Last Year's Hike...Dehydration

fedaykincmndr

fedaykincmndr

Joined
Aug 3, 2004
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I was on a hike last year with a friend of mine (a fellow Grunt), and for the first time in my adult life, experienced extreme dehydration. Before I get into the details of it, I'd like to "set the stage," as it were:

June, Southern Indiana
TEMP: Low 90's F
HUMIDITY: ~80%
LOAD: 45lbs
TERRAIN: Extremely Rugged, 150ft+ climbs straight up (Knobstone Trail, often used as an AT training trail)
CLOTHING: BDU's (full set), boonie cover, and shemagh

We started early in the morning on a mock patrol just for fun. Around mile 3 or so, I had consumed my entire camelbak of water (3L, I had been well hydrated all day and the day before), and tried to refill but my bleach for water purification had gone bad. Shortly thereafter, I had the first signs of dehydration: my hand and forearm cramped up, that is, it kind of stuck in one position for a few moments during a rest. My friend had been consuming rehydration gels and gummies, I had had a Clif-bar and some jerky. Looking back now, the food without water was a bad idea, as whatever water I had was being used in digestion. To continue, I ignored the arm/hand cramp as having been caused by holding my rifle in approximately the same position for a few hours. After we turned around at ~5mi, during a rest, my leg literally seized, that is, every muscle from my hip to my toes simultaneously "fired." I have never felt that kind of pain; it was agony. Long story long, I finished the trail, but just barely, having to stop every 100ft or so and attempt not to scream like a little girl (I failed more than once), as both of my legs continued to cramp as if they were trying to implode. My friend gave me some of the rehydration gel and gummies, to no avail.

Suffice to say, I am now deathly afraid of dehydration. I spent 3yrs in the Marine Corps as a Grunt and had never had this happen to me, dehydrated or not. So now, I carry rehydration gel with me always in my get home bag. But after doing some research, I found out that the WHO had a recipe for homemade rehydration salts. Upon further research I founds some other, similar recipes and I came up with this:

1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp potassium chloride (No-Salt)
1 tbsp Masa Harina (Tarahumare runners use it during 50+mile runs)
2 tbsp Honey

That would be consumed with a liter of water.

My question is, what do you gents think of that recipe as far as aiding in staving off rehydration? I would also like to say, from personal experience, dehydration is no joke and the importance of water and proper hydration is surely first in Survival needs. Thanks for reading, I look forward to your responses.
 
fedaykincmndr said:
Around mile 3 or so, I had consumed my entire camelbak of water (3L, I had been well hydrated all day and the day before), and tried to refill but my bleach for water purification had gone bad.
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I don't mean to beat you up but at this point you should have turned around or drank the water without disinfecting it. In hot and humid weather there's just no playing around with dehydration but I think you know that now. :D

Can't say on the recipe. I've always been skeptical about the efficacy of these things and by your own telling they didn't end up working so I guess I'm still skeptical. :D Hopefully someone stops by with more info on it.
 
Dehydration is not something to fool around with. We unfortunately learn about it through our own experience or our friends' experience. And simply drinking water doesn't solve the problem because you have to replace the lost electrolytes. Sports drinks work in a pinch but are loaded with a lot of sugar, etc. If you have clean water then use electrolyte tablets or powder. They are used by endurance athletes and they are inexpensive and don't weigh anything.

If clean water is not available then carry an individual water purification unit. Some are like big straws with filters in them and the are relatively inexpensive. But again, you can't just drink the water, you have to replace the electrolytes. Not preaching here. Just speaking from hard learned personal experience.

(I can't comment on the OP's recipe. If he is going to try it out then he might want to have a commercial formulation handy in case it doesn't work.)
 
