Cause

• An average adult loses about 10 cups of water every day through breathing, sweating, and waste elimination. Along with fluid, you also lose electrolytes, minerals such as sodium, calcium and potassium, which help your body maintain a balance of fluids. Dehydration occurs when you lose more fluid than you take in. Knowing what causes dehydration can also help you prevent it or identify it at an early stage.
  
  

Indications of Mild Dehydration

• Feeling thirsty with a mouth that feels dry or sticky is an indication of mild dehydration, but don't assume that you're not dehydrated if you don't feel thirsty. Not everyone feels thirst in the early stages of dehydration. Babies and the elderly are less likely to feel thirsty than are healthy younger adults. Feeling weak, developing a headache or feeling dizzy or lightheaded are all indications of mild dehydration. Decreased urination is a reliable indicator. An adult should not go more than eight hours without urinating, and a baby should have at least six wet diapers daily. A dehydrated infant may also be unusually sleepy or lethargic.
  
  

What to Do for Mild Dehydration

• If you suspect you are mildly dehydrated, drink more fluids immediately. Your best choice is water. Avoid tea, coffee and other caffeinated beverages, which are diuretics and will flush more fluid from your system than they replenish. A sports drink with electrolytes is also a good choice, but drink these sparingly as they are often high in sugar. Stay out of the sun, and get out of the heat into a cool place if you can. If your dehydration is the result of illness and you cannot keep liquids down, contact your doctor.
  
  

Indications of Severe Dehydration

• As dehydration worsens, you become confused and irritable. Babies become extremely fussy or overly sleepy. Your mouth and other mucous membranes become extremely dry. You don't urinate for more than eight hours, and when you do, the urine is a dark yellow or even amber color. Your eyes may appear sunken. Your blood pressure goes down, and your heart rate increases. Your skin becomes so dry that it does not bounce back if you pinch it. An infant's fontanel, the "soft spot" at the top of the head, appears sunken. You develop a fever and can become delirious. If dehydration worsens, your kidneys fail, you lapse into a coma and die.
  
  

Seek Medical Attention

• If you have symptoms of severe dehydration, seek medical attention immediately. If a child or an elderly adult develops severe diarrhea, has been vomiting for more than eight hours or can't keep down fluids, call your doctor. If the person seems irritable, confused, disoriented or excessively sleepy, seek emergency treatment immediately. If you are severely dehydrated, you may need intravenous fluids. Left untreated, dehydration can cause kidney failure, brain damage, coma and death.