Frequent Dehydration

[MC Bodge]

I'm a male in my mid-30s.

I've always felt that I needed to drink a lot of water to fend off feeling a bit rough, but recently I've found that I'm often feeling quite dehydrated.

I eat fairly healthily.

I've cut down on Caffeine -a couple of years ago I was drinking multiple coffees and almost continuous pints of tea (although I still often felt dehydrated)

I spend almost of my working day at a desk or in meetings.

Nowadays my typical intake of fluid is:

1 cup of instant or cafetiere coffee in the morning.
2-3 cups of tea

A few large glasses of water during the day and 1-2 pints of water during the evening, with sips in between when I'm feeling a bit 'off'.

If I don't manage to maintain this level of intake (busy days at work) then I quite quickly know about it.

If I drink 1 pint of beer I'll often have a dehydration headache (rather than a hangover) the following morning.

I suspect that the dehydration sometimes builds up over a few days without me realising it.


My blood sugar has always been fine when tested, although it hasn't been tested for a long time.

Any ideas?

Edited by MC Bodge on Saturday 30th November 15:20

[davepoth]

Are you pissing a lot?

You're thinking diabetes, I think it might be an idea to get a blood sugar test.

[MC Bodge]

davepoth said:

Are you pissing a lot?

Not ridiculously. I've never been one to able to drink a few beers without 'breaking the seal' though. I've always been more 'frequent' than most.

davepoth said:

You're thinking diabetes, I think it might be an idea to get a blood sugar test.

Well, yes. I was wondering if there was anything else.

[b19rak]

I had similar symptoms, have you had thrush too?

I went to the docs, took a blood test, was told I was typr2 and put on meds straight away.

[clarkey]

You need to test for diabetes. I had the same symptoms, but was also getting up for a wee in the night. 2 months of treatment and diet change later and I feel far better.

[MC Bodge]

Cheers folks. The symptoms are still here ...I've finally contacted the GP.

[BlackVanDyke]

Ever had any pituitary problems? There's something called diabetes insipidus - which has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with 'normal' diabetes (diabetes mellitus) - and which makes you pee lots and hang onto fluid badly.

[MC Bodge]

Well, blood sugar level was fine and all blood test results show 'normal'.

I'm still feel that I'm having to drink a lot of water to fend off a dry mouth and muzzy head though.

I went for a bicycle ride last night and felt very lethargic.

[smiffy180]

How much do you drink a day?

I'll drink 6 litres+ a day on gym days and half that easily on non gym days.

If you're active it's normal to drink a bit of water.

I'm also not diabetic just drink a lot

[mattikake]

What colour is your urine? Clear? Yellow? Brown?

[Halb]

Is it the consistency of toothpaste?

[Odie]

Are you doing any exercise? do you eat fruit/veg regularly? what is your diet like? Did the doc test your blood for vitamin deficiencies?

[honest_delboy]

I was told you can make yourself thirsty by drinking too much water, seriously. You wash all the minerals and stuffs out of your system. If you drink squash instead or dioraltye (sp) does it make much difference?

How is your overall health?

[Muzzer79]

I have a similar issue.

I drink 2l of water a day, but have regular bouts of thirst, similar to the OP

I also get random days of having to piss a lot. Sometimes, with pretty short notice.

Been to the Docs, told me to lay off caffeine completely, which I've done.

Blood test for diabetes = clear.

Still get the odd day when it hits though, which is especially annoying when travelling
I can go for a monster slash, then an hour later, need to hit the khazi again for another Austin-Powers-Special

Sorry for the thread hijack.

[MC Bodge]

Muzzer79 said:

I have a similar issue.

That does sound similar. The caffeine thing sounds interesting, although I drink much less now than I used in the past.

I'm going back to the docs so will discuss it there.

[MajorProblem]

Adrenal gland issues?

[bazza white]

I'm in the same boat, had all the tests but nothing, had a urine infection and sore kidneys a few years ago, that cleared up but after years I'm still drinking like a fish, ive just accepted it now. I carry a drink with me all times now.

Wake up some days and it feels like I've been out the night before.

[bosshog]

I had this and I'm now 'cured'. It started in my mid 30's and took me a few years to get to the bottom of it. Firstly anything less than 5 litres of non caffeinated fluid isn't considered a lot according to the consultant I saw. I was hitting around 7Lt a day for a year or two - not fun. Anyhow the steps I went through was:
Stop drinking all caffeinated drinks
Stop drinking things like mint tea and chamomile (they dehydrate like caffeine)
Had diabetes test (both normal and insipidus). They suspected the later, but the test to have to done properly there was a long wait, and at 7 litres a day they said I'd be at the bottom of that list, and never got the call.
I had lots if blood tests around the pituitary/other glands (and a ct scan for cancer). All within normal ranges.
Finally while working in Oz I got referred to some one who basically put me on a water diet. I had to track exactly how much I was drinking (down to the ml) and had to drink exactly 100ml less each day . This worked (I had bad head aches for a while). I'm now only drinking about 1 to 2 litres a day and have stable for the last year or so. Basically the body had got used to flushing out everything so efficiently it had to be retrained..

[MC Bodge]

This seems to have resolved itself for now, after a good few weeks.

Of course, the symptoms disappeared the day before I returned to the GP....

The good news is that all of the blood tests came back indicating that I am healthy.

It's been put down to a 'virus'. I suspect that it will recur.