There’s a lot of talk about water these days, and ultimately the question everyone wants answered is, how much do you need? The truth is, that number is entirely dependent on the person asking – their lifestyle, activity levels, eating habits, and even climate. The best way to figure out what you need is by paying attention to your body.
Dehydration actually sets in before you start feeling thirsty, and is often indicated by, oddly enough, feeling slightly hungry. If you find yourself feeling like a snack, try having a glass of water first, and see what happens. Sipping water throughout the day can also help curb dehydration and is one of the simplest ways to deal with it. For people who struggle in the mornings, having a couple of glasses of water right when you wake up will help boost your blood pressure to normal levels. It will also help clean out your system and get you to the bathroom quickly.[1]
As we covered in a previous article about how much water we need:
Luckily our bodies come equipped with an attentive water detection system called thirst. Once your body has lost between one to two percent of its total water content, it will signal its needs by making you feel thirsty.
A simple rule of thumb for assessing your water needs is by looking at the colour of your urine. Dark urine likely indicates your kidneys are retaining fluid to maintain normal body functions. However, this isn’t to be confused with darker urine due to supplement intake, such as multi-vitamins.
If you are dehydrated, you will also likely urinate less often. According to Dr. Mercola, a healthy person urinates about 7-8 times per day. So monitoring how often you are urinating in a day is an important assessment tool.
Most people don’t think they need to worry about dehydration. To them, dehydration is something that happens to travelers in the desert when they run out of water.
But there is a chronic form of dehydration that does not have the sudden and intense nature of the acute form.
Chronic dehydration is widespread in the present day and affects everyone who is not drinking enough liquid.
This list of 13 symptoms will inspire you to go get a glass of water, and then another, and another.
After each symptom the list below will show how lack of fluid affects the issue.
Fatigue, Energy Loss: Dehydration of the tissues causes enzymatic activity to slow down.
Premature Aging: The body of a newborn child is composed of 80 percent liquid, but this percentage declines to no more than 70 percent in an adult and continues to decline with age.
Excess Weight and Obesity: We may overeat because we crave foods rich in water. Thirst is often confused with hunger.
High and Low Blood Pressure: The body’s blood volume is not enough to completely fill the entire set of arteries, veins, and capillaries.
Cholesterol: When dehydration causes too much liquid to be drained from inside the cells, the body tries to stop this loss by producing more cholesterol.
Constipation: When chewed food enters the colon, it contains too much liquid to allow stools to form properly, and the wall of the colon reduces it. In chronic dehydration, the colon takes too much water to give to other parts of the body.
Digestive Disorders: In chronic dehydration, the secretion of digestive juices is less.
Gastritis, Stomach Ulcers: To protect its mucous membranes from being destroyed by the acidic digestive fluid it produces, the stomach secretes a layer of mucus.
Respiratory Troubles: The mucous membranes of the respiratory region are slightly moist to protect the respiratory tract from substances that might be present in inhaled air.
Acid-Alkaline Imbalance: Dehydration activates an enzymatic slowdown producing acidification.
Eczema: Your body needs enough moisture to sweat 20 to 24 ounces of water, the amount necessary to dilute toxins so they do not irritate the skin.
Cystitis, Urinary Infections: If toxins contained in urine are insufficiently diluted, they attack the urinary mucousmembranes.
Rheumatism: Dehydration abnormally increases the concentration of toxins in the blood and cellular fluids, and the pains increase in proportion to the concentration of the toxins.
Recommended Daily Amount:
Every day you lose water through your breath, perspiration, urine and bowel movements. For your body to function properly, you must replenish its water supply by consuming beverages and foods that contain water.
So how much fluid does the average, healthy adult living in a temperate climate need?
The Institute of Medicine determined that an adequate intake (AI) for men is roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day. The AI for women is 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day.
C. diff is usually considered a hospital-acquired infection; but the rates of infection outside of hospitals are increasing, the authors of the study write.
