Did you know it's possible to drink too much water?

That’s been common knowledge in these parts for a long time, and occasionally comes up with those radio contests and hazing rituals that end up with dead people.

However…5 beers a night? Ouch. Every night?

I didn’t, but this is good to know. I drink a lot of water.

Only found that out a few years ago when a jogger in DC was in the news and supposedly died because he drank too much water-! Quite the surprise.

Yes.

It can be a form of intoxication or your lungs can fill up with the extra water, but that’s pretty extreme. It’s probably the alcohol that acts as a diuretic and depletes your sodium.

Yes I did

32 oz or diet coke and filled all day with water and ice chips AND 5 beers a night!!! How many times a day to pee?!?! And how much?!?!

A good rule of thumb for a well hydrated adult is 1 ml/kg/ hr. For example If someone weighs 70 kg their kidneys will process about 70 ml of urine per hour. During a 24 hour day you can expect to pee about 24×70ml = 1680 ml = 60 oz. This will vary a lot depending upon your activity level, fluid intake, outdoor temperature, sweating etc, but it is a good guide.

More important in my book is the $$ and calories from 5 beers a night. Yikes!
5 beer x 365 days is 1825 bottles of beer on the wall. 1825 bottles of beer. If one of the bottles should happen to fall, 1874 bottles of beer on the wall…..

How’s you’re liver doing ?

To continue @LuckyGuy‘s work, 1825 beers translates into roughly $2,736/yr (304 6-packs x $9) in beer. That’s also roughly 1000 calories per day in beer.

But if she redeems the returnables for the deposit she’d save $109.50.

5 beers a night is too much, in and of itself. By the WHO’s definition, you are an alcoholic. Even with 3 beers a night, you are still an alcoholic.

@Adirondackwannabe – only if she lives in a state with returnables.

But then you have to subtract out the cost of gas getting to the market to hand in the returnable.

It’s all back to normal now @Buttonstc.

I read up on the water thing. From what I read, your body is your best indicator of your need for water. If you’re thirsty, drink water until you’re not.

A can of beer is about 100 calories.. We drink Natural Lite. I’d have to drink 10 a day to consume 1000 calories.

And it’s shitty beer, too.

@Dutchess_III How many times a day did you have to go? Think how much water you’ve just saved from the reduced toilet flushing.

In all seriousness, I feel bad now. You ask a question, and now everyone appears to be ganging up on your drinking habits. I am honestly concerned by the beer consumption, however. Have you ever considered taking a break from it to see how your body responds?

@Dutchess_III: I wasn’t even talking about the calories (although 5×100 = 500 calories a day in beer alone). I was talking about the alcohol. It’s rough on your liver enzymes to drink that much on a regular basis.

Figured you’d show up @osoraro!

@hominid…this is Fluther. Ganging up is the MO here.

I take “breaks” all the time, like when I watch the kids over night.

By “break”, I meant a few months. Are you concerned at all about the level of alcohol you are consuming? Does it feel as though you could stop for 3 months?

I probably could @hominid. It’s not like I start climbing the walls if I don’t drink!

Oh, and another reason I drank so much water…It helped ward off UTIs. All the women here are shuddering.

If your Diet Coke isn’t caffeine free, that, along with the beer, will have a pretty potent diuretic effect, so all of the extra water going in and out is likely throwing off your electrolyte balance.
My physician and my sister (the NP in a GI office) have both recommended coconut water to restore the balance, as well as cutting back on the diuretic drinks.

Hope your balance is restored soon!

@Dutchess_III: “I probably could @hominid.”

Give it a shot! What’s the worst that could happen? You could save some money and possibly lose some weight. You’re not going to be missing out on any valuable nutrition from the beer. You might find something good that comes from it.

It is restored as we speak @canidmajor.

We’ll see. I don’t really have a weight problem, though. I’m at 145, 5’7. But it would save money!

I am still stuck on the 32 oz.diet Coke in the morning.

No different than coffee in the morning.

I knew the guy with no prostate would be concerned about how many times she had to pee.

2 -3 times a day @chyna. Now down to 1–2.

So this happened awhile ago while I was in high school (the kid went to my HS, so that’s how I knew about it). It talks about how drinking too much water can affect the salt content of your body.

Your doctor, a medically trained professional, told you to keep the soda and beer and ditch the water? Wow.

Of course you can drink too much water. And no, low sodium isn’t good. However, keeping the water and chilling out on the beers would be a more health-conscious decision.

Well, I might have liver damage, but my sodium levels are perfect!

Remind me to steer clear of your doctor.

Good point, @livelaughlove21: You would think the doctor would say drink 4 to 8 glasses of water per day, no diet soda or soda or any kind and no beer (or maybe just a few beers per week, total). To say drink zero water makes zero sense.

Fluther at its worst finest up there. Twisting shit completely out of context, and getting GA’s for it.

No kids. He never said to keep the soda and beer and cut out the water. He told me to cut back on all liquid intake. Left it up to me to decide how to do it, and I must’ve done it right because it’s all normal now.

Oh, and to quell your disgust and panic @gailcalled, I am referring to a 32 oz CUP. When filled with ice to the top, it holds about 8 oz of pop. Guess what? 8 oz of pop is equal to one cup of coffee. Most people drink more than one cup of coffee in the morning.

@Dutchess_III: As you know, with the internet, we can only go with what you write.

You wrote: “I have a 32 oz Diet Coke in the morning and then keep that cup filled with ice and water throughout the day. I also drink about 5 beers a night.”

Then you wrote: “He told me to back off all the water and cut down on the beer.”

Now you say (above) “He never said to keep the soda and beer and cut out the water.”

We have no way of knowing if and when your 32 oz cup is ” filled with ice to the top, it holds about 8 oz of pop.” To us, 32 oz. is 32 oz., especially when you say it threw off your sodium levels.

