Drinking problems :)

[ddawson77]

I know when most people would see that topic they would come to a much different conclusion then the group of us would!  I am a bigger guy 6'4 240ish and I have never really had trouble with my fluids before, but now that it is getting nicer I am finding myself putting more and more on.  Is there any secrets to help with the thirst isseus??

[Hanify]

Iceblocks in the freezer, grapes in the freezer to suck on.  Chewing gum.  I think it takes a few weeks at the beginning of summer to acclimatise - it's always hard.  Slushies (frozen drinks) are better than normal cold drinks - they last a bit longer, and actually have less in them.  That's why the likes of McD's are so keen on them.  If you let one defrost you'd be surprised how little you're getting for your $$.

[willowtreewren]

Swish and spit.

 

[mcmkids]

This is an issue for my husband, also a big guy like yourself. I don't know about you, but prior to his kidney failure he always had a drink with him. This has been quite a journey for him as well. Gum and ice do help and he also likes water ice. The swish and spit never really worked for him, unfortunatly.  It really just takes getting used to.

[RightSide]

When it comes to fluid retention and thirst,
the Big Secret is sodium.

I have found that once I cut my sodium intake way down (to 1,000 mg per day), I rarely get thirsty.  And I rarely retain fluid either.

Cutting daily sodium intake to 1,000 mg is difficult.  But it can be done.

[ddawson77]

Thanks or all the ideas, I know I need to reduce my sodium.  Talk about timing though, I just bought a bag of frozen fruit the other day so I will try the grapes today.

mcmkids, you are right on the money.  Not too long ago I used to work outside so during a hot Nebraska summer I would always be drinking something!  That is a very hard habbit to change.

[fluffy]

doing something that makes you sweat helps with fluid gains. as long as you have the energy for it.

[kristina]

When it comes to fluid retention and thirst,
the Big Secret is sodium.

I have found that once I cut my sodium intake way down (to 1,000 mg per day), I rarely get thirsty.  And I rarely retain fluid either.

Cutting daily sodium intake to 1,000 mg is difficult.  But it can be done.

I am not on Dialysis yet, but when I was told in August 2006 that I am in end-stage-renal-failure my husband and I researched straight away on the Internet for a diet and the main point we learnt was to cut out Sodium altogether. We now cook everything ourselves, bake our own bread without salt, use unsalted butter, cook without any salt etc. I soon noticed I was hardly thirsty anymore. I agree with RightSide on this when he says, the big secret is sodium. It seems that almost everything readily bought these days has lots of sodium in it. Because of this we avoid it and buy fresh vegetables and fresh fruit instead. At first it seems a pretty tasteless existence, but there are lots of little tricks to make a meal very tasty: a tiny little bit of pepper, a little bit of fresh lemon over the freshly cooked vegetables with a little bit of toasted bread-pieces spread over it, etc., freshly cut shallots "twirled" in flour before very very slowly (~20 minutes) frying in a little unsalted butter, etc.. One or two fresh radishes give every fresh salad a little bite to it, etc. Good luck and all the best.

[hurlock1]

I live in New Mexico and the water here is really tasty and cool. My mouth in it's normal state tastes like the bottom of a dried fish tank in the sahara. What I used to do was get that bottled water, Dasani, Aquafina, whatever. . .That way I could measure how much fluid I was drinking. That didn't work because even though I was able to measure, I was still drinking too much. I was taking benydril to go to sleep. Benedril makes me uncontrollably thirsty later on in the day.
So, I get a glass near the sink and fill it up, take a huge sip and spit it out into the sink, letting just a little trickle down my throat. And I quit taking benedril no matter what. And my desire for water is much lessened.
I heard that rather than Orange Juice, Sunny D is OK, But I can't bring myself  to spit it out. So, I don't  even get Sunny D except on the weekends when the grandkids are here.

[Brightsky69]

It's not a good habit but I suck/chew on crushed ice. It lasts longer than drinking a big cup of ice water. My refrigerator at home is old and makes these hollow ice cubes. OMG!! I LOVE them. I told my boyfriend that we could never get ride of the refrigerator.

[Jean]

Can we also not eat popsicles? They are great for hot flashes, and I only get the sugar free ones. Has any one tired that? Kristina has the best diet ever, and she is not on dialysis, even tho her GFR is like 10!!!!!! Vegetarian.

[Bajanne]

This thread really resounds with me.  This is my BIG problem.  And now that the days are getting hotter...!!!!   Trouble for me!  After weekends I usually have on 6kg above my dry weight, and it is usually only on Friday that I am back to my dry weight.
I have to do something about this.  And to thinks that I am still peeing and sweating as well!

[MandaMe1986]

I wish I had some advice, but I don't.  I agree with people who say do something to sweat more.  Working out is always good.

But I do have to add 6'4" Dang you make me feel short!

[kitkatz]

I bought an ice maker at Target that make hollowed out ice cubies.  It is great.  It makes an entire batch of ice for my freezer in a few hours if I am home, otherwise it makes it and waits for me to take it out and dump it into the freezer box. It was 164.00 dollars. Worth every penny.

[kristina]

Can we also not eat popsicles? They are great for hot flashes, and I only get the sugar free ones. Has any one tired that? Kristina has the best diet ever, and she is not on dialysis, even tho her GFR is like 10!!!!!! Vegetarian.

Thank you Jean for your kind thoughts on my diet.
Mind you, I would not know whether it is the right or wrong thing
to be a vegetarian, because there are so many different theories about this matter.
When I look at my own medical history I can only say
that the MCTD/SLE-flare-ups must be enormously powerful in comparison to diet.
Diet therefore is not going to provide me with perfect health, but
I feel that my vegetarian diet is just one element in my life
which I feel might have a positive effect, though small, and along with other small elements
like life-style (lowering stress as much as possible, exercising, keeping my weight down, etc, etc,)
gives me a slightly better chance to both handle the major flare-ups and to help me recover more quickly.
So, diet is not a panacea, or a cure-all, it is merely another one of those little things to help
when the body is in a crisis.
After my first kidney failure in 1971, after my kidneys started to pick up again slowly (later to stabilize at 40-45%),
I asked a professor how best to treat my kidneys to make them work longer on their own
and he told me he could not prove it but he believed strongly that a vegetarian diet
is less demanding on the body and does not irritate the kidneys and he believed
that I need to keep my kidneys as "calm" as possible to make them work longer.
In 1999 a new MCTD/SLE flare-up attacked my kidneys again and began
the current process of deterioration (now 10% GFR).
Now I just go from one day to another, from one week to another and
one months to another trying to keep my kidneys as calm as possible with
a very kind and easy digestable vegetarian diet and perhaps
I am lucky and the flare-up goes away on its own accord
or I find a specialist in time to stop the deterioration.
Thanks again for your kind thoughts, Kristina.

[Inara]

I have to agree that sodium reduction is crucial when it comes to thirst.  I went on a low sodium diet with Leslie and it was awful at first!  Man, did we miss our usual snack foods!  But eventually, we got used to it and now can't stand to eat anything with a lot of salt.  Leslie's fluid intake went down to acceptable levels.  She feels better during and after dialysis and it isn't so hard on her heart.  She also does the frozen grapes and ice chips when it's really hot outside.