It is often missed and ignored as important factors to ailing health. In this subclinical state of dehydration, signs and symptoms are subtle and mild. This is especially the case for those on the fluid depletion side of the spectrum. Little attention is paid when fluid imbalance lies between the two extremes when symptoms can be evident but laboratory tests are normal. Deficiency in fluid, or clinical dehydration, is treated with fluid replacement. These are quickly resolved with administration of medications called diuretics that increase urine output to reduce body fluid load. Fluid overload clinically results in pulmonary edema, peripheral edema, and congestive heart failure. Unfortunately, conventional medicine is mostly familiar with fluid imbalances at the extreme ends of the scale, with severe dehydration on one end and massive fluid overload at the opposite end. This is especially critical in Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome, where fluid dysregulation is a common occurrence, especially in the advanced stages.įluid imbalance presents as a continuum.

Maintaining optimum fluid balance is important to achieving general good health. While one can survive fifty days or more without food, the body can only go without water for a few days before survival is at risk. Those who are overweight will have more water compared to those who are lean. The average adult human body is fifty-five to seventy-five percent water. Symptoms are subtle at first, but do worsen over time. These effects are first seen in late stages of AFS. This process can be compromised when hormones that regulate these processes become dysregulated. Our aldosterone levels, another steroid hormone produced in the adrenal cortex, are primarily responsible for regulating this balance.įluids in the human body are balanced through a self-regulating mechanism which stabilizes blood volume and electrolyte levels. We call them “water bottle babies.” The need for fluid repletion highlights the metabolic problems within: the inability of the body to fine-tune electrolyte balance, especially with regards to sodium and potassium. One of the classic findings in advanced Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS) sufferers is the need to be carrying a water bottle in order to be constantly hydrated.

Aldosterone adrenal cortex