HYDRATE

Jonathan Shively said:

When I am hot, I also cannot drink water. It is the easiest way to make me vomit. So in the mornings and evenings I try to drink cold water. But during the day when working, Gatorade quenches my thirst without making me sick.

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Actually, I think it's the cold part of the water that's giving you problems... you body has to warm it up before it can absorb it, so we really are better off (I like it cold and drink it that way too) drinking more tepid water than the really cold stuff... even the Gatorade and Juices need to be nearer the body temp to be absorbed quickly. My dad was a share cropper in his youth and the 10 or so years of my life... he always took a gallon jug to the filed with him, wrapped the jug in burlap and soaked it before filling... he would set the jug in a shaded place and stop every so often to drink from it... at noon he brought back to the house and refilled it and resoaked the burlap... in the course of working a field he would go through two gallons of water and then be thirsty when he got home in the evening. In his later years, he never liked air conditioning.... he would rather find a shade outside and sit in the shade instead of in the air conditioned house.

On that note, my wife and I did a Farmer's Market yesterday in downtown Knoxville... it started at 0900 and was over at 2 pm, but by noon the temp was near 100 and not much of a breeze.... our location didn't allow us any shade, so we wound up sitting in the sun behind the booth when it was slow.... we had a cooler full of water and soft drinks that we drank pretty regularly.... the wife would get away and walk some so she could find shade and a breeze... I had to stay with the booth and stayed inside the booth under the canopy as much as I could... about 1:30 my wife said she was sick at her stomach and felt like barfing... she didn't, but I knew she was getting to be in trouble... I moved her chair way back from the booth about 30-40 feet where there was a shade, bagged up some ice to put on her neck and sat her there until the show ended... we packed in record time (I actually started about 15 minutes early) and when I brought the truck around the temperature on the thermometer in the cab said 96 and it had been parked in covered parking.... I left the truck running with the AC on high while I loaded the booth and got her in there.... we stopped for lunch on the way out of town and when we got back in the truck at about 3 pm the thermometer read 102.... we're both still feeling a little fatigue from the heat this morning.

I to have been treated for heat exhaustion. Took several days to fully recover and have sworn to not let it happen again. Mine happened working on framing crew on a 100+ day after consuming several beers the night before. I was young and dumb to say the least. The loss of almost a full weeks wages was enough to tell me not to that again. Well, at least not both on consecutive days.

Chuck Ellis said:

Actually, I think it's the cold part of the water that's giving you problems... you body has to warm it up before it can absorb it, so we really are better off (I like it cold and drink it that way too) drinking more tepid water than the really cold stuff... even the Gatorade and Juices need to be nearer the body temp to be absorbed quickly.

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When I am drinking at my leisure to either stock up or at the end of the day to try to help replenish is when I prefer cold water. Otherwise, yes, lukewarm goes down and stays down best. Just less of a shock to the system is what I have found. Hopefully anyone not ever dehydrated will gain from this thread as it does have great hints in it.

I believe the key is moderation.
Taking cooling breaks or rest periods with fluid intake often will keep anyone out in the hot shop most of the day without problems.

HYDRATION

OK I'm back again with some thoughts:

I was in So Calif. in an area that would reach 106 F a few days a year. It was dry heat---No, not as dry as the desert.

I had a patient with dry eyes and the contact lens problems that go along with that. He was continually dehydrated in spite of drinking over 200 ounces of water each day. He drove a delivery truck and took 200 oz with him plus any other water he drank that day. I ran the typical case history on him. He was drinking 10 cups of coffee each day. That is quite a bit over the 64 oz maximum recommended by nutritionists. However, not enough to count for his problem.

Then I found out that they were 16 ounce cups. I had him taper off to 8 to 16 oz per day over a three-week period of time (most people get bad headaches if they cut back on caffeine too quickly). His tear volume and quality actually became a bit better than normal. His contact lenses worked fine. CAFFEINE IS A DIURETIC. He drank the water, he pissed it out, but not much happened in-be-tween. Excess caffeine is a problem. No caffeine is also a problem; but that is another subject.

Another common problem was the person who knocked off 6 - 12 twelve ounce cans of sodas per day. EXCESS CARBOHYDRATE is a problem. It affects the viscosity and fluid flow in the body.

Some people react in a similar way to diet drinks. The studies I read were written a long time ago. I have no idea if Splenda, etc. have the same effect. Some of the non-sugar sweeteners can cause diarrhea in some people.

When a nutritionist counts water, he/she counts water only water alone---not water in juice, Gatorade, etc. The reason is that water benefits in a soft drink, coffee, beer, etc. can easily be offset by the caffeine, sugar, syrup, alcohol, etc. Please understand, the nutritionist also says that water is water no matter how you drink it. It is just that something in with the water offsets the hydration advantage of the water so counting of water intake involves just plain water.

Your urine color is a good (however, not totally reliable) indicator of your hydration. If your urine is clear (like an ad for Britta) or light straw color, you are probably hydrated. The darker the urine color, the less hydrated you are.

Dehydration is a factor in almost any health problem. The first thing the doc tells the diabetic is to drink more water; get hydrated. You read what Carol said above, regarding gall stones. Hydration is a big factor in glaucoma. Let's face it, your body is mostly made out of water.

Only people who do not really understand the problem, give the simplistic direction, "Drink more water." That is only part of the hydration problem (remember the dehydrated guy drinking 200 ounces a day). Look at what you drink and eat.

Any questions? PM Jim C Bradley.

Ten or fifteen years ago one of the Ivy League medical schools published a paper stating that (approximately) "9 out of 10 people in the continental United States is clinically dehydrated." Some dehydration is having, at least, some effect on almost everyone in the country.

Enjoy,

JimB

I had a neighbor that would only drink luke warm tap water, wasn't sure why, just figured he preferred it that way. Guess it makes sense that it could upset the stomach. Depending on the locality it may not be very good water too. We used to have to take a 5 gallon igloo down to my grandmother every week with us to visit. The water in her town was horrible, not sure how it passed state testing.

I've dehydrated myself a few times over the years, last time was severe enough to put me out a couple of days, have been more careful since. I have mostly given up drinking soft drinks at work and drink a couple of large cups of water each day. Found I stay more awake and less tired at the end of the day. At home I'll drink water, but I'm more apt to drink tea if I've got it. I used to keep a case of barley pop in the fridge and would drink a few each night, but I found if I have tea made, I'll drink it instead. My wife didn't believe me, so she started making tea without telling me why. The barley pop was lasting quite a while before needing replenished, so she's convinced.

When I travel for more than a day, I have to drink only bottled water, otherwise my system gets all out of whack. I used to think my co-workers were just being uppity, but after some discussion and some kidding, one convinced me. Took me many years to learn that and spent many business trips/vacations throwing up or the opposite. When we go somewhere I find a local store and pickup a case of name brand bottled water for the week.

Kidney stones, Jim. Not gall stones. Another thing I never want to experience.