"Water Toxicity" or "Hyponatremia". Drinking too much water can kill you!

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  • marymickaela
    marymickaela Posts: 190 Member
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    mph323 wrote: »

    1. You only need to drink enough fluids daily to keep your urine light yellow, unless you have a medical condition that requires you to drink more.

    2. If you're having dizziness or blurry eye-sight you need to be checked out by a doctor - don't self-diagnose, there are multiple causes for these types of symptoms and not all the causes are benign.

    Well in May I was so concerned about my eyesight I moved my eye surgeon's appt up early. My eyesight had definitely changed so got driving glasses. Saw my Retina Spec in July for the Macular Pucker in my L eye. I had Lasik in 2000. Had R eye done in Am & L in afternoon. Right eye was great. I believe this was purely a fluke and you'll probably flinch, but as we pulled into our drive coming home I believe a gust of wind caught the cornea in my L eye. I knew something was wrong, but was going back to surgeon 9am next morning. Went in and he took one look and rushed me into surgery. My cornea had come off and was up in the corner of my L eye. I won't get into how excruciating this was. I'm now told (by my current spec) that the dr did a good job sewing it back on but the cornea has been damaged so I have a shadow in my L eye. In July my Retina Spec said I should have the cataract surgery and then he would do the macular pucker surgery.

    The hematuria was discovered during a routine dr's visit 1 1/2yr ago. I was referred to urologist and have had every text under the book and no cause has been found. However a hematuria test done end of June to determine if the bleeding was coming from the upper or lower tract said I have severe bleeding coming from my kidneys. Thus my need to see kidney specialist. At last weeks apt he did say it's definitely not normal, but we need to get the sodium under control first.

    Here's the interesting part of the hematuria. When I cut back on the water little to no blood shows up on the dip stick. When I increase my water it shows up. I think I mentioned this to kidney spec, and will see him again on the 17th. Hopefully, the sodium will still be stable and we can focus on what this is about. The good news is it's been going on so long and all my kidney function tests came back normal. I may have to have a kidney biopsy to find out for sure. However, the worrisome part is my mom died of kidney cancer at age 63. No kidney symptoms until it has spread thru-out her body. I've already outlived her & her mom (maternal gma) died of cancer at age 68. Well, I've already had cancer at 26 going thru a 3hr surgery during my 5mo of pregnancy.

    As you can see I have had a lot to deal with so no wonder my stress level has reached the breaking point.

    I truly appreciate all the helpful advice. Trust me I'm not looking for advice and am in the hands of a great Urologist, new fantastic Nephrologist, incredible Endocrinologist for my thyroid cancer, wonderful Neurologist if I don't count his PA, great psych dr, a fantastic orthopedic surgeon as all the cartilage is gone in my R shoulder in addition to rotator cuff tear, great Opthalmologist, & Retina Specialist, and my great Internist of many years. Oh, can't leave out my ICU nurse daughter. They are all up to speed on my meds. Let's see, who am I leaving out. LOL!!

    Thank You All!!!
    Mary
  • RamboKitty87
    RamboKitty87 Posts: 272 Member
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    mph323 wrote: »
    RamboKitty87 wrote: »
    Wow what an eye opener, I can sometimes drink 3 litres quite easily, normally I stay around 2 litres per day but everyone I spoke to when I told them I was eating healthier said I should drink as much water as I can, its like one of the first things I get told / read about when looking for tips about losing weight its always "increase water intake" or "drink a pint of water whenever you feel hungry" etc etc so you cannot blame people for over-doing it, I will take this onto account from now on though, I sometimes get dizzy and eye sight can get blurry when I am out in public but I always put that down to my anxiety, thank you for sharing your story and I am sorry this has happened to you, I would suggest possibly getting a smaller water bottle, freezing a bottle of water and drink it as its thawing so you drink slower or try and monitor as best you can your water intake, just be careful and stay safe :)

    1. You only need to drink enough fluids daily to keep your urine light yellow, unless you have a medical condition that requires you to drink more.

    2. If you're having dizziness or blurry eye-sight you need to be checked out by a doctor - don't self-diagnose, there are multiple causes for these types of symptoms and not all the causes are benign.