One possible source of C. diff exposure is sandboxes, the researchers found. The bacterium may wind up there from the feces of humans and other animals. (Cats + sand = litter box.) The bug can survive for weeks or months outside of the body.
C. diff in sandboxes is especially dangerous for young children, the primary group at risk of catching the bug from playgrounds. Why? Because kids have high rates of geophagia. In other words, they eat sand and dirt.
Studying the Nitty-Gritty of C. Diff in Sandboxes
For the study, researchers tested sand from 40 sandboxes in public parks in Madrid, Spain, including 20 that were designated for children and 20 that were for dogs. C. diff was found in 9 of the sandboxes intended for kids, and 12 of the sandboxes intended for dogs.
An analysis of the different C. diff strains revealed that 2 of the samples from the kids’ sandboxes and 6 samples from the dogs’ sandboxes had “toxigenic” strains, meaning that they produced toxins. These toxins can lead to a damaged colon lining and diarrhea. Some strains of C. diff produce more toxins than others.
Every sample that the researchers tested was resistant to at least 2 antibiotics, making the infection more difficult to treat.
The researchers wrote that because of the risks posed by C. diff, tests for the bacterium should be included in future environmental-risk assessments.
Lead researcher Dr. Jose Blanco, from the Department of Animal Health at Complutense University of Madrid, said:
“This study shows the wide distribution of [these] bacteria in the environment, and the need for more studies to elucidate its presence in our communities.” [2]
Past studies in the U.S. have found other pathogens in sandboxes, including Toxoplasma gondii, which can cause flu-like symptoms, and parasitic Ascaris (nematode worm) eggs that can cause abdominal discomfort.
If you’re not totally disgusted yet, this should do it: Different types of roundworms have been found in playgrounds. Baylisascaris procyonis, spread by raccoons, can cause neurological damage and death. Thankfully, it’s extremely rare. Then there’s Toxocara roundworms – these stomach-turning creatures cause about 70 cases of blindness in U.S. children each year.
About Clostridium Difficile
Source: Medical News Today
C. diff infection can be hard to treat. The bacteria cause an intestinal infection that can lead to severe diarrhea which, in turn, can lead to dangerous dehydration. The symptoms of mild to moderate C. diff infection typically include:
Watery diarrhea 3 or more times a day
Mild abdominal cramping and tenderness [3]
Serious infections can cause:
Watery diarrhea 10 to 15 times a day
Abdominal cramping and pain, which may be severe
Rapid heart rate
Fever
Blood or pus in the stool
Nausea
Dehydration
Loss of appetite
Weight loss
Swollen abdomen
Kidney failure
Increased white blood cell count [3]
Severe complications can arise from C. diff infection, including:
Toxic megacolon, a condition in which the colon is unable to expel gas and stool, causing it to become greatly distended (megacolon). If not treated in time, the colon can rupture, causing bacteria from the colon to enter the abdominal cavity, requiring emergency surgery. Toxic megacolon is sometimes fatal.
Bowel perforation, a rare condition caused by extensive damage to the lining of the large intestine or after toxic megacolon.
Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.
Ward County, ND — On average in the United States, roughly a dozen inmates die every day. Many of these human beings have never been convicted of a crime and were merely awaiting trial. Their causes of death range from being boiled to death to being severely dehydrated or choked and crushed to death. Dustin Irwin, 25, is one of those deaths.
After having been arrested by a Ward County Deputy on charges of driving under suspicion, Irwin was booked into the Ward County Jail where, days later, he would die a horrid death. His death the became the subject of a North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOC) investigation.
Dashcam video of the arrest, obtained by the Minot Daily News, showed that Irwin was calm and courteous during the traffic stop.
However, after being booked into jail, Irwin became gravely ill. Just 12 hours after being booked, Irwin submitted a written request to go to the hospital.
Irwin wrote, “Please I’m really sick and need to see someone at the hospital. Please help me see someone.”
