What is ADH?

ADH stands for antidiuretic hormone, and this is a hormone that acts on the kidneys to tell the kidneys to retain more water.

 

ADH works in the body to help balance fluids and electrolytes, by helping to increase fluid volume.

 

So, how does ADH function?

 

In this video, I’ll walk you through what you need to know about the ADH hormone for nursing school.

 

 

– ADH keeps fluid inside the body (to help increase fluid volume)

– ADH secretion happens when electrolytes get concentrated

– ADH secretion happens when when blood pressure is low

– ADH is inhibited when blood volume is high

 

All of these actions of ADH help to increase fluid volume in the body, when fluid volume is low. So ADH tells the kidneys to hold onto more fluid, when there is a low fluid volume.

 

Thanks for watching, friend! 🙂

 

In this video, we going to break down exactly what ADH is and what you need to know about it for nursing school. And before we get started, be sure to subscribe and hit the bell so you don’t miss out on any other videos to help you rock nursing school. Now, let’s do it. 

 

What is up, my friend, Christina here with nursingsos.com and in this video, we’re talking all about antidiuretic hormone, or ADH. 

 

So antidiuretic hormone, otherwise known as ADH, does exactly as it sounds: it’s an anti-diuretic, meaning it’s going to help the body retain water. What happens when you give a patient a diuretic medication, they urinate a lot. and ADH is ANTI-diuretic hormone, so it’s basically the reverse of that. They will be holding ONTO water, rather than getting rid of it. 

 

Now, ADH is a hormone that is secreted by the hypothalamus in the brain. 

 

And there are 4 things I want you to know about ADH: it’s whole job is to keep water and fluid inside the body; it’s secreted when the electrolyte levels in the blood get too concentrated because of a low fluid volume; it’s secreted when the blood pressure decreases because of low fluid volume; and it’s inhibited when the blood volume or the blood pressure is high. 

 

Key things to know: 

-Keeps fluid inside the body

-Secreted when electrolytes get concentrated

-Secreted when blood pressure is low

-Inhibited when blood volume is high

 

So the body wants to constantly stay in balance, right? That’s it’s comfy zone, homeostasis, it’s always trying to stay in balance. 

 

So it wants to have a nice balance of fluid and electrolytes. However, when the electrolytes get too concentrated, the body wants to balance that out by adding more fluid. So if the electrolytes are too concentrated, ADH will be released because ADH will go tell the kidneys to hold onto water, which will increase that fluid volume and dilute those electrolytes. 

 

In the same way, if the fluid volume is simply just low, ADH will be triggered to help increase that fluid volume. 

 

Now, on the other hand, if the fluid volume is too high in the body, the ADH levels will decrease, because ADH is ANTIDIURETIC hormone. So if the fluid volume is too high, the body WANTS to get rid of that fluid, it WANTS to diurese and get that excess fluid out. So if the blood volume is too high, the ADH level will go down. Does that make sense? I like to think that you’re nodding your head with me as I go through this, so if this is all clicking for you, write LOVE below in the comments so I know this all made sense for you! 

 

So, if the fluid volume is low, or the electrolyte levels are high, ADH will spring into action and help the kidneys hold onto water. However, if the fluid volume is too high, ADH will be inhibited so that the kidneys can just do their thing and get rid of some of that excess fluid. 

 

And that is the role of ADH in the body and how it balances out fluids and electrolytes. 

 

Now if you want more help with fluids and electrolytes in nursing school, you’ll definitely want to check out the fluid and electrolyte course we have inside the NursingSOS Membership Community. Click here to check out all the details. 

 

Thank you so much for watching friend, as always. Now go become the nurse that God created only YOU to be, and I’ll catch you next time on the Nursing School Show, take care.