Hypovolemia is a condition of decreased blood volume due to loss of blood or body fluids. This condition can occur due to bleeding at the time of injury, accident, childbirth and surgery.
The condition of hypovolemia causes a decrease in blood pressure until hypovolemic shock occurs. If it is not immediately treated, it can result in tissue damage and organ failure which can be fatal for the sufferer.
Various Symptoms That Can Occur
Hypovolemia with loss of about one fifth or more of the normal volume of blood in the body can cause hypovolemic shock. Blood loss is often caused by bleeding, both from wounds on the surface of the body, such as tears in the skin due to injury or hard impact, or bleeding in the body, such as from the digestive tract that causes symptoms of bloody bowel movements, dark stools (melena), or vomiting blood.
Apart from bleeding, the volume of blood in your veins can go down when you lose too much other body fluids. For example due to burns, diarrhea, excessive sweating / activity, vomiting and lack of fluid intake or dehydration.
Symptoms of hypovolemia vary depending on how much fluid or blood is lost from the body. Some mild symptoms that are felt include:
- Headache
- Dizzy
- Fatigue
- Nausea
- Lots of cold sweat
While severe symptoms that indicate need to get immediate treatment by a doctor or medical personnel, namely:
- Skin that feels cold and wet
- Looks pale
- Rapid and shallow breathing
- Fast heartbeat
- Decreased even without urine production
- The pulse is weak and fast
- The lips and surface of the finger nail appear to turn blue
- Loss of consciousness.
The more and more quickly the body loses blood, the symptoms of shock caused by hypovolemia will get worse as well.
How to deal with hypovolemia
Early treatment if someone with hypovolemia suffers from hypovolemic shock is seeking immediate medical help. While waiting for help to arrive, do the following:
- Lay the patient on his back with legs raised about 30 cm to increase circulation. Keep the body comfortable and in warm temperatures.
- Avoid giving drink or liquid through mouth.
- If the person has to be lifted, try to stay flat, with the head lower than the foot. Stabilize the head and neck before moving the body of someone suspected of having a spinal injury, or avoid moving the position until medical assistance (paramedics / ambulances) arrives.
Immediately take the patient to the hospital to get medical treatment at the hospital. The main goal of treatment for hypovolemia is to replace blood and fluids.
Arriving at the hospital, an intravenous route (infusion) will be immediately installed on the patient to replace lost body fluids with IV fluids. If a blood transfusion is needed, it will be given via an intravenous line that has been installed to replace lost blood and improve circulation.
Your doctor may also prescribe medications to increase blood pressure and pump heart power, if needed. The drugs that are usually given are dopamine, dobutamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine.
If not handled properly and immediately, hypovolemia can cause complications including failure of various body organs, in the form of kidney failure, brain damage, tissue death (gangrene), heart failure to death.
When finding symptoms of hypovolemia, you should immediately seek medical help. Appropriate treatment will speed recovery and prevent the risk of more serious complications.
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