Medicines and Products for Dehydration

Dehydration's "medicine cabinet" is small and specific - one product does nearly all the work, a few support it, and some popular ones genuinely should not be used.

The hero: ORS (oral rehydration solution)

• WHO-formula ORS packets - the single most important product: measured glucose and electrolytes in exactly the ratio the gut absorbs best
• How to use: dissolve the full packet in the stated amount of clean water (usually 1 litre), sip steadily through the day; discard after 24 hours
• After every loose stool: about a glass. After vomiting: wait 10 minutes, resume small sips
• It does not stop diarrhoea - it keeps the body safe while the illness passes, which is the whole point

For severe dehydration: IV fluids (hospital)

• No urine 8+ hours, confusion, fainting, or a child too weak to drink: intravenous fluids in hospital - fast, definitive, life-saving
• Nothing at the chemist substitutes for this

The useful supporting cast

• Zinc supplements (children with diarrhoea): proven to shorten and soften the episode - doctors commonly prescribe a 10-14 day course
• Paracetamol if fever is part of the picture
• Probiotics: modest evidence for shortening infectious diarrhoea - reasonable, optional
• Electrolyte powders and drinks: fine for exercise and heat; for diarrhoea, ORS is the right concentration - sports drinks have too little sodium and too much sugar for illness use

What NOT to use

• Anti-diarrhoeal tablets (loperamide): do not give to children; in adults, avoid with bloody diarrhoea or high fever - slowing the gut can trap the infection
• Antibiotics without a doctor: most diarrhoea is viral; antibiotics help only specific infections
• Anti-vomiting medicines in children without medical advice
• "Energy drinks" as rehydration - caffeine and sugar load, wrong electrolytes

One-line summary

ORS packets are dehydration's real medicine - full packet, full litre, steady sips - with IV fluids in hospital for the severe, zinc for children with diarrhoea, and a firm no to anti-diarrhoeal pills in children and random antibiotics.