in various foods and the amount of each you need to eat to obtain about ½ cup 4 ounces of water.

By drinking enough fluid each day and knowing the symptoms of dehydration, you can help your body to stay healthy. firstDropdownItem0 } " keydown. previous " keydown. About VNS Health. Our History. Our Care Teams. Community Impact. Service Areas. firstDropdownItem1 } " keydown.

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You may opt-out of email communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the e-mail. Other dehydration causes include: Diarrhea, vomiting. Severe, acute diarrhea — that is, diarrhea that comes on suddenly and violently — can cause a tremendous loss of water and electrolytes in a short amount of time.

If you have vomiting along with diarrhea, you lose even more fluids and minerals. In general, the higher your fever, the more dehydrated you may become. The problem worsens if you have a fever in addition to diarrhea and vomiting.

Excessive sweating. You lose water when you sweat. If you do vigorous activity and don't replace fluids as you go along, you can become dehydrated. Hot, humid weather increases the amount you sweat and the amount of fluid you lose. Increased urination. This may be due to undiagnosed or uncontrolled diabetes.

Certain medications, such as diuretics and some blood pressure medications, also can lead to dehydration, generally because they cause you to urinate more. Anyone can become dehydrated, but certain people are at greater risk: Infants and children.

The most likely group to experience severe diarrhea and vomiting, infants and children are especially vulnerable to dehydration. Having a higher surface area to volume area, they also lose a higher proportion of their fluids from a high fever or burns.

Young children often can't tell you that they're thirsty, nor can they get a drink for themselves. Older adults. As you age, your body's fluid reserve becomes smaller, your ability to conserve water is reduced and your thirst sense becomes less acute.

These problems are compounded by chronic illnesses such as diabetes and dementia, and by the use of certain medications. Older adults also may have mobility problems that limit their ability to obtain water for themselves.

People with chronic illnesses. Having uncontrolled or untreated diabetes puts you at high risk of dehydration. Kidney disease also increases your risk, as do medications that increase urination. Even having a cold or sore throat makes you more susceptible to dehydration because you're less likely to feel like eating or drinking when you're sick.

People who work or exercise outside. When it's hot and humid, your risk of dehydration and heat illness increases. That's because when the air is humid, sweat can't evaporate and cool you as quickly as it normally does, and this can lead to an increased body temperature and the need for more fluids.

Dehydration can lead to serious complications, including: Heat injury. If you don't drink enough fluids when you're exercising vigorously and perspiring heavily, you may end up with a heat injury, ranging in severity from mild heat cramps to heat exhaustion or potentially life-threatening heatstroke.

Urinary and kidney problems. Prolonged or repeated bouts of dehydration can cause urinary tract infections, kidney stones and even kidney failure. Electrolytes — such as potassium and sodium — help carry electrical signals from cell to cell.

If your electrolytes are out of balance, the normal electrical messages can become mixed up, which can lead to involuntary muscle contractions and sometimes to a loss of consciousness. Low blood volume shock hypovolemic shock. This is one of the most serious, and sometimes life-threatening, complications of dehydration.

It occurs when low blood volume causes a drop in blood pressure and a drop in the amount of oxygen in your body. People may need to take in more fluids if they are experiencing conditions such as: Vomiting or diarrhea.

If your child is vomiting or has diarrhea, start giving extra water or an oral rehydration solution at the first signs of illness. Don't wait until dehydration occurs. Strenuous exercise. In general, it's best to start hydrating the day before strenuous exercise.

Producing lots of clear, dilute urine is a good indication that you're well-hydrated. During the activity, replenish fluids at regular intervals and continue drinking water or other fluids after you're finished. Hot or cold weather. You need to drink additional water in hot or humid weather to help lower your body temperature and to replace what you lose through sweating.

You may also need extra water in cold weather to combat moisture loss from dry air, particularly at higher altitudes Illness. Older adults most commonly become dehydrated during minor illnesses — such as influenza, bronchitis or bladder infections.

Make sure to drink extra fluids when you're not feeling well. By Mayo Clinic Staff. Oct 14, Show References. Marx JA, et al. Infectious diarrheal disease and dehydration. In: Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice.

Philadelphia, Pa. Accessed Aug. Aurbach PS. Dehydration, rehydration and hyperhydration. In: Wilderness Medicine. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Rochester, Minn. Somers MJ. Clinical assessment of hypovolemia dehydration in children. Miller HJ. Dehydration in the older adult. Journal of Gerontological Nursing. Heat and athletes.