A few weeks ago I had a major scare when my husband began acting confused and walking very strange. I ended up rushing him to our local hospital where they quickly ruled out a stroke and identified the culprit, very low sodium.
My husband drinks a lot of water and on this particular day, it turned out drinking lots of water, which he was doing as he was having major diarrhea from some type of “bug,” was not helping. Diarrhea and vomiting can wipe out fluids and electrolytes. He ended up being hospitalized and on an IV drip.
When I let people know what was going on, several friends reported having similar electrolyte imbalances in the last month or two. As one friend noted, “as we get older, it doesn't take much to upset the apple cart.” However, I now realize that spending very hot summer days on archeological digs and hiking, where we drink gallons of water and are profusely sweating, didn’t keep us from becoming incredibly fatigued and having headaches.
Older people as well as those with with chronic conditions, cancer, and other conditions can easily slip into an unbalanced electrolyte situation. If you find yourself not eating or drinking, or drinking way more than usual, having a lot of diarrhea and vomiting, recognize you could be setting yourself up for an imbalance.
While the hospitalist recommended that my husband fill his water bottle with half water and sports drink, there are a wide variety of products out there that can keep electrolytes balanced without the added sugars, food dyes etc. that many sports drinks contain. Talk to your medical provider about the best option for you.
How can you tell if you are under or over hydrating? For most people, the color of your urine can give you an indication that you’re over or under hydrating. Keep in mind that some medications and foods can change the color of your urine.
Just look in the toilet as the color will give you a good indication. I should note that in VT many households, including ours, follow the motto “If it’s yellow let it mellow, If it’s brown flush it down.” Since my husband’s hospitalization, we’ve started flushing the toilet after each use so there’s no confusion about whose hydrating sufficiently.
- Clear: If there’s no color in your urine at all, it’s likely that you’re actually overhydrating so cut back on your drinking.
- Light Yellow: Ideally, your urine color will be light yellow, like a glass of lemonade. That shade of yellow is a sign that you’re well-hydrated
- Medium Yellow: If your urine is a little darker, similar to the shade of a light beer. For most people, that’s also okay.
- Amber If your urine is an amber color (think of the substance that the mosquito was encased in in Jurassic Park), that’s a sign that you’re starting to become dehydrated. Drink up
- Brown: If your urine is brown or dark orange in color, that’s a sign of severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalances.
Learn more about Electrolyte Imbalance
No comments:
Post a Comment