    I know this now..., not everyone wakes up with all this knowledge on eating healthy etc you know, I was just stating whenever I tell someone I am eating better / dieting or look at tips online they always say "drink more water" so I don't blame people for thinking that drinking lots of water is good for them... also I only ever get dizzy when I am feeling anxious, if I did not self diagnose I would still be in crippling pain not knowing what was wrong with me as I knew I had gallstones but my doctor was convinced all I had was constipation, I went to see her so many times about the pain and she said the same thing every time and when I kept insisting it wasn't to the point where I was in tears due to pain and frustration she said she'd sort out an ultrasound for my own piece of mind and that it would most likely come back with nothing because she was so sure nothing was wrong and it actually did turn out I had gallstones. Doctors are so fracking useless at times.
  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
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    RamboKitty87 wrote: »
    mph323 wrote: »
    RamboKitty87 wrote: »
    Wow what an eye opener, I can sometimes drink 3 litres quite easily, normally I stay around 2 litres per day but everyone I spoke to when I told them I was eating healthier said I should drink as much water as I can, its like one of the first things I get told / read about when looking for tips about losing weight its always "increase water intake" or "drink a pint of water whenever you feel hungry" etc etc so you cannot blame people for over-doing it, I will take this onto account from now on though, I sometimes get dizzy and eye sight can get blurry when I am out in public but I always put that down to my anxiety, thank you for sharing your story and I am sorry this has happened to you, I would suggest possibly getting a smaller water bottle, freezing a bottle of water and drink it as its thawing so you drink slower or try and monitor as best you can your water intake, just be careful and stay safe :)

    1. You only need to drink enough fluids daily to keep your urine light yellow, unless you have a medical condition that requires you to drink more.

    2. If you're having dizziness or blurry eye-sight you need to be checked out by a doctor - don't self-diagnose, there are multiple causes for these types of symptoms and not all the causes are benign.

    I know this now..., not everyone wakes up with all this knowledge on eating healthy etc you know, I was just stating whenever I tell someone I am eating better / dieting or look at tips online they always say "drink more water" so I don't blame people for thinking that drinking lots of water is good for them... also I only ever get dizzy when I am feeling anxious, if I did not self diagnose I would still be in crippling pain not knowing what was wrong with me as I knew I had gallstones but my doctor was convinced all I had was constipation, I went to see her so many times about the pain and she said the same thing every time and when I kept insisting it wasn't to the point where I was in tears due to pain and frustration she said she'd sort out an ultrasound for my own piece of mind and that it would most likely come back with nothing because she was so sure nothing was wrong and it actually did turn out I had gallstones. Doctors are so fracking useless at times.

    Neither of my points were included in your post. And you left out the part where you were seeing a doctor for your dizziness and blurry vision and were diagnosed with gallstones instead of the anxiety you were putting it down to.
  • WatchJoshLift
    WatchJoshLift Posts: 520 Member
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    After reading this thread I have come to the conclusion that I have lived for too long.
  • xvolution
    xvolution Posts: 721 Member
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    RamboKitty87 wrote: »
    Wow what an eye opener, I can sometimes drink 3 litres quite easily, normally I stay around 2 litres per day but everyone I spoke to when I told them I was eating healthier said I should drink as much water as I can, its like one of the first things I get told / read about when looking for tips about losing weight its always "increase water intake" or "drink a pint of water whenever you feel hungry" etc etc so you cannot blame people for over-doing it, I will take this onto account from now on though, I sometimes get dizzy and eye sight can get blurry when I am out in public but I always put that down to my anxiety, thank you for sharing your story and I am sorry this has happened to you, I would suggest possibly getting a smaller water bottle, freezing a bottle of water and drink it as its thawing so you drink slower or try and monitor as best you can your water intake, just be careful and stay safe :)

    Dizziness and blurry vision are two symptoms of low blood pressure, but without getting it checked out by a doctor you can't be entirely sure. If you're not on a sodium-restrictive diet, next time these symptoms occur lick about 1/8tsp salt and see if that helps. Most of the time low blood pressure is caused by not having enough sodium in the blood, and taking in some pure salt should help with that (if that's the problem).

    I think I'm developing hyponatremia myself, mainly from loss of sodium through sweat (I went back to work yesterday after a long medical leave due to a foot injury, and my BP after work was 95/54, my shirt was completely drenched in sweat. That was after treating dizziness using a bit of salt water).
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    I just want to pipe in that the advice to "see your doctor" is fine for critical conditions but for chronic illnesses the patient will always be their best advocate. In this case the OP has three chronic conditions; a cycling mood disorder on the bipolar spectrum, high blood pressure and kidneys. I think. I've got them all.

