General Medical Question - Urgent - Dehydration

[Steel Maiden]

Note: I am on a psych ward right now.

I have drank well over two litres of water today but I've gone to the toilet for a pee so many times that I've lost count. I am showing most of the signs of early dehydration and my vision is affected too. I told the nurses that I felt ill and explained this but they just said "drink water", which I have been doing a lot lately!

I have irritable bowel syndrome by the way.

I am not sure what to do to convince the nurses, and what I can do in the meantime until the next shift of (hopefully better) nurses.

[Sheltie90]

Apparently if you press on your nails, they will turn white, if you are dehydrated they will slowly return to pinky colour, if you are not they will turn back quickly. not sure how accurate that is mind x x

[Animad]

Your nails should normal turn back pink within 2 seconds. It's more of an indicator of your circulation than necessarily dehydration unless it is really bad. Dehydration also causes your gums to be dry (though some meds can cause that) and if you pull some of yo skin up it will not fall straight back down but remain as a lump for a bit. Your eyes will also look a bit sunken and feeling heachey/ nausea/ dizzy are other signs of it but may also be side effects of meds. Really, if you've drank that much then it's unlikely to be dehydration unless your IBS is causing diarrhoea right now and I can't really think of anything yo can say to the nurses to convince them. Could you talk to a different one and see if they will check you over? That's your best bet.

[Amaranth]

If you can, try drinking something sweet like juice or squash instead, sometimes it can help stop the liquid just passing straight through.
Besides that make a note of how much you are drinking and when and how often you're going to the loo, that way you'll have something to show the nurses.

[Animad]

As far as I'm aware, drinking sweet things does not slow how fast things past through the system as as much water is still taken up by the kidneys no matter what it is.

However, if you've not been eating much then your symptoms may be due to a low bloog glucose so this would help that however if this does help then afterwards you should try to eat something carbohydrate based or a banana to stop keep the energy up and to slowly feed more glucose into the blood whereas a sugary drink just quickly puts sugar in your blood which your body then quickly gets rid of.

[Steel Maiden]

Thanks all. I have been having fairly bad diarrhoea almost every morning for a while now, I was thinking that would be the reason for the dehydration. My nails are slow to turn pink. But my friend said he would bring something to rehydrate me with not just fluid but also electrolytes and some glucose. I've been eating well however for the past few days BUT for the first three days of my section, I barely drank and didn't eat (I thought I was being poisoned), but for the three days since I've been eating and drinking well.

I just had a smoothie and more water, as well as some toast, so am feeling a bit better. Just worried about waking up with a BP of 60 over 30 again.

[Steel Maiden]

My friend is bringing rehydration drinks for me tonight.

But I just looked at my body in the mirror and I've lost a fair amount of weight, despite eating well! NB: I have no desire to lose weight, in fact I'm trying to do the opposite.

I drank enough water this morning but I've been to the loo to pee six times in the past two hours and my urine is very pale despite the fact that I didn't over-drink.

My lips, eyes and throat are dry. I've got a headache despite paracetamol and I feel "run down" and nauseous.

I think I may have caught an infection but the duty doctor is nowhere to be seen. Should I go and insist?

[Steel Maiden]

I've got a UTI, I've been diagnosed by the doctor based on my urine test.

Mods you can close this thread, problem solved.

[Animad]

Glad you got this sorted out.

Closing the thread at the request of the thread starter.