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Dehydrating Fast

Carrigon

Senior Member
Messages
808
Location
PA, USA
I've been noticing this for awhile now. If I'm out anywhere and I don't get some water, I start really dehydrating and feel sicker. I think it's from the low blood volume. It's starting to get to the point where I need to carry water with me everywhere.

I was out with my friend yesterday and even though I drank two good sized cups of iced tea and a shake, I was still so thirsty and dehydrated that when we went to another store, I had to buy a bottle of water and drink the whole thing.

And just now, I was talking to a neighbor for about forty minutes, and I started to feel like I had to get water, dehydration.

I've heard of this over the years with CFIDS patients, but it's really only been hitting me in the last few years.
 

maddietod

Senior Member
Messages
2,859
There's a discussion of this in chat right now, that it can be a problem in the methylation cycle.
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
Hi Carrigon, this is a long shot but have you had your blood sugar levels checked lately?

I do think this is an ME/CFS thing though - there is something wrong with either our sensation of thirst or actual water regulation, or both.

Bye
Alex
 

LaurelW

Senior Member
Messages
643
Location
Utah
I have to drink a whole quart of water during the night or I get terribly thirsty. Was wondering why.
 

Carrigon

Senior Member
Messages
808
Location
PA, USA
It has nothing to do with my blood sugar. And yes, I did have it checked recently. It is a CFIDS things. Dr. Cheney used to talk about it. It's a blood volume thing. There isn't enough blood pumping anywhere, it simply isn't there. It's either not being produced or it's pooling somewhere in the body. There isn't enough fluid going around. And I feel the dehydration. That's one of the reasons the sound sensitivity gets so bad. It's a symptom of dehydration. They even have trouble taking my blood because hardly anything comes out of the veins. There is simply not enough blood.
 

TinyT

Senior Member
Messages
150
Location
Australia
I drink heaps of water as well as teas (both herbal & black) and DIY rehydration mix during the day to manage my POTS. I find that I am constantly going to the toilet! I would've thought the effect might last a bit longer but sure enough when I get up the next morning I am super thirty and dizzy/POTSy. Whenever I got out (infrequently) I take a large water bottle also.
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
I drink two whole cups right before I leave out my door and take TWO 750ml-1Litre water bottles everywhere i go, a water bottle if Im doing anything more then a very basic weekly food shop, usually dont leave my hand.. as I sometimes have to drink constantly otherwise I start going downhill real fast.

I often have drunken both of those (6-8 cups) within 1.5 to 2hrs and are then buying water. As long as I want to be even slightly active.. I need to drink, drink, drink or I end up in big trouble (unconscious collapse or very very tired and weak and cant stand up).

I dont believe my body holds onto the fluid (as what I drink comes almost right back out.. I'll be peeing within 20mins) and think my blood volume is low.
 

Athene

ihateticks.me
Messages
1,143
Location
Italy
I've been like this ever since I got CFS. I never leave the house without a bottle of water.

I've lost count of the number of times I've had heat stroke / severe dehydration while out, and been rescued by strangers at the splitting-headache-and-vomiting stage. It comes on SO suddenly!

I very frequently have wrinkled finger tips, like you do when you're a kid and spend too long in the bath. Another patient told me this is a sign of irregular dehydration i.e. some parts of the body are dehydrated while others are not. You can actually be bloated with fluid retention in the abdomen and shrivelling up in the extremities. No idea why.

I dont believe my body holds onto the fluid (as what I drink comes almost right back out.. I'll be peeing within 20mins) and think my blood volume is low.
Taniaaust

I definitely think this is an important point. I've been reading about the sodium/potassium balance and how it controls fluid balance in the body. The balance is maintained using copper, amongst other things, and I know that I have copper toxicity (ten times the normal amount) and I have read that nearly all PWCs do have too much copper. I wonder if this is part of the explanation?
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
[/I]Taniaaust

I definitely think this is an important point. I've been reading about the sodium/potassium balance and how it controls fluid balance in the body. The balance is maintained using copper, amongst other things, and I know that I have copper toxicity (ten times the normal amount) and I have read that nearly all PWCs do have too much copper. I wonder if this is part of the explanation?

