Why is drinking more water making me thirsty?

[oolon]

Do you take any drugs? Various drugs can affect thirst and water balance, one being "e" where people can get thirsty enough to drink themselves to death (via the brainstem swelling).

[fuddam]

FWIW, IF you were doing tons of exercise thus sweating like a crazy man, you'd start to dehydrate of course and naturally drink more, but if you didn't replace the lost salt as well, your thirst would actually increase to a point where you'd be consuming loads of water to no good effect. The excessive thirst would lead to an even worse situation, since your system would be out of balance, and eventually the thirst would stop, making the dehydration even more extreme.

anyway, had to ask to see if that was the problem

also, any sign / possibility of diabetes?

[Rob_B]

Haha no, certainly no drugs apart from the odd vitamin C now and again!

No other changes except for drinking more water, no other signs of diabetes, in fact it wasn't thirst why I decided to drink more, just health :-)

I might try going back to my normal amount and see if that changes it back!

[Funkstar]

FWIW, IF you were doing tons of exercise thus sweating like a crazy man, you'd start to dehydrate of course and naturally drink more, but if you didn't replace the lost salt as well, your thirst would actually increase to a point where you'd be consuming loads of water to no good effect. The excessive thirst would lead to an even worse situation, since your system would be out of balance, and eventually the thirst would stop, making the dehydration even more extreme.

You don't have to be doing a ton of exercise for this to happen. If you drink too much plain water it will start to flush out all the salts and minerals your body actually requires. This can cause problems. Taken further, if you continue to drink too much water your body can no longer process it all and you can effectively drown yourself. As you can imagine, this is not good.

The myth about drinking 2L of water a day is just like the myth about eating 5 portions of fruit and veg a day. It's a convenient guideline for people to band about in the hope of getting people to actually eat and drink a bit more healthily. Really after a point there is no benefit from drinking plain water, if yoiu need more liquids in your system, you are better with fruit juices, milk or anything like that. Basically not carbonated drinks or tea and coffee (caffeine is a diritic (sp?) which will drag more water out of your body than is contained in the drink).

Not being thirsty may be a simptom of dehidration, but normaly if you are thirsty then have a drink. Also check the drakness of your urine, the darker it is, the less hydrated you are. I'm sure you could find a handy chart with a google image search

[Phage]

The myth about drinking 2L of water a day is just like the myth about eating 5 portions of fruit and veg a day.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp

[Funkstar]

Good link that Phage, espeially the bit about caffeinne not being that important if youa re consuming it at normal levels.

[Rob_B]

I didn't used to drink enough so decided to drink more, I'm not sticking to the 8 glasses rule or trying to do the 'Volvic challenge' (wow, what a difficult challenge that is..) just decided to drink more.

I think I'll avoid googling images for that thanks Funkstar! Lets just say it used to be darker, now it's lighter which, to me, is a good sign

[matty-hodgson]

Rob... Could it maybe be your toothpaste? Cos you'll be brushing your teeth before bed I presume, then you have the residue in your mouth all night..

[Rob_B]

Nope, all the same as I've used before A proper mystery, call Poirot!

[TooNice]

Umm, I sweat easily so I've had as much as 3.5L of water/juice/milk combined when I was quite active. Energy drinks can be handy to maintain water-electrolyte balance (the absence of which could lead to water poisoning - though you are going to have to drink a lot of get there). It helped a little bit when I had a fever and no amount of water seemed to satiate me. The downside is that energy drinks tend to have various amount of carbs (given their purpose), so it's no replacement for plain water.

[scaryjim]

Good link that Phage, espeially the bit about caffeinne not being that important if youa re consuming it at normal levels.

It's also true of alcoholic drinks in the beer / cider / wine area (although modern wines are a bit stronger so it may include them), but basically unless you're drinking a lot of neat spirits the dehydrating effects of alcohol aren't anywhere near strong enough to dehydrate you while you continue to drink. The problem comes, as anyone who's had a hangover knows, when you stop drinking. I believe the same is probably true of tea / coffee tbh - the diuretic effect will continue after you stop drinking them, so if the last drink you have in a day is caffeinated, you may well wake up slightly dehydrated. But certainly nothing serious.

[Funkstar]

It's also true of alcoholic drinks in the beer / cider / wine area (although modern wines are a bit stronger so it may include them), but basically unless you're drinking a lot of neat spirits the dehydrating effects of alcohol aren't anywhere near strong enough to dehydrate you while you continue to drink. The problem comes, as anyone who's had a hangover knows, when you stop drinking. I believe the same is probably true of tea / coffee tbh - the diuretic effect will continue after you stop drinking them, so if the last drink you have in a day is caffeinated, you may well wake up slightly dehydrated. But certainly nothing serious.

I've always suspected this was the case

[MadduckUK]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication the boring intoxication

[j.o.s.h.1408]

I think you should only drink as much water as you need, eg. when you're thirsty.

I don't think it's actually been scientifically proven or fact that loads of water does you the world of good. I might be wrong though...

I feel it's a spin bottled water sellers do to get people buying after watching misleading crappy adds.

its also not scientifcly proven that the more vegetables and fruits you eat, the longer u live

[kalniel]

It's also true of alcoholic drinks in the beer / cider / wine area (although modern wines are a bit stronger so it may include them), but basically unless you're drinking a lot of neat spirits the dehydrating effects of alcohol aren't anywhere near strong enough to dehydrate you while you continue to drink. The problem comes, as anyone who's had a hangover knows, when you stop drinking. I believe the same is probably true of tea / coffee tbh - the diuretic effect will continue after you stop drinking them, so if the last drink you have in a day is caffeinated, you may well wake up slightly dehydrated. But certainly nothing serious.

Caffeine only has a very mild diuretic effect, if at all. The main cause of peeing a lot is because you're drinking a lot

Alcohol on the other hand is completely different - it is treated as a poison by the body and a lot of extra water is used to flush it/the metabolites out of the system. This happens regardless of alcohol strength - it's just volume of alcohol that's important. Even fairly weak beer is dehydrating overall, but tea/coffee are net hydrators.

As for the OPs question, thirst is a little like hunger - your body will desensitise in effect to new levels. If you're used to drinking more water then your body will want to carry on drinking more water.

[tiggerai]

I've always suspected this was the case

even if I've only drunk a little bit (couple of shandys on a friday lunchtime) I'll always find myself more dehydrated the next morning. a good pint of water before bed and another for the morning sorts that out.