Can Dementia and Tremors Be Caused by Dehydration?

Posted by Alkaline Water Plus on 19th Jan 2023

Can dementia and tremors be caused by dehydration?

When a loved one has to be hospitalized watch out for dehydration! Here’s a solution we found for dementia and tremors.

I have a twin sister who recently had to be hospitalized, due to a serious case of fungal meningitis. Because of complications, her hospital stay was extended beyond three months.

She lived two thousand miles away from me, so I was unable to see her much during this time. When I did see her, I noticed not only the expected physical-strength decline of so much bed-rest, but also a severe mental decline (also known as dementia). In addition, she had a serious shaking problem, called tremors. The doctors didn’t know what caused the tremors, but thankfully she tested negative for seizures.

What Could be the Cause of Such Great Mental and Physical Decline?

The doctors and nurses had no good ideas for how to solve the fast mental and physical decline my sister was experiencing. They even mentioned that dementia was common in hospitals.

No one suspected that a simple thing like water would solve it. They thought that perhaps it was the strong medications or the isolation from “reality” that comes with any hospitalization, but I had another theory.

Testing My Theory About the Dementia and Tremors Caused by a Water Deficit

With as much as I know about the benefits of water and health (and how devastating dehydration can be) I theorized her mental decline and tremors were due to lack of enough water daily. I decided to test this theory with my sister.

Immediately I brought her my own filtered water (into the hospital) whenever I visited. However, this only worked to produce a slight improvement. The problem was her body was so used to insufficient water she couldn’t get herself interested in drinking much water. She did get herself up to drinking about twenty ounces of water per day as opposed the ten she had been drinking, but this was still way less water than the 60 ounces she should be minimally drinking for her body weight. (Note: A person should drink about ½ to 1 ounce of water per pound of body weight.)

The Nature of Hospitals

The hospital provided good care, but didn’t seem to be too interested (or able for that matter) to ensure she got enough water. In other words, they gave her the water, but didn’t ensure she drank it. Then, by the time I got there my sister had already developed bad habits of insufficient water (and at 70 years old those habits are hard to turn around).

The Solution to My Sister’s Dehydration & Dementia

We finally brought my sister home, because she was finally cured of the meningitis enough to leave the hospital and the rehab center option wasn’t any better than the hospital for fixing her dehydration, tremors or dementia. By that time, she was on a G-Tube (which is a direct line to the stomach and was being used to give her supplemental feeding). You can look up the term “bolus feeding” to learn more about this.

Giving Water Through G-Tube

Gravity pulls the water from the syringe down through the tube and into the stomach.

What we did was give her 10 ounces of water 30 minutes before each of 3 meals directly into her G-Tube. When you added this to the 20 ounces she was able to drink on her own per day and other incidental water she was given to flush the tube after each feeding, it equaled about 60 ounces, which is a perfect amount for her.

Voila!

Our “Solution” Was Like a Miracle

Who would have thought that a solution to tremors and dementia would or could be something so simple as water? The very next day after coming home, when given the right amount of water my sister’s tremors were nearly gone and her ability to know what was going on was greatly improved. The next day she was standing (with assistance) and there was no shaking. She also appeared to be closer to her normal self, mentally.

Now, being about a week since we’ve been home, her dementia is nearly gone and her natural appetite and “thirst” are starting to turn back on.

We still have a good deal more to go, but we are having to make up for three months of neglect for water and exercise. At least we now KNOW what was causing her tremors and dementia.

After this experience we are convinced that dehydration caused these major obstacles to my sister’s healing. We’re also convinced that we could have lost her if we didn’t find this solution to the problem.

Kinds of Water That Can Go Into the G-Tube

You can put any kind of water into the G-Tube that you would normally drink. Just make sure it’s close to room temperature. I poured it in fairly slowly, trying to mimic the rate that one might drink the water naturally. What I used is: plain filtered water, hydrogen-water, and ionized water. You can read more about the benefits of ionized water and hydrogen water in the “Further Reading” section, below.

Also, when using the G-Tube for feeding thin liquids, like water, it’s like giving a baby a bottle, don’t forget to pause periodically to let the person burp.

Without a G-Tube

Without a G-tube these same principles apply. A person should drink about 1/2 ounce of water for every pound of body weight. This is a very good principle to apply to all people (healthy or sick).

Important Notes

A G-Tube is not something that is normally inserted into a patient, but in my sister’s case the tube was already there, because the doctors had determined that without it she wasn’t able to eat enough. We took advantage of this tool to help her overcome her inability to drink enough (causing a chronic dehydration that the doctors weren’t able to solve). There’s an old expression, “You can bring a horse to water but you can’t make him drink,” that applies here. Dehydrated people, especially seniors, are extremely resistive to drinking enough, even with the most expert encouragement. This thirst-shut-off would have interfered with getting my sister to drink enough.

There are thousands upon thousands of studies on the dangers of dehydration, but I don’t think anyone has thought of using a G-Tube to help before. With a G-Tube you can put ordinary filtered water, which is a far better and healthier water than that which is used intravenously. It’s great that we can do this at home too. This would be an amazing “study” for some researcher to take up as a project. Hint, hint.

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