I have way too much copper too by my hair analyses test.. Im currently on a program to try to get my copper levels down. My sodium sometimes goes out of normal range and too low.. but that maybe is due to the amount I drink (thou I do salt everything a lot).

Im a little confused.. so do you think we have the high copper for a reason? To try to keep our salt in balance with the potassium?

ummm if so that would mean if I manage to get my copper down to normal levels I could get worst?. ***starts wondering if this may be another darned if you do and darned if you dont kind of thing. All the ugly twists of ME***
 

L'engle

moogle
Messages
3,187
Location
Canada
I get very thirsty very often. I take water with me everywhere and get dehydrated during any kind of exertion. Even thinking at the computer, I start to feel as though my head is dehydrating, very uncomfortable. Rice milk and salty foods taken together plus lots of water help with this. You need salt, sugar and potassium, from what I know. Just water on its own sometimes isn't enough for me, while drinks like gatorade are too sugary.
 

LaurelW

Senior Member
Messages
643
Location
Utah
I found a recipe online to make your own sports drink. It costs pennies and you can control what kind and how much sweetener to put in it:

1 cup water
1/8 tsp. sea salt
1/8 tsp. potassium chloride (no-salt or salt substitute)
lime juice
sweetener to taste (I use stevia)

I make a big jug of it at the beginning of the week and drink some every day. Limes are hard to juice, so I use an electric orange juice thingy that cost me about $15.00. Or you can get straight lime or lemon juice at the store. Stevia is extremely concentrated so you don't need very much.
 

Athene

ihateticks.me
Messages
1,143
Location
Italy
Laurel, that drink sounds good. But where do you buy potassium iodide? Do you have to buy potassium supplement tablets and crush them?

Re copper, apparently we are full of copper and accumulating it all the time because it is bio-unavailable to us, in other words, we absorb it but cannot use it. I have discovered that I have all the symptoms of copper deficiency as well as many symptoms of copper poisoning. Basically it sits in organs and is not used. The liver is supposed to bind it to the amino acid metallothionein to make it organic and usable (for sodium-potassium balance, sun tanning, producing bile, etc) but our diseased livers are unable to do so. So far, medical research does not know the reason for the failure of this process.
Anyway, it is definitely a good idea to try to get rid of the surplus because it is doing us no good.

What regime are you using for copper removal?

I am taking zinc and molybdenum.
I have beed doing this for 6 months but recently stepped up the dosages, with spectacular results. I have also started taking it a bit with each meal, as this is apparently far better than taking one dose. You need to have it in your stomach before you eat copper, as copper is absorbed and in the blood stream within 15 minutes of eating.
I was taking 200mcg a day of molybdenum, then read Andrew Cutler (the mercury poisoning man) on copper toxicity and upped it to 1000mcg a day. I have almost immediately started getting a suntan!!! My mother pointed out to me that I used to tan very easily when I was a child - I was so used to being snow white for so many years that I had actually forgotten this. Andrew Cutler actually says to take 1000mcg of moly with every meal, but I haven't quite got the guts to do that as it seems so much.
I went up to 120mcg of zinc a day.
I've also recently added in vitamin A, which helps zinc do its job. I also found out that rice and maize block absorption of zinc, like iron and calcium, but proteins help it be absorbed more efficiently. So I have zinc with meat now.
I am doing a liver cleanse with milk thistle as well, in case that will help. I need it anyway with all the antibiotics I take.
 

LaurelW

Senior Member
Messages
643
Location
Utah
Sorry, was having brain fog, it's actually potassium chloride. The one I have is Morton Salt Substitute, so I imagine you can get it by the salt at the grocery store. I corrected the recipe in my post.