What are the complications related to Osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a disease in which an individual’s bone density becomes low and the bones quality starts reducing rapidly. There are many complications that one has to face if he/she has the symptoms of osteoporosis. Osteoporotic fractures not only leads to extreme pain but also many other severe consequences. Let’s have a look at the complications related to osteoporosis.

What are the complications related to osteoporosis?

· An individual suffering from this disease has lowest quality of life due to working days lost because of enhancing disabilities caused by osteoporotic fractures.

· In case of elder person who is suffering from fatal fractures, there is always a risk of developing pneumonia & blood clots in the veins his/her legs due to bed rest from very long period.

· If an individual had a hip fracture and he/she had gone through hip surgery then he/she needs prolonged nursing-home nurture to recover from this stage completely.

· Osteoporosis is also linked with an enhanced risk of death & the patients having hip fracture always have the risk of dying in subsequent years as an indirect outcome of the fracture.

· An individual who had gone through spine fracture because of osteoporosis, has much risk to suffer from other osteoporotic fractures in the future.

What causes Osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a bone disease where the bones of our body become brittle, fragile and loses its density due to hormonal changes, deficiency of vitamin D & calcium etc. As a result of it slowly the bones become weak and may also break in some severe cases.

What causes Osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis may be caused due to several reasons. There are few common causes of osteoporosis listed below.

· The two main components of bones are calcium & phosphorous. Calcium helps the bones to remain strong. Our body parts such as muscles, heart & nerves needs calcium for proper functioning. Deficiency of calcium may lead to osteoporosis. 

· Vitamin D protects our bones and it immensely helps to absorb calcium. Everyone of us require Vitamin D to keep our bones healthy & strong. Deficiency of vitamin D may also cause low bone density or osteoporosis. 

· The sedentary lifestyle enhances the chance of low bone density. Sedentary lifestyle is nothing but a lifestyle where an individual leads a completely activity less life. Hence, it is advised to do easy weight loss exercises for 15-20 minutes on daily basis. 

· Lower levels of estrogen in women increases the chances of low bone density. Estrogen is very important for regulating the strength & mass of bones by managing the functions of bone-resorbing osteoclasts. 

· Smoking regulates free radicals which can leads to death or damage of a cell. The toxins present in cigarette minimize the levels of estrogen which is an essential component for bones that helps to keep the bones healthy & strong. 

· Low level of testosterone in men may also lead osteoporosis. Testosterone initiates bone mineralization & minimizes the chance of bone restoration. 

What are the symptoms of Osteoporosis?

When our bone starts reducing its density & quality then it is known as Osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a disease where the bones become more fragile & brittle and also the chances of fracture become higher. The bones become weaker due to rapid reduction of density. There are many reasons of osteoporosis such as personal health condition, lifestyle, family background, type of blood & gender etc. Yoga is an effective way to treat body pains related to osteoporosis and it also gives strength to the bones. Most of the time people do not observe the signs of osteoporosis and slowly it gets severe. Let’s get some more information about the symptoms of Osteoporosis. 

What are the symptoms of Osteoporosis?

Well osteoporosis is a disease where you cannot see any evident symptoms till it gets severe and cause serious damages. However, there are few symptoms that have been listed down to help you to observe them at early stage.

• Osteoporosis leads to osteoporotic fractures and the symptoms that consist of excruciating pain at the location of the fracture. 
• The fracture in spine or vertebra causes extreme radiating pain that wave from the back to the sides of the body. 
• Spinal fractures in repetition over the years can cause severe lower back pain. 
• Erosion of bones and curve in the spine due to vertebrae collapse may cause loss of height. 
• The collapse of the vertebrae may also cause development of a hunched-back in elderly women which is termed as “Dowager Hump”. 
• A fracture which happens during normal course of events is termed as minimal trauma or stress fracture. 
• Fracture in hip due to osteoporosis occurs even as a result of trivial slip & accidents by fall. The hip fractures take long time to heal because of slow healing of the bones at that location. 

What are the home remedies for Dehydration?

When we looses much fluid than we intake then our body gets dehydrated. Every single cell of our body needs water and oxygen to perform its functions properly. Generally people gets dehydrated when they suffers from vigorous exercise in hot weather, diarrhea, vomiting, excessive sweating and increased urination. If dehydration is not treated on time, it may leads to serious complications. Here we have listed some of the useful home remedies for dehydration.

What are the home remedies of dehydration?