He knew something was very wrong. But deputies didn’t believe him. The on-duty sergeant at the jail thought Irwin was detoxing so he simply moved him to a different cell instead of seeking medical help.
It is important to note that inmates often fake being sick. However, the disturbing events that unfolded in Irwin’s cell over the next 48 hours were far beyond the realm of faking an illness.
Video from the cell shows Irwin vomiting, defecating, flailing, and in a constant state of torment for hours on end. The constant distress eventually caused Irwin to become unresponsive, so his cellmate pressed the emergency button in the cell.
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A deputy came into the cell — not a doctor — rolled back Irwin’s eyelids and administered a sternum rub. A sternum rub is a means of testing if a person is faking an unconscious state by using one’s knuckles to inflict a significant amount of pain to that person’s sternum. Irwin barely responded.
Dr. John J. Hagan, a board certified internist in Bismarck, concluded, according to the Minot Daily News, that “a properly trained correctional officer should have been able to recognize that Irwin should receive medical attention” and that “had he been evaluated at this point, he would likely have received a short course of IV fluids in the emergency room and would have been returned to the jail.” Hagan’s opinion noted that“regardless of medical training or corrections training” a reasonable individual would conclude Irwin was seriously ill and that “he required immediate medical attention.”
However, the deputies did not reach this conclusion and they left him in the cell once again.
Day 3. By this point, Irwin has become delirious and is unable to do anything but vomit and shake. Officers finally respond but not to get him medical help. Irwin was simply being exchanged for another inmate.
The disturbing video shows that Irwin was entirely unresponsive at this point. However, deputies loaded him up and prepared him for the exchange. The seat in the transport vehicle had to be covered in plastic because Irwin had been urinating and vomiting on himself for days.
According to MDN, Irwin could only “be described as very seriously ill,” wrote Dr. Hagan, after viewing video of Irwin being prepared for transport at the Ward County Jail. “He was hallucinating, incoherent, unable to follow simple instructions or to walk without assistance. A disinterested bystander would recognize that Irwin was gravely ill. Immediate treatment offered reasonable hope of survival even at this juncture. His best opportunity for survival and recovery was lost when the transport driver chose not to turn left into the emergency room entrance to Trinity upon leaving the jail.”
Again, the deputies ignored him.
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Not until Irwin was brought to the inmate exchange in Coleharbor did any of the deputies who viewed this seriously ill man say a single word.
Burleigh County Deputy Jennifer Heinert was the first person to show an ounce of humanity and notice that something was very wrong. Heinert told the DOC investigator that “as soon as she observed Irwin, she knew his condition was a medical condition” and that her immediate reaction was “to get Irwin to a hospital.”
By the time Irwin made it to the hospital, his condition had deteriorated that much more. He was then airlifted to Sanford Health in Fargo but went into ventricular fibrillation during the flight and died. He was returned to Bismarck where he was pronounced dead.
Dr. Hagan concluded in his report noting that “With reasonable medical certainty, I conclude that Dustin Irwin’s death was caused by profound dehydration. The combination of delirium accompanied by increased agitation is called excited delirium. Without appropriate medical intervention, this sequence of events will lead to death. Deputy Heinert appears to be the only individual who made the correct assessment and took prompt and appropriate action in this matter.”
The DOC investigation went further, concluding that “it is evident that those incarcerated at the Ward County Jail were not being properly supervised.” The DOC’s issued an Order of Non-Compliance to the Ward County Jail, calling Irwin’s treatment “grossly inadequate” and noting that “Every level of command within the Ward County Sheriff’s office failed to provide adequate care to inmate Dustin Irwin.”
READ MORE:Cop Tells Man to Stop Having a Seizure or He"ll Break His Arm. He Broke His Arm.
Charges were eventually filed against Capt. Mike Nason and Sheriff Steve Kukowski. However, they were almost immediately dropped. For the gross negligence and dereliction leading to the horrific suffering and death of another human being, no one was held liable. Instead, Kukowski convinced the Ward County Commissioners to pay him a $75,000 settlement.
