Re-Hydration

I'm interested if anyone has any improved, cheap to make, hydration solutions, compared to Dr Bell's Gookinaid (mix of Salt and Potassium in water).

Ideally I'd want something less reliant on lots of sugar. The classic WHO recommendation was 1 tspn salt, 6 tspn of sugar in 1 litre of water. From what I can vaguely parse from this document:-

http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Js4950e/2.4.html#Js4950e.2.4

That might be somewhat less now.

Thanks for any help.

 

@Matt (@DondochakkaB) I don't think it has to be very exact. I get reactive hypoglycemia, so I don't use any sugar. I use 1/8 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp potassium, 1/8 tsp magnesium, and 1/8 tsp taurine in 1 cup of water. Taurine is supposed to help get K and Mg into cells. I have a problem with low potassium, so probably use more than most people would need.

 

I use sugar-free electrolyte dissolvables. Powerbar 5 is the brand. I also don't add sugar. I've used other brands, but still feel thirsty or dehydrated. Powerbar 5 is the only one that makes me feel refreshed. I think this will probably be quite personal.

 

I don't think any sugar is needed for rehydration. The WHO advice is for children with diarrhoea who presumably benefit from sugar because they cannot eat anything solid. Rehydration just needs water. If there has been salt loss from sweating or potassium loss from diarrhoea then there may be need for those to be supplemented but if there is normal food intake probably not.

 

I'm reminded of another point: magnesium can cause diarrhoea.

So IBS-D symptoms would presumably require more potassium but less magnesium?

 

Everything I drink makes it way back out very quickly. I'm always thirsty and my lips are always cracked. In the morning my BP tanks really badly. My diabetes tests came back negative, but I had a positive tilt table test (without inducement drugs, in about 30 seconds).

The NHS has me on 'slow sodium' but I'm not noticing a lot of benefit to be honest.

 

What's 'slow sodium'?

I have to take sodium as I lose a lot, presumably in urine. I have been hospitalised with severe hyponatraemia (low blood sodium). No one has figured out why, so I just supplement it.

 

This product below is ok, and not loaded with sugars at all. Mix one tablet with 500ml water and sip it slowly over 20 or 30 minutes. Avoid chugging it down in one go as this may cause a degree of nausea from the sodium content.

Science in Sport Go Hydro Hydration Tablets - Lemon, Tube of 20

 

Experimenting with these electrolyte balancing extra-hydrating drinks, I find that I get short term gains for a few hours afterwards, it can be helpful if you need to be out and about on a hot day for example, or any day. But taken on a regular daily basis, week in week out, I find the benefit diminishes. My body gets used to it and just pees it out rapidly, my baseline doesn't go down, I just no longer get any gains from the increased loading of electrolytes+water. It may be something that works best when used intermittently on days you really need to get something done...

 

Whatever you do, if you suspect you may be dehydrated, don't drink bottled water, as according to the EU, doing so will not make you more hydrated.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wo...claim-that-water-can-prevent-dehydration.html

Oddly no such ruling exists for other liquids, regardless of how they may, or may not, affect hydration.

(other links may exist, often with much better, or worse, content, but most of them are Brexit orientated in their laughing at the EU, which could be deemed political, so I used a largely non political link, at least in the bit of it I read)

 

Except that the article points out that this is bonkers. Dehydration is shortage of water so any water will help.

 

That was, pretty much, my point, meant as a humour, but apparently no one else thought so.

 

Right, but sometimes I worry that irony gets lost when people are asking for genuine advice.

 

Much the commonest reason for dehydration is water loss through sweating in heat or during exertion. Sweat contains a reasonable amount of sodium. Salty water is disgusting for some reason so I expect salty crisps were thought to be a good alternative - probably fair enough.

Where I think the European regulators may have a point is in saying that drinking water does not actually stop you getting dehydrated. There is not much point drinking large amounts before going on a hot hike. You will just have to go round a bush five times in the first mile. You have to drink once you have got dry.

Similarly drinking water will not stop you getting dehydrated if you are getting dehydrated because of some metabolic disturbance like diabetes insipidus or mellitus. It may treat dehydration but it will not stop it happening. In that regard if people with ME find they are dehydrated then it may be more important to find out if and why they really are dehydrated rather than just trying to top up without knowing what the electrolyte disturbance really is.

I am unclear why PWME should be dehydrated or salt depleted or both. But I doubt whatever the situation that additional sugar intake is needed.

 

I agree that additional sugar is not needed. However, I wish I knew why I got dehydrated and short of sodium! The NHS is useless in that regard. I've had the standard tests and nothing has come up.

As tends to be the case with ME.

 

I don’t think I’m actually dehydrated, but I feel thirsty a lot especially late at night.

I have low sodium and potassium, so I supplement. To see an effect on POTS I have to go up to 10+ grams of salt. I only do that when I have a bad POTS day now, as I felt a bit uncomfortable stuffing myself with that much salt daily.