You have to be careful when making up formulas for treating dehydration. While you need some salt, it takes very little. Too much and you can make the condition worse. Most important is to stop exerting yourself. Rest and hydrate before continuing. Finishing the hike could have placed you in an emergency situation.
Severe cases require fluids to be administered intravenously.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dehydration/basics/treatment/con-20030056
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/tc/dehydration-home-treatment
 
from the sounds of it, you might have not been dehydrated as much as low on potassium or calcium, maybe even magnesium. It can happen really easily if you naturally eat a low salt diet, or are lactose intolerant so you aren't having dairy as much as some folks. Muscle cramps usually happen later on in dehydration, not usually the first sign, but it can happen. protein without water is a bad idea, a banana would have been a better choice (but harder to carry) Sodium isn't the only factor in the mix.

With the dehydration formulas, you can easily go the other way too, and start forcing your body to retain water while it tries to deal with excess electrolytes. This can also interact with stuff like creotine supplements, causing all kinds of trouble. My gut feeling is that there was something other than just dehydration going on. Possibly heat related, since you can be well hydrated and overheat, but that usually does other things, headache, confusion, loss of motor control. I'm not a doctor, and have only done a bit of sport med so I'm no expert, but my gut says that there was some other factor going on there. You were probably way hotter than you thought, three miles isn't much time to have downed three liters of water, and if you weren't just pissing it out as fast as you could drink it, that is a lot of sweat. The thing that keeps coming to mind here is that generally speaking muscles are the last to be effected, your brain freaks out from lack of water well before your muscles do, in an acute situation. Chronic might be different, but this isn't the case in your situation.

The final thing to keep in mind is that the body has a pretty huge window of these minerals and generally can compensate to having more. If you are eating a varied diet with plenty of veggies, you should be able to not need anything more than water. However each person is different, and its nearly impossible to know if you are at the lower edge of the range until you fall out of it. In your case the cliff bar an jerky would have been enough salt to cover you, if you'd had enough water as well....

I guess it proves you need to always be sure of your gear. But I wouldn't be worried that much about dehydration. check your urine color, monitor your consumption, and your body temp, but don't go now and overcompensate and double your water intake without very careful consideration.
 
Interesting about the cramps. I had a similar experience and suspect now that it was as a result of dehydration. It was a post work situation on my way home driving when my arm just seemed to lock up with my hand in more of a claw than what would be considered normal.

Hydration is not something to ignore. This seems to be especially true as you put some age on you and when you're out away from "civilization". I don't know if there is a relationship with age, but I notice my sensitivites and reactions increased as I got older.
 
36 miles, 33.000 ft. elevation loss and gain, 91* temp. Nothing worked, sodium, sports gels, even bananas for the potassium, my legs seized up after about 22 miles of running and I would continually have to massage my calves to just keep moving, it kicked my ass, so I don't know.....and I have a healthcare background.
 
I find cramps in my forearms, hands, calves and back are the first sign for when I am dehydrated. The forearms are the first to happen and usually kick in when using a hand saw or driving T post. I have certainly noticed how they are diminished if I drink water and Gatorade on an above average pace. Without those I cramp up. It may be my diabetes but I have to run a minimum of 1 Gatorade like substance for every 3 bottles of water to keep the cramps from starting. Once they start only rest and water will make them subside.
 
Don't forget about the magnesium! Only very small amounts in sports drinks.

akula83 said:
36 miles, 33.000 ft. elevation loss and gain, 91* temp. Nothing worked, sodium, sports gels, even bananas for the potassium, my legs seized up after about 22 miles of running and I would continually have to massage my calves to just keep moving, it kicked my ass, so I don't know.....and I have a healthcare background.
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I do not know about formulas
Here, the solution to prevent dehydration is water


SOP here in Israel is 3 liters per day, which is two 1-1/2 liter soda bottles
All packs made here have side pockets on the pack that hold a 1-1/2 liter soda bottle

Guides will not let hikers on trips without seeing the water
And this is on hikes up in the north, not even in desert conditions
Hiking the Israel Trail from north to south, the main planning is water management

In the Army, if you get dehydrated, you and your direct commander are put on charge

Kids in summer camp are given a 1/2 liter bottle that is refilled
The camp councilor plays a game and calls out "Micky micky micky" where the kids drink from the bottle till they finish the water

To add:
My daughter will be hiking the Israel Trail for ten days this summer
She will carry the two 1-1/2 liter bottles, and as back up, an empty 3 liter bladder in her pack for if she needs to fill a second day of water
 
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I have been through some heinous experiences, and as god awful as they taste, government issue oral rehydration packets that are the cat piss green have never left me down. A tip about rehydration supps, don't add anything to your camelbak that contains sugar, they are a pain to clean. The military salts are super cheap and have a long shelf life, I have some stashed in all my aid bags.
 
neeman said:
I do not know about formulas
Here, the solution to prevent dehydration is water


SOP here in Israel is 3 liters per day, which is two 1-1/2 liter soda bottles
All packs made here have side pockets on the pack that hold a 1-1/2 liter soda bottle

Guides will not let hikers on trips without seeing the water
And this is on hikes up in the north, not even in desert conditions
Hiking the Israel Trail from north to south, the main planning is water management

In the Army, if you get dehydrated, you and your direct commander are put on charge

Kids in summer camp are given a 1/2 liter bottle that is refilled
The camp councilor plays a game and calls out "Micky micky micky" where the kids drink from the bottle till they finish the water
Click to expand...

Good guidelines. Thanks for sharing them.
 
neeman said:
I do not know about formulas
Here, the solution to prevent dehydration is water


SOP here in Israel is 3 liters per day, which is two 1-1/2 liter soda bottles
All packs made here have side pockets on the pack that hold a 1-1/2 liter soda bottle

Guides will not let hikers on trips without seeing the water
And this is on hikes up in the north, not even in desert conditions
Hiking the Israel Trail from north to south, the main planning is water management

In the Army, if you get dehydrated, you and your direct commander are put on charge

Kids in summer camp are given a 1/2 liter bottle that is refilled
The camp councilor plays a game and calls out "Micky micky micky" where the kids drink from the bottle till they finish the water

To add:
My daughter will be hiking the Israel Trail for ten days this summer
She will carry the two 1-1/2 liter bottles, and as back up, an empty 3 liter bladder in her pack for if she needs to fill a second day of water
Click to expand...

You guys must not sweat as much as me... I took a 4 liter MSR Dromedary bag with me to a camp I was leading kids at last summer, and with temps only in the high 80s(F) I went through 6-7 liters each day.
 
There are a lot of factors that go into it. I can range from 1L to 5L depending on conditions. Being conditioned to the heat also makes a difference, as well as other factors like wind or humidity. You can breath out a fair bit of water in a day as well, so exertion does double duty for drying you out. The main thing is to pay attention to your body. I've had heat exhaustion without being dehydrated, it wasn't fun. Sat in a swimming pool for a few hours while I cooled off, the rest of the group who were local, and more acclimated to the heat thought the pool water was uncomfortably cold.
 
The muscle cramps are a real sign. I had been doing a lot of work and a few hikes the last week and then I got food poisoning. Of course from the vomiting and other symptoms I got dehydrated and sure enough my leg cramps came back as if I just did 10 miles, it was pretty crazy I thought. I also had a headache and a little light headed ness too though and extremely dark urine.
 
My father was hospitalized with dehydration a couple of years ago at the age of 82. We thought he was having a stroke or heart attack. He had not been exercising, nor outside in hot weather. He just didn't drink enough water while he was hanging out at home. So we need to practice good hydration on a daily basis, and the older we get the more important it is. Dehydration can sneak up on you at home just like it can on the trail. While most of us may not experience clinical dehydration at home, headaches, cramps, feeling lousy and having a foggy brain can be reminders to pound some fluid. Looking at the color of your output can be a reminder too.
 
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