Can you drink too much water?

[khesan]

Can you drink too much water? I have a water cooler and a 15lt. water bottle. I go thru it in about 2 days so I guess I am downing round 7 lts. a day. Now I am diabetic and I feel thirsty a lot. My blood sugars are excellent since starting Atkins 3 weeks ago and I have been able to stop my insulin injections and have gone from taking 9 diabetic meds a day to 2 so I am really happy.
I have noticed my weight loss has slowed up quite a bit this week and was wondering if drinking so much water might be the reason. That is all i drink nothing else. I do wee heaps though lol.
Just thought I would run it by you and see what you think.
Hugs

[moniegail]

Re: Can you drink too much water?

there was a discussion on this very topic earlier in the month. i bumped it up so you can check it out. i hope it helps

monie

[khesan]

Re: Can you drink too much water?

Thanks Moniegail made ineresting reading think I will try and cut back a bit ...if I can....I am drinking over 200oz. a day so maybe retaining some fluid.

[sallyseachange]

Re: Can you drink too much water?

On the subject of copious water drinking, I read somewhere a while back that if you drink lots and lots of water, as many of us do, you should add a pinch of salt to a glass or two during the day. Apparently it keeps the electrolytes up, or something like that.

Has anyone else heard of this, or have any knowledge? Was wondering, as we're usually told to keep sodium down.

[Lyssie]

Re: Can you drink too much water?

Sodium *is* an electrolyte.

So when you're drinking a ton of plain water, you're diluting the electrolytes in your body without replacing them. Gatorade/Powerade/etc are basically a ton of sodium.

[Brook]

Re: Can you drink too much water?

All of this is true, however, you have to work fairly hard to drink yourself into hyponatremia.

You will recognize that you feel ...off. You will notice that you are retaining water- and it won't be a question- you'll know. You'll notice that you're experiencing some muscle cramps, headaches, nausea. It's not like it's sneaky. It's not- and the extreme symptoms are unmistakable (convulsions, stupor, coma). It's also hard to do with the amounts of water we're drinking daily. You'd have to be on a mission.

The human kidneys are equipped to filter upwards of 15 liters of water a day. People with normal kidneys are not going to have any problem at all drinking 200oz of water a day or more. The only way that's going to be problematic is if you chug a good portion of that water down in a very short period of time. If you're healthy and have normal renal function, there's no reason to add salt to your water.

"Water intoxication" is a very real problem, but unless you're an extreme athlete (marathon runners/Grand Canyon in a day kind of athlete) or military personnel in extreme weather, you're unlikely to have an issue with it. These are people in extreme situations, driven by thirst who drink enormous amounts of water in very, very short periods of time in an effort to hydrate themselves and it can and has killed people.

Signed,
The Mom of a Chronically Hyponatremic Kid

[TheDogAteMyName]

Re: Can you drink too much water?

Wow...congratulations on your success so far! That is wonderful.

Being in ketosis also makes me thirsty. I drink a lot of water daily. I can't even keep track, I just feel filling up the same 16oz glass over and over...and over...again.

[sallyseachange]

Re: Can you drink too much water?

Sodium *is* an electrolyte.

So when you're drinking a ton of plain water, you're diluting the electrolytes in your body without replacing them. Gatorade/Powerade/etc are basically a ton of sodium.

Thanks for the clarification Lyssie... and Brook too.