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Dehydration
Category: Illness or disabilities
Type
Involuntary and voluntary
Introduction and description

Dehydration (hypohydration) can be defined as an ‘excessive loss of body fluid’.
It is literally, in more generic terms, the removal of water from an object; however, in physiological terms, it entails a deficiency of fluid within an organism and despite the name, does not simply mean loss of water, as water and ‘solutes’ or electrolytes are also lost. Hyponatremic (hypotonic) dehydration, for example, occurs when the lost fluid contains more sodium than the blood, whilst Hypernatremic dehydration occurs when the lost fluid contains less sodium than the blood. This negative fluid balance results from
- decreased intake of fluids
- increased output of fluids (renal, GI, or insensible losses)
- or fluid shift (ascites, effusions, and capillary leak states such as burns and sepsis)
It may seem incomprehensible to anyone reading this - given the numerous benign alternatives there are to achieve a spiritual experience - why anyone would deliberately choose to deprive themselves of fluids in order to get a spiritual experience, but the answer is that those who use fasting do and those who discover it works for them do.
Symptoms

Symptoms may include one or more of the following at various levels of dehydration according to severity
- Extreme thirst and discomfort
- Constipation
- decreased urine volume and abnormally dark urine
- unexplained tiredness, lethargy, overwhelming fatigue
- irritability, moodiness
- increased body temperature because of decreased sweating
- lack of tears when crying
- dry mouth
- insomnia
- headaches similar to those experienced during a hangover
- decreased blood pressure (hypotension) and dizziness or fainting when standing up due to orthostatic hypotension
- nausea
- delirium, hallucinations or visions
- unconsciousness/coma
and, in extreme cases, death.
Causes

The causes are many and varied. Apart from dehydration induced by deprivation of fluid by accident or by design, there are also a number of illnesses that cause dehydration and a number of drugs. For example [this list is not exhaustive];
- Old age - In people over age 50, the body’s thirst sensation diminishes and continues diminishing with age. Many elderly people suffer symptoms of dehydration without knowing they have it. Dehydration along with hyperthermia can result in the elderly dying suddenly during extreme hot weather.
- Gastroenteritis: - is one of the most common causes of dehydration. If both vomiting and diarrhoea are present, dehydration may occur very soon. Diarrhoea, Cholera and diseases of the gastrointestinal tract can all lead to dehydration.
- Prolonged physical activity - profuse sweating without consuming adequate water, especially in a hot and/or dry environment can result in dehydration.
- Prolonged exposure to dry air, e.g., in high-flying airplanes (5%–12% relative humidity).
- Burns – fluid losses can be extreme.
- Malnutrition and fasting, nutritional deprivation - starvation or voluntary refusal of nutrition and hydration.
- Drugs - Various drugs both pharmaceutical and other including caffeine, amphetamine and methamphetamine.
The eHealthme site collects the Adverse Drug reports submitted by doctors to the FDA and SEDA in the USA. It then summarises them for ease of use. We originally provided a direct link to the entry for Dehydration listed on this site and the pharmaceuticals that can cause it, but the eHealthme website developers frequently reorganise the site and thus break the links. Thus in order to find out which pharmaceuticals are implicated in Dehydration- Follow the LINK to the eHealthme website
- Using the ‘All conditions’ index find the appropriate entry
- Now scroll down until you get to the section marked ‘Drugs that could cause ”
The list shows you all the drugs implicated in CAUSING Dehydration as well as the number of people who have made a complaint to their doctor and had their case reported by him. Note that it is up to the doctor whether he reports or not.
As of October 2016, about 2,550 pharmaceuticals were in this list
Hyponatremia-induced psychosis in an industrial setting
Rakesh Kumar Singh and Suprakash Chaudhury;Department of Psychiatry, Ranchi Institute of Neuropsychiatry and Allied Sciences, Kanke, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
Hyponatremia has also been reported as an unusual side effect of drugs like tricyclic antidepressants (Sharma and Pompei, 1996), thiazides (Haensch et al., 1996), carbamazepine (Schmitz and Trimble, 1995) and lisinopril (Giupponi and Erfurth, 1998).
- Alcohol - in excess
- Fever and Hyperthermia both of which result in sweating and consequent fluid loss
- Diabetes – diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA): Dehydration is caused by osmotic diuresis. Weight loss is caused by both excessive fluid losses and tissue catabolism. Diabetes insipidus: Excessive output of very dilute urine can result in large free water losses and severe hypernatremic dehydration
- Congenital adrenal hyperplasia: This may have associated hypoglycemia, hypotension, hyperkalemia, and hyponatremia
- Cystic fibrosis: This results in excessive sodium and chloride losses in sweat, placing patients at risk for severe hyponatremic hypochloremic dehydration
- Thyrotoxicosis – which results in severe weight loss and diarrhea.

