Dehydration or Something Else?
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SarahKenney2
Posts: 12 Member
Hey guys,
I'm really worried about a potential health problem, but I'm also thinking it could be as simple as dehydration. Basically, my muscles in my arms and legs feel very tight and stiff almost all the time. Let me say that over the winter months, this almost never bothered me, but it has come back this summer, and I've been dealing with it over the past couple of years.
I wake up with tight muscles and go to bed feeling that way. However, sometimes during the day it disappears and I feel normal. My muscles will sometimes twitch, and earlier this week they were spasming in my legs like they were threatening to cramp. After drinking a lot of Gatorade, that went away.
I'm a dog walker in L.A., and spend 8 hours M-F outside in the sun, but I do go inside client homes and drive between clients in my air-conditioned car. It's not like I don't get breaks from the sun. Still, I log 3-7 miles of walking per day, and sweat a lot in the summer heat. Because of my fair skin, I'm wearing pants, long sleeves, hat, and gloves, as well as sunscreen. Don't want to deal with skin cancer.
The mystery is that sometimes the muscle tightness disappears. Yesterday I woke up with muscle stiffness all over and by noon I felt completely normal. This is after drinking a bottle of water, some Gatorade, and 32 oz. of ice tea...and breakfast. The stiffness was back at 6pm and I went to bed that way.
This morning I woke up with tight muscles again. I've had a bottle of water and a 20oz. Gatorade, and breakfast, but my muscles aren't better. My mouth is dry and sticky, and I still feel dehydrated. I've done nothing but lounge around inside - it's my day off. I feel like I've had enough to drink to not be dehydrated, but what's your take? Am I grossly underestimating how much liquid I need?
My doc has run all kinds of tests to find underlying disease, but all came up empty. The only anomaly is a slightly elevated white blood cell count (between 12-13), which I've had now for at least 5 years. Not a single doc can identify the culprit and don't seem that concerned since it's not that high. I'm still worried that I've got something in my system causing all of this. But I don't get why sometimes I feel fine and other times I feel terrible. Anyone think my muscle issue could be simple dehydration? It's strange that during the winter (I would never sweat in the cooler temps) I felt normal most of the time, but this summer it's come back full force.
Anyone else with this sort of experience?
I'm really worried about a potential health problem, but I'm also thinking it could be as simple as dehydration. Basically, my muscles in my arms and legs feel very tight and stiff almost all the time. Let me say that over the winter months, this almost never bothered me, but it has come back this summer, and I've been dealing with it over the past couple of years.
I wake up with tight muscles and go to bed feeling that way. However, sometimes during the day it disappears and I feel normal. My muscles will sometimes twitch, and earlier this week they were spasming in my legs like they were threatening to cramp. After drinking a lot of Gatorade, that went away.
I'm a dog walker in L.A., and spend 8 hours M-F outside in the sun, but I do go inside client homes and drive between clients in my air-conditioned car. It's not like I don't get breaks from the sun. Still, I log 3-7 miles of walking per day, and sweat a lot in the summer heat. Because of my fair skin, I'm wearing pants, long sleeves, hat, and gloves, as well as sunscreen. Don't want to deal with skin cancer.
The mystery is that sometimes the muscle tightness disappears. Yesterday I woke up with muscle stiffness all over and by noon I felt completely normal. This is after drinking a bottle of water, some Gatorade, and 32 oz. of ice tea...and breakfast. The stiffness was back at 6pm and I went to bed that way.
This morning I woke up with tight muscles again. I've had a bottle of water and a 20oz. Gatorade, and breakfast, but my muscles aren't better. My mouth is dry and sticky, and I still feel dehydrated. I've done nothing but lounge around inside - it's my day off. I feel like I've had enough to drink to not be dehydrated, but what's your take? Am I grossly underestimating how much liquid I need?
My doc has run all kinds of tests to find underlying disease, but all came up empty. The only anomaly is a slightly elevated white blood cell count (between 12-13), which I've had now for at least 5 years. Not a single doc can identify the culprit and don't seem that concerned since it's not that high. I'm still worried that I've got something in my system causing all of this. But I don't get why sometimes I feel fine and other times I feel terrible. Anyone think my muscle issue could be simple dehydration? It's strange that during the winter (I would never sweat in the cooler temps) I felt normal most of the time, but this summer it's come back full force.
Anyone else with this sort of experience?
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Replies
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Are you getting enough magnesium?2
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Everything you've described sounds like dehydration/electrolyte imbalance. Including where you hydrate and feel better. You feel thirsty, drink more! 20oz is nothing, try to get at least a gallon a day (128oz). In fact, with all that walking and heat you could need significantly more than that. Play it by ear and drink up.2
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veggie16mfp wrote: »Are you getting enough magnesium?
No idea. I eat spinach on sandwiches a few times a week, drink milk, and take a multivitamin with magnesium in it. I do eat meat and vegetables. I don't think they checked for magnesium deficiency in the blood work specifically. Perhaps I can try a magnesium supplement and see if that helps. Wouldn't that be a persistent problem though instead of coming and going?
I will also say that last weekend is when all this started up again suddenly. It's been a while. I woke up feeling like this out of the blue. That afternoon, I was running a 99.1 temp (fever for me who usually has a lower normal temp), and it lasted maybe 30 minutes before going down. Sunday I had a temp briefly again and it disappeared. This is something I get every 2-3 months. Low fever accompanied by the muscle pain/stiffness - like a mild flu. It goes away within a couple of days. Docs are baffled.
However, I've had the muscle stiffness for a week straight now, no fever since last weekend.0 -
It sounds very much like when I am dehydrated.
Try these Nunn electrolyte tablets and see if they help.
https://nuunlife.com
Cheers, h.3 -
I had a lot of leg cramps/pain and tightness often for no reason, dr suggested calcium supplements, which I should have been doing anyway, after a couple weeks of increased calcium my legs felt great!0
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Dehydration is possible. "Feeling " like you drink enough water isn't good enough. Keep track of the actual amount for a week, then increase ii by1 glass per day each week.2
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You said you drank a bottle of water, a small one? (16.9 oz) And then gatorade and 32 oz. iced tea. What kind of ice tea? If it was black tea, then that hardly counts for water because of the caffeine. As others have said you need to track your water on MFP. You don't mention your weight, but I have read that a person needs 1/2 their body weight in ounces each day. So if you weigh 150 lbs. you should drink 75 oz per day. That is not even considering working outside in the sun. I would drink at least 3-4 bottles of water during the work day when I worked out doors.
Do you stretch? If you are dog walking all day then perhaps it is overuse and your muscles need a break. I'd be sure to stretch at the end of the day also, and perhaps take an epsom salt bath at night to get rid of the extra lactic acid.3 -
You feel like it may be dehydration, why not start drinking at least a few extra cups of water. If not dehydration then an extra say 30oz water a day won't hurt you if dehydration will help.
Here on mfp you can track your water intake why not use that.0 -
Aside from a lack of electrolytes, another possibility is vitamin D deficiency. You're outside all day, but you're completely covered up and wearing sunscreen. While this is great in general, a fair-skinned person needs about 15 minutes of unprotected sun exposure a day to get their fill of vitamin D. You cannot get sufficient vitamin D from food. This is something your doctor can test for.2
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Thanks guys, I'll try to do better tracking my water. I sometimes use the app, but just get so busy that I abandon it halfway through the day. Unlike being able to remember what I ate, it's difficult to remember exactly how many cups of water I had. Sounds like I'm also underestimating how much I need. I only weigh 116, so 64 oz. per day would be about right if I go by half my body weight, but that's not counting exercise/sun.
I don't have a vitamin D deficiency. My doc tested for that, and my B vitamins were also fine.
I think something else is going on. Today, my muscles were really bothering me, then they started aching like when you get the flu, and then arthritis all over my body set in at the same time a low grade fever popped up. This is actually something that happens once in a while, and I'm wondering if I don't have an auto-immune disease causing these things (even though those blood tests were negative).
Guess it's back to the doc, but I know I need to do better with hydrating regardless.2 -
Do you check the colour of your urine?3
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Definitely try upping your water intake especially if you are spending time in the sun and exercising. Also if you consume alcohol and/or caffeine you might want to cut back on that. My hubby plays tennis a few times a week in the heat and humidity. Sometimes he plays for three hours with only very short breaks. He stretches and drinks more water, but he would deal with horrible leg cramps in the middle of the night after playing and he was drinking probably close to a gallon of water on those days. He was also drinking some Gatorade. Since he started using Trace Minerals Research Electrolyte Stamina Power Paks he hasn't had the cramping issues. I've started using that product as well when I feel like I need something for recovery and/or feeling a little dehydrated and it works for me.0
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Sounds more like a mineral imbalance than just dehydration.