Increase the consumption of water

This is the very first step to deal with dehydration. You should increase the consumption of water intake. Drinking much water is generally enough to rehydrate the body of an adult. You should drink sufficient amount of water even if you are not feeling thirsty.

ü Have small amounts of water & clear fluid for the entire day.

ü Consume carbohydrate or electrolyte containing drinks.

ü Suck on popsicles made up of juices and sports drinks.

ü Suck on freeze water bottles or ice cubes on regular intervals.

Have homemade Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS)

Restoration of lost fluid & minerals on regular basis is very important when anyone gets dehydrated. You can prepare a homemade ORS to restore the lost fluid & minerals from your body. 

ü Take 4 cups of drinking water and add ½ tsp of salt & 6 tsp of sugar into it.

ü Stir thoroughly till the sugar & salt completely dissolve in water.

ü Drink this homemade ORS several times in a day until you recover from dehydration completely.

Yogurt, an effective remedy

Yogurt is an effective home remedy for dehydration caused due to diarrhea or vomiting. Yogurt is enriched with electrolytes. It soothes the stomach and is an easily digestible food.

ü Have a small bowl of yogurt for few times in a day. You can also add a little amount of cottage cheese in yogurt.

ü You can also have plain boiled rice with yogurt and little amount of salt in it.

Water-enriched fruits & vegetables

When you are suffering from mild dehydration then you should add water-enriched fruits & vegetables in your diet. According to a study, water-enriched fruits & vegetables hydrate our body twice as effectively as a glass of water does. These fruits & vegetables have hydrating salt, minerals & sugars, hence they functions similar to isotonic drinks used by athletes.

Some of the water-enriched fruits & vegetables are- watermelon, grapes, strawberries, cantaloupe, oranges, papaya, lettuce, spinach, tomato, cucumber, celery, radish and zucchini.

Banana treats dehydration

Eating banana is a very good home remedy to treat mild dehydration. When anyone suffers from dehydration, he/she looses minerals from his/her body such as potassium. Banana is a very good source of potassium, hence you should add banana in your diet to restore this important mineral in your body. Apart from this, consumption of banana also helps in restoring normal functions of cramped muscles that has been occurred due to excessive loss of water in the body.

ü Eat one to two bananas in a day to restore lost mineral.

ü You can also have banana in the form of banana smoothies.

Rehydrate your body with coconut water

Coconut water is a very good home remedy for dehydration. It contains high electrolytes that make it quite hydrating drink. Coconut water is also low in calorie & sugar. If you are suffering from dehydration then you should drink coconut milk a few times in a day to rehydrate your body.

Healthy drink, buttermilk

Buttermilk is a helpful remedy to deal with dehydration. Buttermilk supplies important minerals lost during excessive sweating which is one of the main causes of dehydration.

ü Drink a glass of buttermilk a few times a day to recover the lost minerals from your body.

ü You can also mix ½ tsp of dry ginger into a cup of buttermilk and drink it for few times a day.

Lemon water, an excellent remedy

Lemon water is another important remedy to treat dehydration. This helps in soothing and hydrating your body. Along with this, lemon water also provides you energy and refreshment.

ü Take a glass of water and add the juice of ½ a lemon.

ü Now mix 1 tsp of raw honey, ½ tsp of black pepper powder and a pinch of salt.

ü Drink this refreshing drink at regular intervals of time in a day.

What are the complications involved with Dehydration?

Dehydration occurs when we lose excess fluid than our intake and our body does not have enough fluid to perform normal functions. If we do not replace the lost fluid from our body then we get dehydrated. There are many complications may caused due to dehydration. Let’s have a look on few complications may caused due to dehydration. 

Complications involved with Dehydration

May lead to heat injury

It is very important that we drink enough fluid during workout, if we do not do so then it may cause heat injury. Scarcity of fluid in our body may also lead to some serious issues such as from mild heat cramps to heat exhaustion or potential life-threatening heatstroke. Doing exercise everyday is a very good habit no doubt but do not forget to replace the amount of fluid lost from your body. 

May cause cerebral edema (Swelling of brain)

In some cases it happens that when you are getting liquid again after being dehydrated, your body tries to pull excess fluid back into the cells. This may leads to swelling in some cells. The consequences may be severe when the brain cells swells up. 

May lead seizures

Electrolyte (such as Potassium & Sodium) is a very important component that carries electrical signals from one cell to another. If you have imbalanced electrolytes composition then the normal electrical messages can be mixed up which may cause involuntary muscle contractions or in some cases may also lose consciousness. 

