How To Avoid Dehydration in the Summer

Dehydration happens when your body doesn’t receive the necessary hydration it needs to function correctly. When the normal water content of your body is reduced, it upsets the balance of minerals in your body. At iCare ER and Urgent Care, our board-certified physicians can help diagnose and treat dehydration in patients of all ages. Regardless of the cause, we have the necessary means to provide IV treatment to help you to get refueled as quickly as possible.

Signs of dehydration

Mild symptoms of dehydration may be able to be treated from home, but it’s strongly recommended that infants, pregnant women, and the elderly receive medical care from our urgent care center in Fort Worth, TX. Some common dehydration symptoms include:

• Extreme thirst

• Dry mouth or mouth sores

• Dizziness

• Weak muscles

• Swollen tongue

• Exhaustion

• Decreased amount or dark urine

What causes dehydration?

Dehydration is caused by not drinking enough fluid to replace any that you have lost. This will depend on the climate you live in, the amount of exercise you are doing (especially when it’s hot), and even your diet. You can also become dehydrated as a result of an illness that involved prolonged diarrhea, sweating from a fever, or persistent vomiting. Babies and infants, the elderly, people with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, and athletes are most at risk for experiencing dehydration.

Seeking medical care for dehydration

When you’re experiencing symptoms that you’re dehydrated, it’s time to visit iCare ER and Urgent Care in Fort Worth, TX. Our medical team can assess your symptoms, discuss your medical history, and determine the best treatment to get you rehydrated. For those with severe cases, we may recommend you visit the local emergency care.

After we determine that you have no underlying serious medical conditions, we will begin to treat you with IV fluids for rehydration, which have sodium and chlorine in them, to help replace the lost electrolytes. Depending on your blood work, we may need to perform further treatment to get you feeling your best. IV treatment for dehydration is great for those who may be ill and still nauseous since water can be harsh on the stomach. IV fluids go directly into the bloodstream, which helps you feel better quickly. When left untreated, severe dehydration can lead to brain damage, seizures, and even death.

Treating mild dehydration at home

For mild cases that you may be able to treat at home, drinking water should help you to rehydrate. It’s important to note that some people, due to their genetics, may lose sodium in their sweat faster than others. This makes them more prone to dehydration. Make sure to replace not just the fluid that you lose through sweat, but also the sodium too.

Tips for staying hydrated in warm weather

It’s important you pay especially close attention to your body during summer months. Look for possible symptoms of dehydration. Do you have a headache or feel nauseous? Do you look flushed? These can be signs of the onset of dehydration. Make sure you’re drinking continuously so that thirst never strikes since you’re ahead of the game. Also, take a peek at your urine color. It’s a great indicator of your hydration level. If you have clear or light-yellow urine, you’re in the clear while dark or brown urine is a sign you need more hydration. Also, look inside your mouth to see if it’s moist or dry, this can be a sign that you’re running low on water too. When you’re in hot weather, always drink more water than other times as you will be more likely to sweat, and you need to replace this lost fluid.

Visit the urgent care for dehydration

At iCare ER and Urgent Care in Fort Worth, TX, we can help patients experiencing dehydration symptoms to rehydrate. When left untreated, dehydration can lead to serious health issues. We have offices in both Frisco and Fort Worth, TX that can see patients for urgent care issues. We offer quick and efficient care to patients of all ages. We also offer telehealth virtual visits for patients who need medical care but don’t want to leave their homes.