Reviewed by medical experts • For informational purposes only
Feed dehydration recovery with fluids first, then khichdi, banana, curd-rice and light dal-rice; skip oily, heavy and very sweet things for a few days; and let watery fruits, curd and salted drinks do quiet prevention all summer.
During and after dehydration, food is part of the rehydration - and the rules are gentler and simpler than most people think.
Feed dehydration recovery with fluids first, then khichdi, banana, curd-rice and light dal-rice; skip the oily, very sweet and heavy for a few days; and let summer eating - watery fruits, curd, salted drinks - do quiet prevention all season.
Written By
Dr. Daksh
BDS
Reviewed By
Dr. Varun Gupta
MD Pharmacology, MBBS
Last updated on
27 Sep 2022 • 06:23 PM (IST)
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Dehydration is simple arithmetic - more water and salts leaving than coming in. Diarrhoea and vomiting, fever, sweating and plain not-drinking are the causes, with infants, the elderly and anyone in the summer heat running out of reserves fastest.
The definitive dehydration remedy was always a kitchen recipe: 6 level teaspoons of sugar plus half a level teaspoon of salt per litre, sipped steadily - plus nimbu-pani, chaas, coconut water and kanji. What works, how to drink it, and where remedies end.
Dehydration comes in three types - water and salt lost together, mostly water lost, or mostly salt lost - and they all teach one home rule: when sweat, diarrhoea or vomiting do the losing, replace electrolytes, not just plain water.
Unrecognised severe dehydration is genuinely dangerous: shock, kidney injury, electrolyte seizures and heatstroke - with infants and the elderly crashing fastest. Every complication is prevented by one unglamorous act: replacing fluids and salts early.
Treating dehydration is matching response to grade: water for mild, ORS sipped all day for moderate, hospital IV fluids for severe - while treating the cause (diarrhoea, fever, heat) and re-feeding gently once the worst passes. The complete playbook.
Mild dehydration answers to water, moderate to actively-sipped ORS with a doctor's call for the vulnerable, and severe to hospital IV fluids without delay. The grades, their right responses, and the signs - confusion, fainting, a baby too weak to drink - where home care ends.
