Assessment
Questionnaire
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a doctor would ask.
See what questions
a doctor would ask.
During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques to assess the symptom: Dehydration. These will include a physical examination and possibly diagnostic tests. (Note: A physical exam is always done, diagnostic tests may or may not be performed depending on the suspected condition) Your doctor will ask several questions when assessing your condition. It is important to openly share any pertinent information to help your doctor make an accurate diagnosis.
It is also very important to bring an up-to-date list of all of your all medical conditions, medications including dosages, and names of numbers of any specialist you see.
Create your printable checklist by answering questions that your doctor may ask below:
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Why: to determine if acute or chronic.
Why: e.g. thirst, postural dizziness, fainting and reduced urine output. If a child may have less wet nappies, sunken eyes, lethargy, sunken fontanelle.
Why: may suggest inadequate intake of fluid e.g. poor fluid intake due to illness, anorexia, malnutrition or neglect.
Why: may suggest source of dehydration.
Why: may suggest heat exhaustion as source of dehydration due to sweating.
Why: e.g. vomiting and diarrhea of viral gastroenteritis.
Why: e.g. diabetes, kidney failure, hyperparathyroidism, ulcerative colitis, Addison's disease.
Why: e.g. resection of small intestine may cause short bowel syndrome with resultant massive fecal fluid losses.
Why: e.g. diuretics may cause dehydration.
Why: may suggest alcohol as cause of dehydration.
Why: e.g. ecstasy may cause dehydration.
Why: may suggest the source of the dehydration e.g. hyperemesis gravidarum, viral gastroenteritis, food poisoning, meningitis, cyclic vomiting syndrome, pyloric stenosis (projectile vomiting), intestinal obstruction, cholera, peritonitis and pancreatitis.
Why: may suggest the source of the diarrhea e.g. viral gastroenteritis, cholera, food poisoning, ulcerative colitis, short bowel syndrome, amoebic dysentery.
Why: fever itself may contribute to dehydration due to fluid loss. Fever may help determine cause of dehydration e.g. gastroenteritis, food poisoning, pancreatitis, heat exhaustion.
Why: may be source of the dehydration e.g. diabetes mellitus, diabetes insipidus, hyperparathyroidism, kidney failure, hypercalcaemia.
Why: may be source of dehydration due to difficulty consuming fluids e.g. herpes stomatitis.
Why: can get reduced body temperature with dehydration and electrolyte disturbance due to severe vomiting and diarrhea.
Why: suggest the source of dehydration is fluid loss from the skin e.g. exfoliative dermatitis, Steven's-Johnson syndrome, toxic epidermal necrolysis.
The following list of conditions have 'Dehydration' or similar listed as a symptom in our database. This computer-generated list may be inaccurate or incomplete. Always seek prompt professional medical advice about the cause of any symptom.
Select from the following alphabetical view of conditions which include a symptom of Dehydration or choose View All.
The following list of medical conditions have 'Dehydration' or similar listed as a medical complication in our database.
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Copyright © 2011 Health Grades Inc. All rights reserved. Last Update: 1 February, 2012 (3:32)