May cause hypovolemic shock (Low blood volume shock)

Low blood volume shock is one of the most severe complications of dehydration. In some cases it may become life-threatening complication as well. This situation occurs when low blood volume lead to decrease in blood pressure & also decreases the amount of oxygen in our body.

May lead to Kidney failure

This is one more serious health issue may caused by dehydration. Kidney failure due to dehydration may happen when our kidney is not able to remove excess fluid & wastes from the body.

Sometimes may cause coma & death

If dehydration is not treated properly on time, it may cause serious health issues. Sometimes in severe cases the patient may go into coma and sometimes may cause death also.

What causes Dehydration?

When our body does not have enough water to replace the lost water throughout the day then our body gets dehydrated. Our system gets dries out. In some cases dehydration may cause due to simple reasons such as when you do not drink enough of water. There may be any reason for not drinking enough water such as if you are busy, if you are travelling, if you are camping etc. Some of the other causes of dehydration are as follows.

What causes Dehydration?

Due to diarrhea or Vomiting 

When diarrhea comes on sudden & violent then it is a severe kind of diarrhea. In this kind of severe diarrhea our body looses lots of water & electrolytes in short span of time. If anyone starts vomiting along with diarrhea then his body loses even more tremendous amount of water & minerals. In this condition our body gets into severity, especially kids & infants. Diarrhea can be caused due to bacterial & viral infections, food sensitivity, any kind of reaction to medication or a bowel disorder.

Due to fever 

Generally, when we have high fever the chances become more for to become dehydrated. If anyone has fever including diarrhea & vomiting then he loose even more fluid & minerals from his body. 

Due to excess sweating 

Loss of water during sweating is a very common reason for loosing fluid from our body. If you do hard activities & do not replace the lost water during activity then you may become dehydrated. Most commonly hot & humid weather enhances the amount of sweating & the fluid you lose. However, in winter also we may get dehydrated if the lost fluid has not been replaced. Hence it is very important that we replace accurate amount of water or fluid that we have lost throughout the day to prevent dehydration. 

Due to enhanced urination 

Dehydration can also be caused because of undiagnosed & excessive diabetes. There are few medications (such as diuretics & some medications for blood pressure) that may also cause dehydration. Excessive diabetes & certain medications generally lead to urinate more than normal.

What are the symptoms of Dehydration?

When our body uses or loses much fluid than our intake & our body does not have enough water & other fluid to perform normal functions & activities then this situation is known as Dehydration. If we do not replace lost fluid of our body then we will get dehydrated. The important thing is to identify the symptoms of dehydration to get proper treatment. The symptoms of dehydration have been listed below.

Moderate symptoms of Dehydration

· Starts feeling dry & sticky mouth. 

· Starts feeling sleepy or tired all the time, especially kids become less active in their daily activities. 

· Starts feeling thirsty. 

· Urine output start decreasing. 

· In case of infants no wet diapers for 3 hours. 

· Starts feeling headache. 

· During crying very few or no tears. 

· Starts feeling dry skin. 

· Sometimes feel dizziness. 

· May also suffer from constipation. 

Severe symptoms of Dehydration

· Feel extremely thirsty. 

· Feel extremely sleepy in case of infants and feel irritability in case of adults. 

· Feel extremely dry mouth, skin & mucous membranes. 

· Very little or no urine output and if any urine output that will be darker than usual. 

· Feel sunken eyes all the time. 

· Skin becomes dry without any elasticity and does not “bounce back” when pinched. 

· Suffer from low blood pressure. 

· Heart beat become very rapid. 

· Starts breathing very rapidly. 

· While crying no tears output. 

· May also feel fever sometimes. 

· Sometimes in most severe cases, unconsciousness. 

However, feeling extremely thirsty is not a strong symptom of dehydration. One of the better symptoms of dehydration is to observe the color of urine. The usual color of urine is clear or light colored but when it becomes dark yellow or amber color then it is an indication of dehydration.

When to go to a doctor? 

In case of adults, moderate dehydration can be treated by drinking more fluid such as water or sports drink. In severe symptoms such as extreme thirst, lack of urination, dizziness etc. you should immediately go to a doctor.

Where as in case of kids & older adults, you need to take it seriously and consult a doctor without wasting time. If you observe these symptoms then call the doctor immediately-

· When feel severe diarrhea, may be with or without vomiting & fever. 

· When observe bloody or black stool. 

· When has had moderate diarrhea for 24 hours or more. 

· When feels extremely sleepy or tired.