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Tag: shock

How dehydration affects your brain.    

February 24th, 2020 by The Hello Doctor Team

Water makes up over two-thirds of the human body. It plays an important role in lubricating the joints and eyes, as well as aiding digestion, flushing out toxins and waste and keeping skin healthy. There’s something else it does: it keeps you happy.

When your hydration levels dip, so does your mood. That’s because when the normal water content of the body is reduced, it upsets the balance of minerals, like salts and sugars, in the body, which affects the way it functions.

Dehydration happens when you use or lose more fluid than you take in, and your body doesn’t have enough water to carry out its normal functions. Without replacing lost fluids, dehydration can occur.

How does this affect your brain?

Extreme dehydration, which happens after days of reduced fluid intake, causes significantly reduced cognitive function, delirium unconsciousness, coma, and may ultimately lead to death.

Symptoms of dehydration

The signs and symptoms of dehydration differ between individuals and range from minor to severe.

Mild to moderate dehydration may include the following:

  • Feeling tired or sleepy
  • Decreased urine production
  • Headache
  • Dizziness

Symptoms of severe dehydration include:

  • Blood pressure drops when you try to stand up after lying down
  • Racing heart rate
  • Fever
  • Poor skin elasticity (skin slowly sinks back to its normal position when pinched)
  • Lethargy and confusion
  • Seizure
  • Shock

Prevent getting dehydrated: drink according to thirst

Severe dehydration is uncommon and usually occurs only in athletes participating in extreme events (e.g. desert marathon runs) or in other unusual circumstances.

There is no one-size-fits-all “right” amount of water to drink each day. The exact amount you need is extremely variable and depends on a person’s body size, physical activity levels, climate and what types of food they are eating. The best way to get in the right amount of fluid each day is to “drink to thirst”. Your kidneys work to perfectly balance and regulate your water requirements so that you take in and retain only as much fluid as you need. What’s more, fluid intake can also come from food – in fact, around as much as 25% of your water intake comes from what you eat, not what you drink.

Exceptions to the rule

While most people can trust their “thirst mechanism”, there are some groups who should be more conscious of how much fluid they drink:

  • Certain medications (e.g. for heart disease, ulcers or depression) can alter the thirst mechanism
  • Certain chronic diseases, such as diabetes, can alter the thirst mechanism
  • When you’re sick with a fever or experience diarrhoea and vomiting
  • Women who are pregnant and breastfeeding
  • Being in very hot, humid weather

 References:

Save a life this summer with these first aid tips

November 9th, 2017 by The Hello Doctor Team

The holidays make for fun times, but all that merriment, alcohol and lowered inhibitions can lead to scary situations. This may not give you a qualification as a paramedic, but these tips can help you be a little more prepared for an emergency.

If someone’s having a convulsion

  • Lay the person on the ground, away from dangerous objects.
  • Don’t try to restrain them.
  • Loosen their clothing if necessary.
  • Never place anything in their mouth!
  • When it’s over, keep them on their side with their head down to allow easy breathing and prevent choking.

If someone’s having an asthma attack

An attack usually happens in episodes, during which the airways to the lungs narrow, making it hard to breathe. Help the person find and take his medication quickly. Talk to him in a calm, reassuring manner, and encourage him to rest and sit quietly until help arrives.

Get help immediately if:

  • Someone’s struggling to breathe or is unusually short of breath.
  • The person’s medication doesn’t bring relief.
  • The person has difficulty walking or talking.
  • His fingernails and lips turn bluish-gray.

If someone’s in shock

Shock is when blood pressure drops suddenly and drastically. This could lead to tissue damage and even death.

  • Early symptoms of shock may include confusion, restlessness and anxiety.
  • Call an ambulance immediately if you suspect someone is going into shock.
  • Elevate the person’s legs if they have no spinal injury, keep them warm and calm, and don’t give them anything to eat or drink.
  • Check the ABCs: airway, breathing and circulation. If necessary, begin rescue breathing and CPR. If there’s any external bleeding, do your best to stop it.

If someone’s been poisoned

  • Call emergency services if the person shows signs of poisoning or is unconscious. Provide information about the poisoning: the poison that was taken, the amount, how it entered the body, and when it was taken. Give the person’s age and approximate size or weight.
  • Perform CPR if the person is unconscious and not breathing, but first check for poisonous material around the mouth. Wash the area around the person’s mouth and if necessary, use a barrier device.
  • Keep a sample of what the person has taken, even if it’s an empty container.
  • Don’t try to make the person vomit. This could cause more damage.

If someone has a head injury

  • If he hasn’t lost consciousness and is alert, apply an ice pack to the area for 20 minutes. Wrap the pack in a cloth to prevent damage to the skin from extreme cold.
  • Watch the person carefully for the next 24 hours. If he shows signs of internal head injury, call your doctor immediately.
  • You need immediate medical attention if the person is unconscious, has an obvious wound, is bleeding, has speech or vision disturbances and struggles to breathe.
  • If he’s unconscious or there’s any paralysis, don’t move him at all.
  • If he vomits, roll him onto his side to prevent choking.
  • If he has a seizure, roll him onto his side and make sure the tongue has fallen forward in the mouth to keep the airway clear.
  • If there’s swelling to the head, apply an ice pack.
  • Don’t remove any object stuck in the wound.

References:

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