Fluid and Electrolyte Balance

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Basics

• Summary
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• Diagnosis and Tests

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• Related Issues
• Genetics

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Summary

Electrolytes are minerals in your body that have an electric charge. They are in your blood, urine, tissues, and other body fluids. Electrolytes are important because they help:

• Balance the amount of water in your body
• Balance your body's acid/base (pH) level
• Move nutrients into your cells
• Move wastes out of your cells
• Make sure that your nerves, muscles, the heart, and the brain work the way they should

Sodium, calcium, potassium, chloride, phosphate, and magnesium are all electrolytes. You get them from the foods you eat and the fluids you drink.

The levels of electrolytes in your body can become too low or too high. This can happen when the amount of water in your body changes. The amount of water that you take in should equal the amount you lose. If something upsets this balance, you may have too little water (dehydration) or too much water (overhydration). Some medicines, vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, and liver or kidney problems can all upset your water balance.

Treatment helps you to manage the imbalance. It also involves identifying and treating what caused the imbalance.

Start Here

• About Body Water (Merck & Co., Inc.) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

• Anion Gap Blood Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Basic Metabolic Panel (BMP) (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in Blood (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Chloride Blood Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP) (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Electrolyte Panel (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Magnesium Blood Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Osmolality Tests (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Sodium Blood Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• Hydrating for Health: Why Drinking Water Is So Important (National Institutes of Health) Also in Spanish
• Nutrition and Healthy Eating: How Much Water Should You Drink Each Day? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Genetics

• Autosomal dominant hypocalcemia: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Hypomagnesemia with secondary hypocalcemia: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Isolated hyperchlorhidrosis: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
• Pseudohypoaldosteronism type 1: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Water-Electrolyte Imbalance (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Natriuretic Response to Acetazolamide in Patients With Acute Heart Failure and Volume Overload.
• Article: Role of a fluid-restrictive strategy in flap-surgery: A single center retrospective...
• Article: Fluid overload in newborns undergoing abdominal surgery: a retrospective study.
• Fluid and Electrolyte Balance -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Also in Spanish
• Food and Nutrition Information Center
• National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements

Children

• Basic Blood Chemistry Tests (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation)

Patient Handouts

• Aldosterone blood test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Antidiuretic hormone blood test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Basic metabolic panel (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Electrolytes (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Fluid imbalance (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Hypomagnesemia (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Osmolality - blood (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Urine specific gravity test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish