Rehydration Results in Response

We all know how dangerous it is for someone to become dehydrated. I warn my students about the body’s need for water in my nutrition classes each semester. Since the human body is made up of approximately 55 to 70 percent water, it is easy to understand how important the element is. According to my textbooks, if one loses about 2 percent of body weight in fluids, he or she becomes thirsty. Lose about 4 percent, and you become weak; but if you lose about 20 percent of body weight in fluids, you can lapse into a coma or die. Thus the concern of football coaches and their staffs for their student players in the Texas heat each summer and fall. The precautions taken by trainers, coaches, band directors and many more are legendary, since there have been tragedies in the past that no one wants to see repeated.


When infants are ill, doctors caution—plenty of fluids. When someone has a fever, we urge fluids to replenish what they are losing. Several years ago, I contracted salmonella food poisoning. I thought I had a bad case of flu and tried to “throw it off” for 8-10 days. Mom came to help take care of us while I was in bed and the boys went to school. She and my husband kept urging me to drink Sprite, tea, or water. But I was unable to hold any food or liquid in my stomach.

I kept lifting up the skin on my arm and saying, See, I’m not dehydrated. Yet when I finally gave in and went to a doctor, the first thing he did was lift up the skin on my stomach. This was much more startling than the skin on my arm. It actually “stood up” when he pulled on it. The second thing he did was send me to the hospital where I spent three nights recovering, receiving antibiotics and much-needed glucose and water.

Friday morning (Nov. 6), Joyce called Nancy to come help her with Mom. Mom’s blood pressure was low, and she would not respond to Joyce. When Nancy arrived, she was unable to get any response either, plus Mom’s blood pressure continued to drop. So Joyce called an ambulance, and Nancy called the sisters. We all dropped what we were doing and headed for McKinney immediately. I went by and picked up Pop. None of us uttered the words aloud, but later we admitted that we thought we might not get there in time to see Mom alive.

Several hours in the emergency room ensued, interspersed with trips down the hall for MRI’s and CT scans. Mother’s blood pressure came back up after a while, and we all just wanted to hover around and tell her we love her. She was not allowed to have anything by mouth, just the glucose dripping intravenously, while in the E.R. Joyce had given Mom her pills that morning, but after that there was nothing. Late that night we fed Mom a few bites of a sandwich and some fruit cocktail. Then everyone but Diane left, and she and Mom spent Friday night in the hospital. Mom was in pain only when her legs were moved, and we thought perhaps she had somehow aggravated the fracture from last May.

However, the tests showed nothing new, and all day Saturday Mom continued receiving glucose. When I called her room the ones there assured me that she looked like her former self, smiling and bright-eyed! At one point during breakfast she had some trouble swallowing, so the doctor determined that there should be a swallow test. (That did not happen until the next morning!)

Since Mom did not receive her daily meds after Friday morning, by Saturday evening she was becoming restless. Agitated by then, she began wanting to go home. Vicky stayed with her through the night, and she said Mom did not sleep at all, just talked continuously and fretted with her oxygen tube and finger clip (monitor for blood pressure). By Sunday morning, Mom was not a happy camper. Having regained some of her old spunk, she was determined to get out of that place!

After passing the “swallow test,” the doctor saw no reason to keep Mom in the hospital. So she was dismissed and transported back to her residence, where she promptly settled into her recliner. She ate what was offered and drank a glass of Ensure, then took her routine medications. The only med added was the Exelon patch to enhance the effect of the Namenda.

After much thought and discussion among the sisters, we believe it is very likely that this entire episode was brought on by dehydration. Many people nowadays carry bottles of water with them at all times; however, if a person has not ever formed a good habit of drinking water continually, it is a difficult one to adopt. Mom has never cared for water. She prefers tea but does not drink enough of it. The caretakers at her residence keep a glass of water on each of the resident’s trays. When they walk by them, they reach down and hand the glass to the resident to encourage them to drink more water. But it just has not been enough.

Mom’s dehydration caused many symptoms: constipation, swollen abdomen, and vague pain; and it worsened first her mental status and then her state of consciousness. Now we look back and think that it is no wonder her blood pressure dropped and continued to
do so for a time.

In Mom's fragile condition, the slightest of negative changes can cause havoc to her system. For example, they also found a slight urinary tract infection and started antibiotics in her ‘drip.’ As far as we can determine, both conditions played a part in her sudden decline. We are thinking that the urinary tract infection was
also caused by the dehydration.

All in all, we are very thankful to have Mom back at her residence with a smile and a good appetite! We were concerned initially about the effect of moving her to the hospital, but she seems to have weathered the weekend quite well. There is one thing that is different from last week, and that is that Mom is not walking as well as she was before. Right now she is using a wheelchair, and it may or may not be permanent. Yet we are all so happy to have her with us. Thinking of her adds pleasure to each day!