Question

You are working at a medical temporary facility in Aspen, Colorado during a winter sports event. A 25-year-old male is carried on a stretcher to the tent. He complains of fatigue, and dizziness at the moment of examination, but previously he fainted. No significant medical history. On physical examination, the patient has a fever (104⁰F), dry mouth, and very dry eyes. Pulse is irregular (120/min). When testing skin, after grabbing a roll of skin on the back of
the patient’s hand, the skin bounces back very slowly.

1. The most likely diagnosis in this patient is:

Answer 1

The athlete has following symptoms:

- fatigue, dizziness and loss of consciousness for short time

- temperature 104F which indicates fever

- dry mouth and dry eyes

- skin does not retun o normal position immediately indicating poor skin turgor.
The above symptoms of fatigue, dizziness, fever, dry mouth and eyes, poor skin turgor implies towards the diagnosis of dehydration due to low fluid intake.
As the temperature is low in winters athletes do not feel much thirsty reducing fluid intake. This leads to dehydration.