Most people think of dehydration as something that happens because you don’t drink enough water or you have food poisoning. But a lot of things like medications, alcohol and caffeine intake can catalyze it. Dehydration sends hundreds of thousands of people to the hospital on an annual basis.
Studies show that 75 percent of Americans are walking around in a chronic state of dehydration from consuming less than the recommended daily fluid intake (3 liters per day for a man, 2.2 liters per day for a woman).
Dehydration should be taken more seriously, especially in the summer months. As the weather gets warmer, the number of dehydrated patients increase in Urgent Care Centers across the country.
In the summer, dehydration is related to hot temperatures and being active outdoors, losing salt and water at a rate higher than you can replenish it. In the winter, hospitalizations due to dehydration tend to occur when someone is sick and losing fluids through diarrhea or vomiting. The person may be too sick to keep fluids down or feel too weak to drink water.
Improper fluid intake can lead to all sorts of ailments, such as urinary and kidney problems, heart-related illnesses, and seizures, and in some extreme cases, death.
PrimeCare Urgent Care can access you and provide IV fluids 7 days a week!