Oh my -how they leave out the info….

- iron deficiency/anemia

- b12 deficiency

- vitamin D deficiency

- constant need to hydrate

and I could go on and on.

but, at the end of the day, better than the alternative.

Are you drinking just water? Are you having enough salt? You need salt to process water and salt will help you feel the need to drink. Unless you have issues like me where gaining weight is an issue, it's more important for you to be drinking water than eating.

Because dehydration has snuck up on me twice and hits me hard, I drink at least a quart of Gatorade daily as a preventative measure.  

it’s probably not the best thing for me, but at least I do not have any diabetic issues.

Perhaps I had a different experience but I was rather aggressively told by my surgeon from day 1 about all of these risks- kidney stones, the need to copiously hydrate, etc. I do copiously hydrate and never had any kidney stones in 30 years with a J Pouch. I even hydrate during the evening. I consume one 20 ounce bottle of Gatorade Zero during the evening. I leave it on my nightstand and each time I get up during the night I take 3-4 sips until by the morning when it's drained. This is how I live and I realized I needed to adapt how I live to comply with my J Pouch. I also use Metamucil 2-3x per day with 8 ounces plus of liquid.

I do not drink enough, and this I know. I had one of those daily urine tests (my urologist wanted to know my output) and I think it was something like 500 CCs or something insane like that. I try but I just don’t drink enough. I’ve have a stent for kidney stones and they have been a problem. I keep a water bottle everywhere in my house- every in the bathroom at night so I can have it when I wake up and go to the bathroom. I wake up so thirsty though. I think I get enough salt- my dog hasn’t said anything. They used to test for low potassium, low sodium and low mag, but now it’s just the mag and potassium and I’ve been fine- just low iron and it D.

challenge for us, isn’t it?

Bubba do you drink a lot of alcohol or caffeine? These are very dehydrating items and severely impact hydration levels. It's worth noting that today is St. Patrick's Day and people have been known to imbibe a drink or two on this holiday.

Actually I don’t drink any alcohol and no coffee or caffeine (no tea or anything), but that’s a good point- that stuff does dehydrate even more.

Put regular salt in your water, you will have to see what you can tolerate taste wise etc. When I still worked heavy construction and needed to keep hydrated that's what I did. You don't need to much salt but enough. I still occasionally put salt in my water in the summer or winter to encourage drinking.

If I'm/you not having to specifically go pee a couple times a day, I'm/you're not drinking enough. Peeing flushes your kidneys and you don't need more problems on top of what you have going on.

Drink more water/salt, If you don't like that Gatorade or something similar is ok but still try and mix some water in.

You might want to try adding a glug or lemon juice to your water.  I find this hydrates me better than just plain water.

If you are trying for effective oral rehydration solutions, Google "St. Marks Oral Rehydration Solution." You can inexpensively make a liter or two to leave on your counter or bring with you to work in a water bottle to sip throughout the day. This has the requisite salt, sodium bicarbonate, glucose/sugar needed to absorb electrolytes along with water. (one of the ORS also adds No Salt/Morton's Lite Salt, which contains potassium as well.) It can be flavored with lemon, Crystal Light granules or whatever.

I discovered I was chronically mild dehydrated even though I was drinking 8-10 glasses of water daily. The water was washing right through me, taking electrolytes with it. Since drinking a couple of glasses of oral hydration solution in addition to water, I'm no longer dehydrated.  --Rose--

Just wanted to mention an underdiagnosed cause of dry eyes – Sjogren’s syndrome. It is estimated that one in ten people with dry eyes in the US have it, so if you are over 40 it is worth discussing with your doctor.