I hope this helps some of you. Because my water-absorbing colon is gone (I have a j-pouch) I'm always dehydrated, three hospitalizations for it. Recently I asked a kidney specialist if I could take two salt tablets, 1000mg each, daily. She approved. Today, e.g., since 11am I had a glass of water and two cups of coffee; no need to pee until 5pm. But please don't act on just this message. Check with your doctor. You may have a condition, such as heart, that would "contraindicate," as physicians like to say, the doing of what I do to battle dehydration.
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Since you have dehydration issues. I would develop a plan on "How to drink more water".
First: Coffee is very dehydrating because it is a diuretic. I would give up coffee but if you cannot give up coffee, I would drink a cup of water behind every cup of coffee to replace what you lost.
I always put salt in my water to help me retain the liquid much longer. Maybe that can be something you can try?
Drinking water: before during and after every meal will help as well.
Drinking water behind every bowel movement is something I read about online. Since I have an ostomy, in addition to my water plan, I drink water each time I empty my bag.
I always always always put salt in my water to help retain liquid and so I do not lose salt in my blood. All my blood work comes back normal upon doing this plan.
I have come across some people that set alarms to drink more water, that may be a good idea for you too.
Coffee is *not* “very dehydrating.” It is considerably less hydrating than water and most other beverages because of its diuretic effect, so it’s far from an ideal rehydrating solution, but it’s best not to spread myths about it.
Some folks get dehydrated from drinking too little, some get dehydrated from losing too much (from frequency and/or poor water absorption), and some have a combination of these. It’s best to work out what’s causing a hydration problem before proposing a specific solution. If you need an oral rehydration solution you can do much better than simply dumping salt into your drinking water.
You're correct, Scott, about coffee. Though a diuretic it still has water, as one med journal noted. Get this. In my third hospitalization a physician told me to drink no water at all. I was there, he said, because I had flushed all my sodium out with H2O. He advised any liquid but that: tea, soda, coffee, whatever, just no water. I rather swiftly ignored that, I do drink water and I still dehydrate but not nearly to a hospitalization point. Only the salt tablets have retained the water I do take in. Coffee too. (Again, I first checked with a kidney specialist. And she approved the idea.) —Phil