Dehydration

[awg]

This may seem a odd place to seek, but I figure its as good as any, as there is a sprinkling of individuals with an interest in medical and quasi-medical topics (maybe I should join a "medical" forum)

Anyway, I have an ongoing problem with dehydration, despite being otherwise healthy.
No medical reason has been found over the years. Diabetes is ruled out

It manifests itself with thirst, then lethargy, and once it has started can be very hard to reverse, requiring electrolytes and lots of fluid. The fluid goes straight thru too, meaning frequent urination

This recently had a very adverse effect on a holiday, the weather was hot, and I simply could not rehydrate.

So on the ABC radio recently I caught the very end of a Naturopath interview, saying this was a common problem, and the solution was a tailored diet for the individual (thats literally all I heard)

I did Google this topic first, but couldnt really find much at all, so if anyone has any knowledge, clues, hints or tips, I would appreciate.

 

[Smurf1976]

I get something fairly similar. Dry out fairly easily, and being +/- half a litre is the difference between feeling fine versus a headache.

If in even the slightest doubt, I just drink a full litre in one go. Better to err on the side of caution I've discovered, and it sure beats a headache.

Salt seems to be a factor in this. If I eat a very high salt diet then the problem goes away, but of course eating lots of salt is bad for health in other ways so I prefer to keep the quantity down.

As for the underlying reason, well that's a good question but it seems to run in the family.

 

[Julia]

Different people have different levels of thirst response. ie can become quite dehydrated without any feeling of being thirsty.

Like Smurf, I need salt, and don't make any effort to restrict this as long as BP is fine.
Without it, I don't drink enough water and get vicious cramps.

Perhaps, awg, take the prophylactic approach and drink a glass of water every hour in order to prevent dehydration. To need replacement electrolytes etc seems fairly unusual, but you say your biochemistry has all been checked out.

 

[CanOz]

I too struggle with dehydration, same sort of symptoms too.

I overcome it by drinking green tea and water. The green tea helps me to crave something, the tea is quite addictive actually.

In the summer though, it's more water than tea, with a Gatorade thrown in for good measure when I can find it. Now, thanks to chops, magnesium well.

Cheers,


CanOz

 

[chops_a_must]

I guess I'm lucky. My bladder is my most impressive feature. I can put away about 3-4 litres of water or beer before I need to break the seal. Pretty handy in the tropics. My family is selling it to a fitball company after I die.

Seriously though, and umpiring footy here in the wet season and so on, taught me some hard lessons about this. You physically can't drink the amount you lose.

So, no stimulants that day, plenty of water, mixing with endura/ staminade/ et al.

Drinking juice, soup, fruit, anything that is a liquid food. I also found a bit of creatine helped me get thirsty and take on water. There is a bit of research out there that suggests creatine helps with water balance and reduces cramps.

Protein shake in water afterwards.

Some ideas anyway. It certainly beats ****ting water.

 

[awg]

I have heard before that chronic slight dehydration is a common problem, and suspect that category describes me, but feel that there is some underlying cause, such as salt or some other mineral, diet, or some other unknown internal factor.

With the electrolytes, ie similar to Gatorade, that is only taken as a recovery agent

The thing is I drink a lot of water, and manage ok when in my normal environment, but taken outside that, become vulnerable.

So I did my own test, which indicated 4 litres of water is passed per day. This seems a lot.

In addition, when I am active, I perspire quite a lot. So I dont know whether there is other means of losing moisture and how to qauntify them, but from that, it seems I would have to consume 5-6 litres per day.

The naturopath seemed to be implying that the precise timing and makeup of each meal, to sort the problem was very personal, and involved sugars and carbs (I think)

My diet is "normal" but, like most people, more than recommended salt and especially sugar, which is a suspect in my mind.

Need to research this, as I realize in retrospect the problem is quite bad, even now, I feel it after hard work in the hot weather, and it gets me every time I travel in hot climates