why is it that you can't drink salt water but get a saline IV? and vice versa?

Answer 1

Tuesday nailed it. The saline you receive in an IV form is actually 0.9% saline it is a Isotonic solution. It prevents the red blood cells from absorbing too much water and bursting, which would happen if you had an IV of plain water(hypo-tonic), and too much salt (Hyper-tonic)causes the cells to shrivel up causing water depletion. Now you can drink normal saline in fact the same amount of salt is found in most sports drinks. Water can be consumed without your bodies cells absorbing too much due to what is called a sodium/chloride shift. It is also kept in balance by the kidneys.

Answer 2

The IV is mixed to the same salinity as the body. You *could* safely drink it at that salinity. (But when injected, rather than dripped, directly into a vein, it tastes like metal to some people.)

Salt water from the ocean has a much higher concentration of salt, and would overwhelm the body's ability to get rid of it.

Answer 3

An IV is a normal saline solution, it matches the percentage of saline in your blood, 0.9%. The physician carefully controls how much of the solution you should get, to avoid fluid overload. Just plain water put in an IV causes problems for the blood cells. Saline, when taken internally, has a laxative effect. It can cause you to retain fluids in your tissues, raise your blood pressure, harm your kidneys, cause your heart to beat irregularly.. Drink enough of it, it can kill you. Besides, it tastes nasty. Ever had the dentist tell you to wash your mouth out with salt water, or the doctor tell you to gargle with it? Makes your mouth feel very dry.

Answer 4

There is very little salt in a Saline IV. In fact, the concentration is lower tham most tap water. You could drink saline if you really wanted to, but it would taste like very plain water.

Answer 5

the saline IV is PH balanced so that it doesn't react negatively with your body when it goes in! You can drink a little, very little, bit of salt water because you do need some salt in your diet.

Answer 6

Ocean salt water has contaminents in it which are harmful to human body. IV saline is pure and sterile; there are no contaminents. It is more easily accessible to pump IV fluids into the body because they enter immediately. If you drink fluids, you have to wait for them to pass through the stomach lining.