Treatment
Treat the cause.
See also Heal yourself and Water!!
How it works
Physically the mechanisms in operation are described in the section I have provided the Chemistry of dehydration.
Functionally, however, depriving yourself of fluids is understandably regarded by the body as a threat. The messages being received from all the sensory systems is HELP HELP HELP – you are killing us, we are dying!!!! DO SOMETHING!!
Occasionally, having realised we are dying the Will releases endorphins, on the basis that if we are going to die, we might as well die happy. This is where the euphoria comes from – it means we are close to death. This is where the bliss comes from – it is chemical bliss – nothing more, not spiritual in the least.
During the lead in to this final act of desperation, there will be a gradual shut down of function that will be evident in reduced reasoning power and memory. A body deprived of fluids is, in effect, gradually shutting down. And in cases where the body is shutting down it reverts to core autonomic system functions – the functions it needs to maintain itself.
Any function which is closed down may never be capable of being revived again. Thus people who have faced severe dehydration may have permanently damaged memories and reasoning power. Furthermore there may also be permanent damage to other organs of the body – kidneys, heart, liver etc.
The Will gets all these messages but is unable to do anything. It may attempt to push us into finding water, but with reduced reasoning we may drink the wrong things. This is why men on life rafts occasionally drink sea water when they know in normal life that it just makes things worse.
So the Will can do nothing. But it is being bombarded by messages of total panic from the body – YOU ARE KILLING US, HELP HELP HELP.
At which point it gives up and the composer takes over. And we have a spiritual experience, which in a number of cases appear to be near death experiences.
Observations

Related observations
Hallucination
- Bidon 5 and the piping Tuareg 003850
- Elderly mania 005570
- Evagrius Ponticus - A study into his asceticism 000570
- Fishermen on damaged boat 000538
- Hallucinations after operations 013005
- Hallucinations from morning sickness 012996
- Lame Deer - Native American Indians - The Vision pit 000585
- Leonard Crow Dog - Native American Indians - The Vision pit 000587
- Moses - Deuteronomy 2 - The Desert Years 001294
- Moses - Exodus 34 000528
- Pound, Ezra - Cantos I 015284
- Pound, Ezra - Cantos II 015285
- PubMed Paper on dehydration 000536
- Robertson family 000409
- Saint Jerome - from Letter 22 001293
- Saint Peter of Alcantara - from The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila 001035
- Saint-Exupery, Antoine de - Wind, Sand and Stars 003934
- Saint-Exupery, Antoine de - Wind, Sand and Stars 003933
- Sodium imbalance in athletes 006848
- Srebrenica hallucinations 006969
- Sternberg - The Gilyak Siberian shaman 000533
- Stress stress stress 002252
- The spiritual retreat of Mir Maghmud 001278
- Tiira, Ensio - Raft of despair 000817
- Torpedoed 001363
- Triathlete hallucinates 001354
- USS Indianapolis Crew Battled Sharks and Hallucinations 029538
Wisdom, Inspiration, Divine love & Bliss
- Jochelson - Living in the taiga 001282
- Pound, Ezra - A Girl 001617
- Saint-Exupery, Antoine de - Le Petit Prince 003935
- Saint-Exupery, Antoine de - Le Petit Prince 004400
Out of time
- A P Elkin - Aboriginal men of high degree - Arnhem land initiation 003291
- A P Elkin - Aboriginal men of high degree - Dhakkan's watery dwelling 003874
- A P Elkin - Aboriginal men of high degree - Dieri initiation 003293
- A P Elkin - Aboriginal men of high degree - Jajauring initiation 003871
- A P Elkin - Aboriginal men of high degree - Kukatja medicine man 003492
- A P Elkin - Aboriginal men of high degree - Pointing and projecting magical substances 003290
- A P Elkin - Aboriginal men of high degree - Southern Australian initiation 003294
- A P Elkin - Aboriginal men of high degree - Ta-ta-thi medicine men 003872
- A P Elkin - Aboriginal men of high degree - Throwing him into sky-land 003292
- A P Elkin - Aboriginal men of high degree - Ungarinyin (Ngarinjin) man 003493
- A P Elkin - Aboriginal men of high degree - Yualai (Euahlayi) initiation 003873
- Falling down and meeting a monk 004295
- Kipling, Rudyard - Kim - On fasting 000520
- Lame Deer - Native American Indians - The Vision pit 000585
- Mircea Eliade - Describes Arunta rebirth 004119
- Mircea Eliade - Describes Tungus rebirth 004127
- Mircea Eliade - Describes Yakut shaman rebirth 003859
- Muldoon, Sylvan - Deliberate Dehydration 000535
- Muldoon, Sylvan - He could not turn on the tap out of body 000534
- The story of an OBE told by Anna, a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp 024496
Enlightenment
- Kipling, Rudyard - Kim - On fasting 000520
- Saint-Exupery, Antoine de - Wind, Sand and Stars 003932
- Tiira, Ensio - Raft of despair 000816
In time
- A P Elkin - Aboriginal men of high degree - Dhakkan's watery dwelling 003874
- A P Elkin - Aboriginal men of high degree - Yaralde initiation 003281
- A P Elkin - Aboriginal men of high degree - Yualai (Euahlayi) initiation 003873
- Bidon 5 and the piping Tuareg 003850
- Dr J C Barker - How death prayers and fear can result in death 011921
- Evagrius Ponticus - A study into his asceticism 000570
- Falling down and meeting a monk 004295
- Harner, Michael 000588
- Lame Deer - Native American Indians - The Vision pit 000585
- Leonard Crow Dog - Native American Indians - The Vision pit 000587
- Moses - Deuteronomy 2 - The Desert Years 001294
- Moses - Exodus 34 000528
- Muldoon, Sylvan - Deliberate Dehydration 000535
- Muldoon, Sylvan - He could not turn on the tap out of body 000534
- Pound, Ezra - Cantos I 015284
- Pound, Ezra - Cantos II 015285
- Robertson family 000409
- Saint-Exupery, Antoine de - Wind, Sand and Stars 003932
- Seamen in Life raft 000537
- Sternberg - The Gilyak Siberian shaman 000533
- Tiira, Ensio - Raft of despair 000817
- Tiira, Ensio - Raft of despair 000816