Increased water intake causing unpleasant side effects?
 

Hello everyone! Long-time lurker/sign-up-er, but first time poster.
I hope I've picked the right place to ask this.

I've been watching what I eat (calorie counting, mostly) for months, and now I've decided to start working on something else- my water intake. I don't drink nearly enough.

The "drink more" campaign has been going fine for the last few days, with one exception. Maybe it is coincidence, but drinking more water seems to have, hmm... upset my stomach. Today (day 3) is the worst it's been. I couldn't even go to the store with my mother for groceries. I couldn't leave the bathroom!

Has anyone else experienced this? Or am I just weird?

Thank you!
Caitlin

How much are you drinking? Did you ramp up slowly or add it all at once? What temperature?

You should probably adjust your water intake slowly, if you can, to minimize any negative side effects.

Make sure whatever you're drinking it out of is clean, too. I had an incident with a water bottle I was using. I was cleaning it out, but there was this one area that apparently wasn't getting as clean as I thought. Oh my, I had many days of stomach problems and couldn't figure it out until I saw this grime (yeah, eew, grime). Once I got that cleaned, my stomach problems went away! (No wonder...>_<)

Mandalinn82,

I don't think I bumped it up too fast, but then again, I don't really know. I would usually drink 4 glasses of water a day. Monday was 5. Yesterday I got 6 glasses in. Should I be adding it in more slowly than that? My doctor recommended, due to various medical conditions/medications I am on, that I get 64oz a day, so I'm just working up to that.

Regarding the temperature, it comes out of the freezer (one of those water/ice things on the front of the door) so it's pretty cold. Should I drink it closer to room temperature?

Thanks for your help!


Faerie,

Ick! Well, I hope the dishwasher is getting my glasses clean! Ugh...grime.

It also may not be the water at all. Have you switched your foods up recently? Been near any sick people?

Oh right & btw :wel3fc:!

If I drink cold water on an empty stomach bad things happen. I usually get awful cramps and many times vomit violently. I rarely drink ice water anymore.

When I increased my water intake I started adding 8 oz. Then waiting until my bathroom schedules returns to "normal" then I add another 8 oz. I now drink 80-100 oz a day and use the restroom appox every 3 hours.

Faerie,

First of all, thank you for the welcome! You know, now that you mention it, I have been around someone sick. My brother had the flu, which apparently turned into bronchitis, so maybe I got a little bug from him?


KateB,

That's a good idea! I think I'll try that. Granted, I don't think I've ever gone 3 hours without going to the bathroom (except for when sleeping).

Penmage - I just read your post and I was thinking that if you were not a big water-drinker to begin with, it might be possible that the extra fluids are helping to re-hydrate you and "flush" out your system. The extra fluid helps everything move easier through your system. (And some people may be more sensitive).

This typically happens to me when I go without drinking much water for quite some time. My doctor had mentioned this and I guess it kinda makes sense to me! :)

Good luck with the water intake! :)

Well, so far today I haven't had any issue with the side effect, which is good, because I've been in class all day! Talk about embarrassing :o
Anyway, maybe my stomach's calmed down some.

I hope it was just a brief period of this "side effect" that it's over! :crossed: