Wilderness First Aid Basics

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To balance normal water loss, simply drink more water during outdoor activity. Try to drink often even if you don't feel thirsty. The traditional tea stop while traveling is very valuable in this and other ways, although tea and coffee are not as good as plain water, because tea and coffee are diuretics (they make you urinate more). Alcohol should not be drunk, as it increases dehydration (much of the discomfort of a hangover is due to dehydration).

Although you can reduce thirst for a short time by nibbling on snow, remember that melting any amount of snow in your mouth takes an enormous amount of heat from your body and produces little water. Any water you can get, no matter how icy, will use up less body heat and be more thirst-quenching. Most northerners have heard stories about people who were trapped without water and "survived" by drinking their own urine. If the stories are true, it is likely that they survived in spite of drinking urine, not because of it. Neither urine nor sea water should be drunk, even in small quantities, as the salts in them will draw further water from your tissues.

Dehydration by normal means is best combated by plain water or other ordinary drinks. Dehydration due to vomiting or diarrhea should be fought using Gatorade or a salt, soda, and sugar mix.

A mildly dehydrated person may show some or all of the following signs.

MILD DEHYDRATION

A healthy person getting adequate fluids will produce at least 1,000 ml (about four cups) of urine every 24 hours. Observing an output of significantly less in a casualty, even if the above signs are not manifesting themselves, is reason enough to be concerned.

Adapted from The Wilderness First Aid Guide (McClelland & Stewart, Inc., 1994) by Wayne Merry. Copyright © by Wayne Merry.

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