Does drinking more water make you thirstier?

Nurses General Nursing

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Sometimes I go through the suggestion to drink more water. Tried it plain, with lemon, with cucumber slices, etc. I LOVE ice water, but there are times when drinking just water makes me feel thirstier and thirstier, and quenching? Not particularly. Not at all! More like bloated and/or slightly nauseated and there are times when it gives me wicked heartburn!

Anyone else experienced this? Any suggestions?

Specializes in ICU.

It could be that your body is not absorbing it if you don't have enough sodium. Water follows sodium and glucose in absorption in the renal system. So when your body decides that you need water and activates the thirst mechanism you become thirsty. Depending on what you drink you may either pee most of it out or reabsorb most of it. You only have a certain amount of the aquaporin channels to absorb water. It will also go with the sodium and glucose channels to absorb the rest of it. That may be why you still feel thirsty. Not enough sodium or glucose.

My professor taught us about hyponatremia this past semester and told us the Hold Your Pee for a Wii story. When the Wii's initially came out and they were hard to get a radio station had a contest. People drank gallons of water and had to hold their pee. Whoever held it the longest got the Wii. Many medical providers called in to the station telling these Djs how dangerous it was and no one listened. Well this woman won and died 3 days later from hyponatremia. I will forever remember that story.

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

I think neither low sodium nor low glucose is a problem for me:eek:

But when I am thirsty-thirsty, I do have a tendency to try to quench that thirst

by drinking too much too fast. I believe it could be referred to as GUZZLING!

A good long slug of water seems to help at first, but then I feel like I need MORE!

I'm still thirsty! Another slug, and I'm even thirstier. Soon I've downed close to a liter.

It happens if I've decided to drink ONLY water all day. And, of course I'm extremely thirsty

if I've had pizza or fried seafood or spicy Mexican fare. So I think with having a full stomach and/or

a totally empty stomach, drinking a lot of water results in the acid-backwash into the esophagus.

Seems like the most likely culprit to me.

It doesn't happen if I drink a variety of fluids over the course of a day.

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Have you ever had your blood glucose tested? Having an unquenchable thirst is one of the symptoms of diabetes.

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
CajunShrimp84 said:
Have you ever had your blood glucose tested? Having an unquenchable thirst is one of the symptoms of diabetes.

Yeah, I run a good blood glucose, always within normal range.The thirst doesn't happen all the time.

The other day when I decided it would be a good thing to delete sugar and sugared drinks from my diet, I loaded up my sippy cup (BPH free) with water. I started out sipping but after a while it wasn't cuttin' it; every sip made me thirsty, and no amount of water would quench that thirst. It was pretty aggravating. And at first I figured it was my body saying, "YES! More water!" But then the acid reflux started. BLICK! So I figured AN was a good place to ask if anyone else had experienced the same thing.

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Ahh, I see. My reflux has gotten so bad that sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night vomiting for no reason. My doctor actually wants to check me out for a hiatal hernia. Not saying that's what you have, but always something to keep an eye out for.

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
CajunShrimp84 said:
Ahh, I see. My reflux has gotten so bad that sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night vomiting for no reason. My doctor actually wants to check me out for a hiatal hernia. Not saying that's what you have, but always something to keep an eye out for.

Holy Christmas!!!!! Waking up to puke has got to be just plain AWFUL!

I read somewhere that more water was supposed to help reflux, another one of the reasons I tried switching to just water. Fortunately my reflux isn't constant or severe, I can take a pepcid and some gas-x and I'm fine again. But I also know that taking pepcid and the like all the time interupts the digestion process. I was hoping to find a way out of the damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't cycle!

Hope you find some kind of resolution, CajunShrimp!

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It's happened 5 times now over the last few months & believe me, it's awful!! My dogs now know that if I wake up jumping out of bed that they need to get out of the way! I have been taking OTC heart burn meds for almost a year now & I know that's bad for me, but sometimes doctors don't know what the heck is wrong.

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The classic advice for decreasing risk of nocturnal regurgitation is don't take anything to eat or drink less than three hours before you go to bed and never stuff yourself at dinner, avoid alcohol and chocolate in the evening meal, and sleep on an extra pillow. This works at our house. I agree, though, waking up with aspiration pending is very unpleasant.

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. If I were in the same position, I'd be taking prescription stuff, if the OTC wasn't helping. I would also keep a small, plastic-bag lined wastebasket right at the bedside! I'm not so good at holding back once the body decides somethings gotta go!

Speaking of dogs, I have a friend whose dog, when she said "I'm going to sneeze.", would look alarmed and run from the room. The image always makes me laugh. Must've been one heck of a sneeze!

PS What is 'pierian stream"? And LOVE that you are a member of the Crusty Old Bat Society!

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
GrnTea said:
The classic advice for decreasing risk of nocturnal regurgitation is don't take anything to eat or drink less than three hours before you go to bed and never stuff yourself at dinner, avoid alcohol and chocolate in the evening meal, and sleep on an extra pillow. This works at our house. I agree, though, waking up with aspiration pending is very unpleasant.

Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! Aspiration Pending!

( If this makes no sense to you, I'm a lot older than you!)

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I actually only vomit when laying on my side, not on my back...so hopefully I won't aspirate. I am looking for a new GI doctor now, so maybe I can figure this out.

No Stars In My Eyes: I love the dog story! I have a 140 lb rottweiler who acts like a big baby & will get startled if you surprise him with a loud sneeze!

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

Huh! Goes to show you, everyone's different; When I want to allay nausea I can lay on my left side and that dials it down considerably.

Best wishes on finding a GI guy! Mine was my first doc-hero, because he actually listened and discussed; absolutely took me and my views seriously.

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