this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2023
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Hydro Homie checking in. My piss is always clear. Drink on.
Unfortunately I have a bit of a drinking problem: my brain has no sense of thirst. I have to remember to and force myself to drink water on a regular basis or I get really dehydrated.
It’s all too common for me to have a headache and that’s my first sign I haven’t drank any water in a day or two.
That happens less now, because I’ve worked a glass of water here and there into parts of my routine.
And that’s not all there is. For months now I’ve been having nightmares about running around a sort of endless maze in the dark. There are enemies all around me, and my only weapon is my teeth. Mostly I have to hide. It’s terrifying. I wake up drenched in sweat, my heart pounding.
Anyway I think I’ve been losing too much water from the cold sweats in bed because I have the dehydration headaches after I have those dreams. Then I have to spend a day just chugging tasteless, bland, water. Like zero pleasure from drinking the water. I remember when I had normal thirst, it was like heaven drinking water when I was really thirsty. I can remember that pleasure, but I don’t remember what thirst felt like.
And then I get a temper, too. From the pain, but I also just feel like there’s less … webbing around my mind. It goes zero to sixty in seconds and I just want to rip someone’s nose off.
I’ve been to the Kaiser clinic down the road already. They tested me for everything but they screwed up the test. Sent me out with paperwork for malaria, covid, rabies, and cat scratch fever.
Did you know that’s a real thing? Fucking cat scratch fever. I didn’t know bedbugs were real either until I was like 28. The scratch fever must have come from that cat that attacked me in the parking lot outside Dennys a couple weeks ago. I wonder what bedbugs taste like. Gotta be nasty. Apparently, even though the scratch totally healed healed up, it left some kind of bacteria-virus thing in my body and that gave me cat scratch fever that somehow tears positive for rabies and covid and fucking malaria.
But they said that was a bad batch. They’re gonna test me again this week.
Oh yeah that’ll be fun. I can’t stand the hoses. All the hoses running everywhere in the hospital. Every instrument, connected by a hose. All of them sucking fluids away or you or pumping fluid into you. I’ll ask them for a different room this time. I didn’t like that room they had me in last time.
So where am I going with this? Well, it is apparently novel writing November now so maybe I can get a novel out of this before these headaches get any worse.
Dehydration man. It sneaks up on you when you don’t ever get thirsty. It sucks. I look like the fucking raisin I’m so wrinkly these days.
Electrolytes, my dude. The dehydration and electrolytes loss from the night time cold sweats and nightmares, causing the cold sweats and nightmares.
The day of bleh water is what clued me in. I've been there.
I regret that I have only 1 upvote to give
What am I missing?
Mostly sodium and potassium salts, these are needed for the body to function properly. This is why oral dehydration solutions contain these and sometimes more stuff so you will be able to recover. You lose both water and electrolytes quickly when you sweat a lot, vomit, or have diarrhea, and if you just drink regular water, you won't be able to absorb it properly.
Usually when someone is severely dehydrated, you give them fluids intravenously, but it isn't always possible, so there are rehydration solutions that can be used. If someone is dehydrated but not too severely, oral rehydration solutions are great.
This is also the reason why you should never drink distilled water, it lacks these elements in them, it will damage the cells in your body when it tries to reach equilibrium.
It's called hypodipsia or adipsia. The bad thing for me is that dehydration causes the brain to get forgetful of things. So i notice that i'm dehydrated and i remind myself that i should drink ... only to have forgotten about it after 10 seconds.
What helps me is to always have a water bottle at hand, and preferably have it so that i'm often reminded of its presence. Frequently have it in the field of vision, or strap it to the belt. Then train the habit that whenever i get aware of the bottle i immediately take some.
If you dislike the taste of pure water then try adding some flavour to it. Mineral supplement fizzle tabs, lemon, mint leaves ... are you also "hungry for salt"? As someone mentioned, you might be low on essential ions as well.
When you drink beer, eat something salty to it (beer may cause sodium to get exchanged by potassium), and drink at least the same amount of water as you had beer. (hint for anyone for minimising hangovers)
I'm the same as you, if it weren't for the water reminders on my phone, I would have probably died by now. I just forget to drink because I don't feel thirsty.
A trick that helps me is to drink from a medium to large bottle, not a glass; it makes it easier to track how much you're drinking, because the number of times you refill the bottle is lower than it would be for a glass of water.
Also eat plenty of fruits and vegetables that contain lots of water, like cucumbers (these are like 90% water, and you can snack on them without thinking of calories), apples, and whatever you like. Adding plenty of these to your diet will ensure you at least get some water so you won't get super dehydrated even if your phone fails you. Also, soups are awesome, especially in the winter, and there are cold soups for summer (though I have never been a fan of these).
Wouldn't that be too hydrated, then? Don't get me wrong, I love hydration as much as the next homie, but I was always told that perfect urine is still a light yellow, and not 100% clear