    And now managing electrolytes will be very important.

    The problem with waiting to see the doctor for a chronic condition is that symptoms can get out of control before the next appointment.

    OP, it sounds like you have trusted family members who are alert enough to warn you when your mood flies past average. Make a pact to act on their advice. You might get used to logging your daily mood between -10 to +10. Tracking your sleep symptoms is also very helpful. Not enough sleep is heading to manic, too much in to depressive. When you shoot out of range, see your specialist sooner rather than later.

    Do you have a BP monitor at home? That might be handy to have. Track it and if you get too low, eat something salty.

    When you get those blurry wobbly symptoms, eat something salty and cut back on the water.
  • RamboKitty87
    RamboKitty87 Posts: 272 Member
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    @mph323 Look I was just making a comment to the OP, I didn't want a debate with anyone alright, I was just trying to say tell her thank you for sharing this as I did not know and that people are always telling me to drink lots of water that is it. I never said I did see a doctor about my dizziness I was just saying that doctors are useless besides I don't have to explain myself to you. so take care, bye bye.


    @xvolution
    In my case the dizziness is a symptom of anxiety, I only get this feeling when I am out and about and feeling anxious, the blurred vision is just due to the dizziness, if I was feeling like this when I wasn't anxious I would go see my doctor even though the doctors in my surgery are pretty useless.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
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    @RamboKitty87 is right, a lot of people are getting the message that drinking huge amounts of water is necessary to weight loss (it isn't) and that water is harmless/ more is always better (not true).

    Please, people, be careful where you get your information. Be a sceptic. Don't accept every tip as gospel. Most nutrition information on the Web is wrong. It's that simple. And this "drink as much water as you can" thing is wrong. It's everywhere, not because it's true, but because it's in fashion. Don't be a victim of fads.

    Drink as much as you need to keep you pee the right colour (pale straw colour). That's all. Any more is unnecessary, your body cannot use it, and in extremes it can cause harm.
  • marymickaela
    marymickaela Posts: 190 Member
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    Glad that my post has stirred up some useful debate.

    Regarding my blood pressure. It was still high last week while having hyponatremia. I have a very good digital cuff Omtron blood pressure monitor that's bluetooth so I can sync my #'s to my IPhone and show my doctor. At my physical she wanted to add yet another med, but said she'll give me 3 months on my new diet to see if it comes down. Said you need to take it when you've been active as that's when you're going to have a stroke. So say after a walk, being busy. Not while you're just sitting.

    Also I'd like to repost what my daughter posted under my Facebook post regarding my problem last week. I was getting some pretty outrageous advice. Not taking any, but it really bothered my daughter hearing this. However, I think this is good advice in general as we don't know everybody's entire story. I know mine is very complicated and it would have been much too wordy to give you the entire story. I guess my reasoning for my original post was to just bring this problem to light.

    This is what my d posted on FB:
    Everyone, please stop giving advice. Mary is under doctors instructions. Some of the advice I've read here could kill her. I understand you all have good intentions but stop. You are not physicians and have no idea what medications she is on nor what medical conditions she has.
    This was my response to her post:
    Amy is my daughter and an ICU nurse and is looking out for me which is why she's being so hard, not mean. I love her to death and the fact she cares so much. She's been giving me great advice, and slapping my hand many times today. Actually got my blood retested yesterday so will find out today if I'm out of the woods. Thank you all for your concern. Love you all!
    I will end this topic now and if I have any updates will just start a different post. Thank you all for all the insightful comments and concerns. Wishing you all the best of good health.

    Mary
  • orangegato
    orangegato Posts: 6,570 Member
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    @marymickaela it is better to update on this same thread for continuity. Otherwise, people will be confused if they don't know your "story" and history. Starting a new post but updating the same topics is like creating blog entries, but this is a community forum, not a blog. Take good care.
  • marymickaela
    marymickaela Posts: 190 Member
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    orangegato wrote: »
    @marymickaela it is better to update on this same thread for continuity. Otherwise, people will be confused if they don't know your "story" and history. Starting a new post but updating the same topics is like creating blog entries, but this is a community forum, not a blog. Take good care.

    Txs! Didn't know that. If I have anything significant to report I'll keep it here. Take care also!

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