It sounds like you're a bit dehydrated as well but the muscular symptoms would indicate that you should probably consume some electrolytes as well.
Nuun tablets, or SIS Go Hydro tablets might help.0 -
I found some Nunn tablets at Target, so planning to buy those and magnesium supplements. I've been drinking Gatorade, but I hate all the sugar. Apparently the tablets have a much higher concentration of electrolytes?
My urine can be yellow, but even if it's practically clear, my muscles aren't better. That's why I bought maybe the water is passing through without doing much hydration, so...get more electrolytes.
I still think I may have an underlying health issue, because low grade fevers, joint pain, and flu-like muscle aches shouldn't be caused by dehydration or electrolyte imbalance. I also have a mysterious chronic elevated WBC in my blood tests, so that feeds my suspicion.0 -
SarahKenney2 wrote: »I still think I may have an underlying health issue, because low grade fevers, joint pain, and flu-like muscle aches shouldn't be caused by dehydration or electrolyte imbalance. I also have a mysterious chronic elevated WBC in my blood tests, so that feeds my suspicion.
Those are all symptoms of an autoimmune disorder.
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Fact corrections:
Joint pain &muscle aches absolutely can be caused by dehydration.
Dehydration can cause electrolyte imbalance, that's why it becomes a problem and why it can affect joints and muscles.
By the time your urine is dark enough for most people to notice, you're already entering a danger zone. Don't rely only that method. Furthermore urine color indicator strips are for the pure stuff in a vial, not in a toilet full of water.2 -
Please see a doctor. Don't take any advice from anybody on this website. They don't know what they're talking about.3
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SarahKenney2 wrote: »I found some Nunn tablets at Target, so planning to buy those and magnesium supplements. I've been drinking Gatorade, but I hate all the sugar. Apparently the tablets have a much higher concentration of electrolytes?
My urine can be yellow, but even if it's practically clear, my muscles aren't better. That's why I bought maybe the water is passing through without doing much hydration, so...get more electrolytes.
I still think I may have an underlying health issue, because low grade fevers, joint pain, and flu-like muscle aches shouldn't be caused by dehydration or electrolyte imbalance. I also have a mysterious chronic elevated WBC in my blood tests, so that feeds my suspicion.
In your opening post you identify that you've seen a number of doctors and had multiple years with nothing coming up. I'd suggest that makes the risk around your suspicion of an underlying issue very low. On the principle of keeping things simple, I think you have your answer.
What I would note is that it's not just a question of drinking water, you also need to be consuming a proportionate level of minerals. That's the reason for suggesting electrolyte drinks. It is possible that a significant volume of plain water can wash salts out of your system, a condition known as hyponatremia.
The symptoms that you describe do suggest that.
Using my own experience as a comparator, when I'm running long distances I'll carry two 500ml bottles of SIS Go Hydro, and drink water at aid stations. I'll still be very dehydrated by the end of the race. I have raced carrying only water and really suffered by the end of the race with similar symptoms to what you describe.0 -
[quote="SarahKenney2;c-40184034"
I still think I may have an underlying health issue, because low grade fevers, joint pain, and flu-like muscle aches shouldn't be caused by dehydration or electrolyte imbalance. I also have a mysterious chronic elevated WBC in my blood tests, so that feeds my suspicion.[/quote]
If I were you, I would go to a different doctor since the doctors you've seen so far have not been able to diagnose the problem. Joint pain and low grade fever can be symptoms of dozens of things, from a common virus to leukemia. It can also be normal for many people to get a slight fever in the afternoon. You can worry yourself tremendously trying to diagnose yourself. Can you get a referral to a major medical center? Good luck.
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I would ask a doctor to check your sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium levels. It's possible it's just dehydration, but if it's persistent, it could be a worse electrolyte imbalance.
Also, if you sweat that much, are you replenishing the electrolytes (particularly sodium) you lose?0
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