Do senior citizens have a compromised hydration regulator?
Last few years I have noticed more and more that I can usually cure my headaches by drinking a bottle of water even though I am not thirsty. Same with cramping in my hands.
I just realized recently that I’m not getting enough liquid. Being thirsty is not an accurate indicator of dehydration. Feeling tired, dizzy, cranky, listless, even hungry are all possible indicators, especially if you’re experiencing several of those. I’ve bumped up my intake to about 48 oz/day.
HoneyBadger, you are correct; many people lose their thirst receptor, if you will, as they get older, and it’s also not unusual for some, especially women, to reduce their fluid intake so they don’t have to constantly get up at night or deal with urinary incontinence.
And the results can be disastrous.
I’d have thought it would be men - with their prostate issues - who were dealing more with getting up out of bed for nighttime pee breaks.
Well, apparently it’s both males and females, not necessarily for the same reasons.
As people (and all animals) get older, practically every system and organ in the body becomes “compromised”.
Dehydration is a serious potential problem for people of any age who work or engage in active outdoor recreation in hot weather, especially doing any hazardous activity or using potentially hazardous equipment, and even worse at high altitudes. General aviation pilots need to be very careful of this – especially glider pilots, who tend to fly small unpressurized aircraft at much higher altitudes than a typical small airplane would go – often well above 17,999 feet.
Getting dehydrated can impair one’s mental capacity and judgement – not to mention what happens to your brain at high altitude if you don’t have supplemental oxygen. That can be disastrous indeed. Pilots are always trained to carry a water bottle for long or high altitude flights, or even several bottles.
A few very healthy people in their late 80s or early 90s have told me that the first thing they do when they wake up is to drink a big glass or two of water, even if they don’t want to. I’ve been doing it for a few years now and have noticed that it helps keep me feeling spry (love that word). Regarding what was said upthread about water helping to remedy headaches, I’ll add that I only get headaches when I haven’t been drinking enough water, so it seems to help prevent them, too. For me, an important sign of dehydration is feeling tired throughout the day, especially after a nap that should leave me feeling better but doesn’t. Someone I know was having that problem for weeks, along with lower back pain. He thought his time had come (kidneys), and his doctor said it was just dehydration.
One of my gf’s aunts is in the hospital now because of acute dehydration. She is 93 and called 911 because she thought she had a stroke when she couldn’t get out of bed. She had diarrhea the previous day and that was enough to cause electrolyte problems and weakness.
She lives with her 95 year old sister. They have a small fortune in the bank, but refuse any kind of assisted care living arrangement. 
Assisted living is no paradise and can wind up limiting a person’s freedom - if they are normally capable of fending for themselves I can understand why someone in their 90’s would be reluctant to enter into such an arrangement.
I had and aunt and uncle who went into assisted living and it turned into a nightmare. It required lawyers and a surprisingly long time and amount of money to get them out of it. Which led to my father absolutely refusing such an arrangement (fortunately, two of us kids were willing to help dad, living at my sister’s house his final years). Not that it is always bad - my grandmother seemed to do OK with it. It’s just that “assisted living” is not one size fits all or the best solution in all cases and sometimes it’s as much a cesspit as the worst nursing home you ever heard of.
I understand how they feel, but they are really fending less and less for themselves. A few weeks ago, one sister fell going to the mailbox. The other sister saw her laying on the ground and went out to help her up, but ended up falling and fracturing her shoulder helping her up.
How does assisted living take away your ability to leave the assisted living facility?
I don’t know anything about the legality of it, but were your aunt and uncle declared mentally incompetent due to dementia before going into assisted living?
In that case, could they be persuaded to make use of hired help? Not necessarily a home nurse but rather housekeeping type stuff? I’m assuming that, aside from the frailty of age they actually are self-sufficient in regards to dressing, personal hygiene, etc. Someone to come by daily, who can fetch the mail if the weather/conditions are bad, help them out around the house or just say “Everything OK? Sure - bye! Call if you need me!”
Or maybe they do need more than just that, but if they’re doing the hiring and in control they might find it more acceptable. Probably is best to keep them in their own home if that’s possible, but I’m not there.
Some of them make you sign contracts. Which is yet another case of “read the fine print”.
I’m not privy to all the details, but apparently the agreement was that in exchange for an apartment they would get a meal service that would accommodate their dietary needs/restrictions, housekeeping, and some other services.
Apparently, the place’s idea of a “healthy meal” was mini-ravioli and a banana. Spaghetti-O’s and an apple. The food they were given was not in compliance with their needs. The housekeeping was once a week for a half an hour. The building elevator’s were frequently out of service. There were other problems and complaints were ignored. They felt the facility had not kept their side of the contract and thus they wanted out. They consulted a lawyer to that effect. It got ugly but like I said, I don’t know all the details.
Absolutely not.
And when it went before a judge the judge said it was a bogus accusation as well. They left the assisted living facility and continued living in a condo for the rest of their lives.
Heh. No way. Anyone they’d hire to do cleaning wouldn’t do a good enough job! We have discussed this for the past 3 years (they went from totally healthy to frail overnight). They’ve had cleaning help, but there has always been a problem. Like the young lady who dusted, but didn’t dust under heavy things that need to be moved to get any dust that snuck under. Or the housekeeper whose car dripped a drop of oil on their concrete driveway, forcing them to hire a handyman to clean up the stain. Seriously.
Would they accept a home nurse/health aide, who visited a few times a week to see how they were doing (and possibly provide a little help around the home)? If they’re actually getting injured, you could present it as taking this option or going into assisted living. You might have more leverage now.
Its not just age; the medications we sometimes end up with as we grow older complicate the issue as well. Rarely will you find me anywhere outside the house without a water bottle and unlike the carefree days of my youth it actually has water in it now. 
I have stage 3 kidney disease, and my nephrologist (kidney doc) has warned me about being dehydrated. It’s disastrous for the kidneys.
Yes, they each have ongoing health issues and a nurse comes a few times a week to help deal with those. My gf has been stopping after work every Monday to visit, bringing some prepared meals, etc. Her brother stops on Wednesdays to do the same thing.
They used to get Meals On Wheels delivered, but they “unsubscribed” because the food wasn’t done the way they prefer! Their situation is equal parts sad and hilarious.
Sounds like control issues to me - they’re jerking people around to signal they’re still in control and don’t really need help. They don’t want to say a direct “no”, they don’t want to admit they need help.
>sigh<
Your body is very sensitive to dehydration. Most people feel thirsty if they are even 1% dehydrated.
As you grow older, though, many problems can develop. Kidneys work less efficiently. The kidney is largely responsible for getting rid of the appropriate amounts of water, lytes and sodium to keep the blood at balanced levels.
Many elders eat and drink less. They may live in warm environments which increase water loss. Often they are on medications which throw off natural systems - particularly if they have high blood pressure, diabetes, heart failure or kidney disease. Swallowing may be less efficient, which can make people want to consume less.
So there are many reasons seniors can be dehydrated, and it is more common with age. The thirst mechanism is less sensitive and may be further thrown off for all the above reasons.
As for the water, if you drink just a glass of water, this small volume of water would not normally make much difference to blood levels of sodium, magnesium, calcium and so on. It might make a difference if you are diabetic or live in a warm environment (or have additional problems such as loose stools and vomiting).
If you’re drinking litres of water, that’s different . This is not the place to discuss which medicines you take, but some are dehydrating.
So yes, thirst works less well and headaches often are very weird things.