Dehydration and the Elderly

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Thesis4

What is Dehydration?4

What causes dehydration?5

Signs and symptoms6

How is dehydration diagnosed?7

Prevention8

Treatment10

Conclusion11

References13

Dehydration and the Elderly

Introduction

With age, the body sees a lot of changes. Skin starts to wrinkle, eye sight weakens and one is unable to do simple tasks that seemed so easy only a few years earlier. Along with the obvious changes on the outside, numerous changes take place on the inside of the human body. Physiologic changes that can be related to the process of aging make the elderly extremely susceptible to dehydration (Padula, 2011). This is primarily because the aging brain is no longer capable of effectively determining exactly how much liquid nourishment the body requires. Also, as one ages, an individual loses thirst response and thus is unable to recognize when he or she are actually thirsty.

Those that are at the highest risk of dehydration include individuals that live alone, those that are under professional care and those that are recovering from surgery or other major diseases. Additionally, those individuals with disabilities, arthritis, Alzheimer's and patients living in nursing homes are more prone to fall victim to dehydration (Kositzke, 1990).

A fairly common terminology, dehydration occurs when there is more fluid, specifically water, exiting the body rather than entering it. Since the human body is made up of approximately 75% water, found inside cells, survival and health depends on the sophisticated water management system that our bodies have been hard wired to. After losing water through perspiration, breathing, urinating and defecating, the thirst mechanism recognizes when there is a need to increase the amount of fluid intake and thus an individual responds and has a drink. Though dehydration may seem very common, if untreated, it can have serious affects. It can usually be treated by an increase in fluid intake but severe dehydration requires immediate professional medical attention. This paper takes a closer look at the ailment, discussing its causes, symptoms and treatments.

Thesis

“Dehydration is an extremely common ailment and the elderly are extremely susceptible to it. They must be reminded to maintain their fluid intake. If problems persist, they must be provided with immediate professional help.”

What is Dehydration?

In the fields of physiology and medicine, the term dehydration is defined as the excessive loss of body fluids. Studying the origins of the word, the literal translation also hints at the conditions description, translating to the removal of water from an object. In biological terminology however, the term considers the removal of fluids from an organism specifically. Similarly, the dehydration of skin is often referred to as medical dryness or mucous membrane dryness.

There are three basic sorts of dehydration; hypotonic, hypertonic and isotonic. The first primarily refers to a loss of electrolytes. The second refers primarily to a loss of water and the third refers to a loss of water and electrolytes combine. As far as human physiology is concerned, the most prevalent sort is isotonic dehydration. This can be equated to hypovolemia. It should be noted that the differences between the three must ...