Why am I thirsty all the time?

It's ridiculous. I don't have diabetes, don't live in a country renowned for its boiling hot weather, don't exercise or sweat a lot, etc. I also have virtually all of my small bowel left. Yet I just feel a constant background sense of thirst. I drink water, sports drinks such as Powerade, and tea mainly. None of them fully slake my thirst.

The other night I had a glass of Diarolyte instead of water. That seemed to do the trick. Not only was my thirst quenched, but my minor restless legs/inner 'trembling' disappeared - hard to explain. However, as it would probably be cheaper to drink champagne than it would Diarolyte every day, that's not a feasible long-term solution. So I'm googling home-made oral rehydration solutions.

I feel like I shouldn't be this dehyrated though. Is anyone else? Is there anything else which I can try, which is also cheap (operative word being 'cheap').

Yes, most of the time my urine is pale yellow and I urinate a few times a day.

Have no idea if this is true or not, but I remember somebody on the UC board saying that you can still be dehydrated if you have pale urine, if you are drinking a lot and the water is just passing straight through you. Regardless of whether that's total bollocks, I reckon I probably am chronically depleted in water and sodium and that's likely the source of my thirst.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1420234/?page=1

Have some salt, seriously. When I get really thirsty and can't figure out why I keep drinking to no avail, it's because I need salt. It goes hand in hand and if you keep drinking and diluting the amount of salt you won't feel any better.

Christine1946 said...
When was the last time you had a glucose tolerance test?

Never? <_<

My blood sugar level has always been on the lower side of normal when tested though. The last time I had it tested was a couple of months ago at my aunt's house: she did it for me. It was 4.3 if I remember correctly. Still, next time I see my GP I'll ask him if he can do another check: you can't be too paranoid... :-/

uc-logic said...
Have some salt, seriously. When I get really thirsty and can't figure out why I keep drinking to no avail, it's because I need salt. It goes hand in hand and if you keep drinking and diluting the amount of salt you won't feel any better.

Okay, I'll try that. I think the salt intake in my diet has probably decreased over the Christmas period, as I've been scoffing mainly chocolates and sweets rather than salty snacks. Also I've not been having my imported Asian ramen for lunch; one packet of that stuff probably exceeds the RDA of salt for an adult.

Eva Lou said...
hat is weird, you don't sound dehydrated. Based on your urine, that is. I always use that as a gauge for myself, it seems to hold true! The salt thing is correct also- sometimes if I do feel dehydrated, I'll eat a few grains of salt right from my hand! You can also measure hydration by your output- if it's thick enough, you should be good. I'd have your GP check you out though- diabetes makes you always thirsty too! Like you'd need that, huh??? wink

Just another diagnosis to add to my growing collection of physical and mental ailments >_>.

Feeling a tad dehydrated right now so I'm gonna go downstairs and mainline a quarter teaspoon of salt. See if that helps.

EDIT: Tried the salt. It helped, but not as much as the Diarolyte, so I think I'm still going to look into trying a home-made ORS. Oddly enough, once I started eating the salt I found myself craving it. Could've had more, but decided not to go nuts and eat tablespoons' worth.

EDIT 2: It only helped for about half an hour. Sod this. Back to the Diarolyte tomorrow.

Post Edited (NiceCupOfTea) : 1/4/2015 8:31:42 PM (GMT-7)