Symptoms of Long-Term Dehydration

It seems obvious to most people: When you are thirsty, you simply grab a drink of water. But as people age, the natural response to drink water when thirsty can be impaired. Long-term dehydration is not a condition that only affects the elderly, but it is a condition that can cause internal organs to fail and may even lead to death.

Effects

• Long-term dehydration can also be referred to as severe dehydration, and the symptoms are much different than mild dehydration. A person experiencing long-term dehydration will have a lack of moisture in the skin that will prevent the skin from being able to snap back into place if it has been disturbed. The person will experience continued muscle spasms throughout her body, and her stomach will begin to take on a bloated look.

  Long-term dehydration can also cause a person's eyes to drop back into the eye sockets, and it will be almost impossible for the person to generate tears under any circumstances.

Types

• By way of comparison, a person experiencing only mild dehydration will have skin that is dry to the touch and potentially warmer than normal, giving the false impression that he has a fever.

  A person with mild dehydration experiences minor cramping in his leg or arm muscles, and he may have severe headaches.

  Mild dehydration symptoms are the precursor to severe or long-term dehydration, but the symptoms of mild dehydration should not be confused with those of long-term dehydration.

Identification

• According to the Aging-Parents-and-Elder-Care.com, it can be easy to mistakenly identify long-term dehydration symptoms as those of other conditions that normally strike the elderly. Long-term dehydration carries many of the same symptoms as the onset of aging dementia, or even the beginning stages of Alzheimer's Disease.

  Properly diagnosing long-term dehydration in the elderly is important in preventing the effects of dehydration from causing more physical damage, and in ensuring that the patient is getting the proper care for her condition.

Significance

• Long-term dehydration is one of the most common reasons that people over the age of 65 wind up in the hospital.

  If the symptoms of long-term dehydration in the elderly persist for more than two days, it is necessary to get the person to an emergency room as soon as possible. Left untreated, long-term dehydration can be fatal.

Warning

• Salt is essential to keeping many of the body's organs functioning properly. Long-term dehydration can also lead to a lowering of salt in the body. One of the results of long-term dehydration can be kidney failure.