How to avoid dehydration and re-hydrate

Date:   9/17/2007 2:51:18 PM ( 17 y ago)

There are many concerns expressed about dehydration during the liver flush. It may be of interest to explain how dehydration occurs and what to do about it. The liver flush is a very versatile therapy and one can flush even without the use of Epsom salts or another purgative, just by consuming the flush potion of oil and usually citric acid. The down side of this type of flush that does purge is that the flush products consisting of stones and toxins are not evacuated quickly from the bowel and may be re-absorbed. The oleic acid present in oil and similar oils can in some circumstances increase the transit through the small intestines.

Normally, absorption and secretion of water and electrolytes occur throughout the intestine. A healthy adult consumes about two litres of fluid each day. Saliva and secretions from the stomach, pancreas, and liver add about seven litres, making a total of about nine litres that enter the small intestine every day. In the intestines, water and electrolytes are simultaneously absorbed and secreted which causes a two-directional flow of water and electrolytes between the intestines and the blood. Usually, more than 90% of the fluid entering the small intestine is absorbed, so that about one litre reaches the large intestine. Further absorption occurs in the colon and only 100 to 200 millilitres of water is excreted each day in formed stools. Any change in the two-directional flow of water and electrolytes in the small intestines changes the balance and when this exceeds its limited absorptive capacity, diarrhoea occurs.

There are two types of watery diarrhoea: secretion, and osmotic. Intestinal infections can cause diarrhoea by both mechanisms, secretory diarrhoea being more common, and both may occur in a single individual.

Secretory diarrhoea is caused by the abnormal secretion of water and salts into the small bowel. This occurs when the absorption of sodium is impaired while the secretion of chloride continues or is increased. Net fluid secretion results and leads to the loss of water and salts from the body as watery stools; this causes dehydration. In infectious diarrhoea, these changes may result from the action on the bowel bacterial toxins, viruses, or other mechanisms may also be involved.

Osmotic diarrhoea can occur when a poorly absorbed, active substance is ingested like Epsom salts; a purgative laxative. The water and Epsom salts will simply pass through the gut unabsorbed, causing diarrhoea. If the solution of Epsom salts is high then water and some electrolytes will move into the intestines. This increases the volume of the stool and, more importantly, causes dehydration owing to the loss of body water.

There is a narrow line between purging the bowels with non-absorbed solution of Epsom salts and causing a diarrhoea stool which contains large amounts of sodium, chloride, potassium, and bicarbonate, leading to dehydration. Other factors such as an individual’s electrolyte metabolism, electrolyte deficiency, virus, bacteria and flora content of the intestines can have an effect. It is important to take just enough Epsom salts to cause watery diarrhoea while avoiding dehydration. But this doesn’t always appear to be possible.

Note, that Epson salts has other actions on the biliary system which cause the gallbladder to contract and increases bile flow over a period of an hour after consuming it.

Isotonic dehydration is caused by diarrhoea. It occurs due to the losses of water and sodium is in the same proportion. Isotonic dehydration causes thirst; the skin becomes less plastic, rapid heart beat, dry mucous membranes, sunken eyes, lack of tears, and poor flow of urine. The physical signs of isotonic dehydration begin to appear when the fluid deficit approaches 5% of body weight and worsen as the deficit increases.

During diarrhoea, a large amount of bicarbonate may also but not always lost in the stool. If the kidneys continue to function normally, much of the lost bicarbonate is replaced by the kidneys and a serious deficiency does not develop. However, this compensating mechanism fails when kidney function deteriorates. As the liver flush is always saying: make sure your kidneys are functioning adequately before flushing.

People with diarrhoea can develop potassium depletion and this is greatest in people who are frequently potassium-deficient. When potassium and bicarbonate are lost together in the same proportion there are little additional symptoms other than normal osmotic dehydration. If the bicarbonate levels become elevated, this can cause general muscular weakness, irregular heartbeats, and a paralytic ileus. Paralytic ileus describes the condition in which the bowel ceases to function and there are no muscular contractions. This is problem in liver flushing because it results in slow evacuation of bile products.

Fluids such as soups, cereal gruels, cereal-salt solutions, or home-made sugar-and-salt solutions may be effective for correcting dehydration. Starch for example breaks down gradually into glucose, which is rapidly absorbed. A similar situation exists when a fluid contains proteins, e.g., soups containing legumes. The proteins break down slowly into amino acids, which are absorbed quickly. Absorption of sodium (and thus of other electrolytes and water) is enhanced by the active absorption of certain food molecules such as glucose (which is derived from the breakdown of sucrose or cooked starches) or l-amino acids (which are derived from the breakdown of proteins and peptides).

If the electrolyte potassium has also been depleted, salts of potassium and citrate (or bicarbonate) are added to sodium chloride (sea salt). This mixture ca be taken with glucose to re-hydrate.

Commercial soups, which may contain dangerously high concentrations of salt, and sweetened commercial fruit drinks or soft drinks, which are usually high in sucrose can, make dehydration worse.

In practical terms home made remedies for dehydration are just as good any others.

A home made hydration drink can be made as follows:
1 pints (600 ml) warm water
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
¼ teaspoon of ‘Lo salt’
1 tablespoon of honey

A re-hydration lunch can be home made runny vegetable stew, with lentils including a liberal amount of sea salt.

It is difficult to know for each individual person what electrolytes can be depleted and in what proportion. The method of re-hydration is a personal journey.

It also recommended that prior to liver flushing electrolyte levels are a normal balance through eating a wholesome food intake and that they is a good flow of urine and regular bowel movements. Candida and other digestive problems can change the electrolyte balance.



 

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