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Complications
By Mayo Clinic staffDehydration 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 to potentially life-threatening heatstroke.
- Swelling of the brain (cerebral edema). Sometimes, when you're getting fluids again after being dehydrated, the body tries to pull too much water back into your cells. This can cause some cells to swell and rupture. The consequences are especially grave when brain cells are affected.
- Seizures. 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.
- Kidney failure. This potentially life-threatening problem occurs when your kidneys are no longer able to remove excess fluids and waste from your blood.
- Coma and death. When not treated promptly and appropriately, severe dehydration can be fatal.
References
- Dehydration. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec19/ch276/ch276b.html. Accessed Oct. 27, 2010.
- Diarrhea. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/diarrhea. Accessed Oct. 27, 2010.
- Popkin BM, et al. Water, hydration, and health. Nutrition Reviews. 2010;68:439.
- Thomas DR, et al. Understanding clinical dehydration and its treatment. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. 2008;9:292.
- Rodriguez NR, et al. Position of the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine: Nutrition and athletic performance. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 2009;109:509.
- Montain SJ. Hydration recommendations for sport 2008. Current Sports Medicine Reports. 2008;7:187.
- Manz F. Hydration in children. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. 2007;26:562.
- Canavan A, et al. Diagnosis and management of dehydration in children. American Family Physician. 2009;80:692.
- WHO position paper on oral rehydration salts to reduce mortality from cholera. World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/cholera/technical/en/. Accessed Oct. 27, 2010.
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