Hypernatremia

Hypernatremia is a greater than normal concentration of sodium in the blood. Sodium is an electrolyte that helps with nerve and muscle function, and also helps to maintain blood pressure.
Hypernatremia occurs when the body loses too much water in relation to the amount of sodium in the blood. Excessive water loss can occur if the kidneys excrete too much urine.
Hypernatremia can cause neurological damage due to shrinkage of brain cells. Hypernatremia is the condition of drinking a tremendously large amount of h2o in a short period. It is important to learn about this condition so that you don't overload you're system with water. Hypernatremia is defined as a plasma sodium concentration greater than 150 meq/L and is less common than hyponatremia. Hypernatremia – Seen in infants with dehydration, renal disease or diabetes insipidus. Severe hypernatremia can lead to confusion, muscle twitching, seizures, coma, and death.
Patients with hypernatremia may also have evidence of ECF volume expansion. Hypernatremic dehydration can occur when a child with diarrhoea receives fluids that contain high quantities of sodium. The tendency to hypernatremia is aggravated when PD is initiated with frequent exchanges of small volumes of hypertonic solution. Most patients with hypernatremia secondary to water loss appear euvolemic with normal total body sodium, because loss of water without sodium does not lead to overt volume contraction. So someone with severe hypernatremia, you still give them normal saline.
Similarly, a patient with hypernatremia must have lost more water than he was able to drink.
We present three neonates with severe hypernatremia secondary to inadequate exclusive breast-feed, two of whom developed intracranial hemorrhage during hospital stay with review of literature.
Although hyponatremia may be present, hypernatremia is not unusual because of the relatively high sodium administration in the various solutions because of the greater perspiration (higher respiration rate, relatively higher body surface area, thinner skin, artificial heating lamp) and especially because of the correction of acidosis with sodium bicarbonate. This listing is a sample listing of patents related to Hypernatremia for is only meant as a recent sample of applications filed, not a comprehensive history. If the body does not maintain salt balance then it may lead to hypernatremia with heart attack and even death.
Hyperchloremia, excess sodium OR deficit of bicarb. Can be expected with hypernatremia or metabolic acidosis. Hypernatremia reflects a deficiency of water relative to total body sodium content and is actually a disorder of water balance rather than a disorder of sodium balance.