Table of contents:
- What is hypervolemia?
- The cause of hypervolemia is an underlying condition
- Symptoms and effects of hypervolemia
- What can be done?
The human body is composed of at least 60% water. Water is important for the body to help carry out its every function properly in order to maintain your health. However, if the body has excess fluid volume it will turn out very dangerous. This condition is known as hypervolemia. Hypervolemia is a variety of symptoms caused by excess volume of water in the body, which may be caused by certain health problems so that the body cannot regulate water storage in the body.
What is hypervolemia?
Hypervolemia is a medical term that describes a condition when the body stores too much excess volume of fluid. This excess fluid can accumulate outside the body's cells or in the spaces between cells in certain tissues. Hypervolemia also describes the condition of excess fluid in the bloodstream.
Under normal circumstances, the body's fluid levels are controlled by the kidneys. When the kidneys detect that your body has stored a lot of fluid, the kidneys will help excrete it through urine. Vice versa. If the kidneys detect signs that your body is dehydrated, they will put a brake on urine production.
In people with hypervolemia, the balance of this work is disturbed so that the body cannot excrete excess fluids. If this happens continuously, these water deposits will fill the cavities and tissues and the bloodstream.
The cause of an imbalance that triggers hypervolemia can be triggered by a buildup of sodium salts in the body. High sodium salt causes retention, when the body stores more water to balance the salt levels.
The cause of hypervolemia is an underlying condition
Hypervolemia in itself is not a disease, but tends to be a sign or symptom that is often found in people who experience the following conditions:
- Congestive heart failure - Hypervolaemia is a common symptom in people with heart failure and is very difficult to treat even with medication. Congestive heart failure causes the heart to not pump blood around the body, resulting in decreased kidney function to remove excess fluid.
- Kidney failure - As the main organ with the task of regulating water levels, kidney damage will automatically result in disruption of fluid balance in the body. This condition can also cause gastrointestinal disorders, obstruction of the wound healing process, and heart failure.
- Cirrhosis of the liver (liver) is an organ that plays a role in the storage and use of nutrients and filters out toxins. Disorders of the liver cause fluid retention around the stomach and various parts of the body.
- Intravenous use (infusion) - Infusion aims to prevent dehydration. However, intravenous fluids containing water and salt will directly enter the bloodstream and trigger hypervolemia. Hypervolemia conditions associated with intravenous fluids are common in postoperative patients. Hypervolemia associated with intravenous use can increase the risk of death.
- Hormonal factors - the fluctuation of hormones during pregnancy and PMS can cause the body to retain more fluids. This can cause nausea and discomfort.
- Medications - Several types of medications are known to be associated with mild hypervolemia. For example birth control pills, hormone therapy, antidepressant drugs, hypertension drugs, and NSAID painkillers.
- Foods high in salt - Consumption of high salt or more than 2300 mg / day is known to be associated with hypervolemia, but does not cause significant symptoms. Unless it occurs in children, the elderly, and those with health problems are at risk of hypervolemia.
Symptoms and effects of hypervolemia
In general, hypervolemia can cause:
- Gaining weight quickly.
- Swelling of the arms and legs.
- Swelling around the abdominal area, especially in patients with liver disease.
- Shortness of breath due to too much fluid in the lung tissue.
Hypervolemia is also at risk of causing more serious complications such as:
- Swelling of tissue in the heart.
- Heart failure.
- Recovery of wounds that take too long.
- Network damage.
- Decreased bowel movements.
What can be done?
Hypervolemia rarely causes serious problems in healthy individuals who do not have certain risk factors. However, hypervolemia in someone who is at risk of heart problems, kidney problems, and liver damage needs to be addressed immediately.
Treatment of hypervolemia is with diuretic drugs to increase the amount of urine fluid excreted. However, it needs to be used under a doctor's supervision, especially in someone who has heart problems.
To avoid hypervolemia, a person with a history of heart and kidney needs to adopt a low-salt diet to limit salt levels in the body. Likewise, limiting water consumption in patients with a history of congestive heart failure.
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