Nothing that I wrote was twisted out of context (your accusation), as far as I know.

I am still sticking with that 3 to 5 beers per day is too much, and yes, according to the WHO (World Health Organization) puts you in the range of an alcoholic. Not saying you are or you are not because other factors come into play, but 3 beers per day is a decent amount.

Looks like a typo. I mean to write “off” instead of “all”. I apologize for the confusion, although I did specify, right under that ” I (now) have one 32oz drink (either water or a soda, which I didn’t specify and I apologize again) a day, and about 3 beers, and my levels are normal.”

Most people should realize that when you buy pop, you usually fill the cup with ice so it is only logical that you’re not really getting a full 20oz or 32 oz serving of pop. Or tea. Or whatever.

I know that a 32 oz cup of ice will only hold 8 ounces, because when I fill a 32 oz cup with ice and pour an 8oz can of soda into it, it fills it to the top.

I make no assumptions. To me, 32 oz is 32 oz. When I buy soda from places, I don’t find the cup is filled to the top with ice. Whatever. I went with what you wrote, not with assumptions.

Ok. Fair enough.
I always fill it to the top with ice because it doesn’t melt as fast. And when I get a coke from the fridge the 32 oz cup only holds one can.

“I must’ve done it right because it’s all normal now.”

Oh yes, because sodium levels are the only indication of good health. Ditching water in favor of soda and beer is clearly the smartest decision.

I did not ditch water in favor of soda and beer.

^^ Oh, and to quell your disgust and panic @gailcalled, I am referring to a 32 oz cup.

Nope. I felt neither, only mild interest. (32 oz. diet coke usually means a quart of fluid, unless we are speaking a different language.)

I have a 32 oz cup. I fill it up with ice. It holds exactly one 8 oz can of coke. Which is equivalent to 1 cup of coffee.

If you drink 8 oz. of diet coke in the morning, it doesn’t matter how gigantic the container is. You are drinking 8 oz. of diet coke.

Yes. 8 ounces. Not 32 ounces. My bad wording led you to think I was drinking 32 ounces / a quart of coke every morning, so I don’t blame you for being a bit aghast. That would be a LOT of Coke.

Yes.

It has been mentioned on fluther so many times i am surprised you didn’t know.

People really should talk in terms of liquid intake not water specifically, but I realize some people feel water is completely benign or always a good thing and you can never have too much, which is false. People die from chugalugging water.

Now that I think about it…

If the soda is really 8oz and, if we’re talking 12oz cans, 60 oz of beer…let’s say you fill up that 32oz cup with 8oz water three times per day. That’s under 100oz of fluid per day, roughly 11 cups. That just doesn’t seem like enough to lower one’s sodium levels to the point where it’s a problem. Plus, alcohol actually dehydrates you. If anything, all that beer should call for more water.

I’m guessing the test results showing low sodium levels were a fluke. If you showed low sodium over multiple tests, then made your changes and your numbers went up, then that’s one thing. However, if my blood pressure is high when I go to my doctor one day, but go back the next week and it’s normal, that doesn’t mean I did something to fix my blood pressure. Test results can be skewed for plenty of reasons.

I’m also still going with 3 to 5 cans of beer per day is too much alcohol for any person.

@livelaughlove21 Good idea to look at the math I think your math is possibly a little off. 60 oz of beer and the 32 oz cup is holding 8 ounces of soda and whatever ice melts into the soda. I’m confused how much the OP is actually drinking total total every day. Most people buy 12 ounce cans of coke, but there are smaller ones available. I agree the beer can be a little dehydrating. We also don’t know how much salt the OP eats, which would be a factor also. The one time I cut down on salt for a few weeks was the only time I had low sodium test results.

Absolutely, the results could be a fluke though, or someone else’s result, or an incorrect result.

I’m with @jca that 3–5 beers a day is a lot of alcohol daily.

@chyna :-)
@Dutchess_III You only went 2–3 times per day?! That means you have a bladder capacity of over a quart! Impressive!
If I had one that big I’d write my name, address, and phone number with area code, in the snow – and invite all my friends over to watch!

Hell if I had that capacity I’d write a novel in the snow.

I asked the Dr. if simply eating more salt would help and he said, “That’s not how it works.” So IDK.

@Dutchess_III it’s not exactly how it works, because fluid needs to be flushed out of the body abd if you overload your kidneys your tissues flood. Then there is also the electrolyte balance, whoch if out of whack can give you a heart attack. It’s a bunch of things all going on at once. Not enough salt intake might be helped by consuming more sodium, but adequate salt intake and low sodium might not be helped by more salt intake, or might not be the best thing, because if the liquid intake is still much too high it still can cause a problem. Especially a lot of liquid at once. College students have died chugging down water thinking it was safe during hazing incidents. I guess they thought forcing a kid to drink water instead of alcohol should be ok. My dad has a friend whose son was hospitalized for too much liquid, I don’t know why he had ingested so much fluid. Too much of anything is bad. If your pee is clear with almost no color, you’re hydrated. You don’t need to keep drinking.

Since you are a beer drinker you might be used to drinking more. Just a side observation my husband and I have about people who drink, we are always in awe of how much they can drink. We don’t mean the alcohol properties, we mean drink. So, I am not including shots of whiskey. I mean 12–16 oz drink after drink. I can’t fit that much in my tummy as fast as they can. I can sit with someone and they will have two or three beers and I am still on one coke.

Yes, he explained all of that.

I’m just happy to hear your sodium number was good this time. :)

Only on Fluther would people start monitoring another person’s urine output!

Yeah, I had a full work up not long ago. He couldn’t believe how good my cholesterol levels are. Doc said he’d never seen anything like it! :D