Dehydration/headaches in the AM

Hi,

I too wake up sometimes in the middle of the night thirsty.  As I am an avid Gatorade drinker I do drink it throughout the day (32 -64 ozs), and drink some with my Imodium at bedtime. There are other hydration products out there and others will weigh in with their favorites.  I do not feel that water hydrates me enough, so hence the Gatorade.

It’s important to get the cause right so the potential solutions have a shot at working. Is your urine dark in the morning? If not then dehydration isn’t the most likely cause. A dry mouth can be the result of breathing through your mouth at night.

If it is really dehydration then a hydration solution in the evening might help. A bowel slower (or even a spoonful of peanut butter) at bedtime might help. If you are having liquid BMs then psyllium fiber with meals might help.

I honestly don’t understand what’s behind the common concern that it’s hard to keep up with hydration. I treat fluid intake as medicine, but (assuming non-liquid BMs) I can’t tell how much of this is forgetting to drink vs. being genuinely unable to consume adequate fluid. If it’s the latter then adding electrolytes with a little bit of glucose can help.

Hi Bubba. I too wake up in the morning with really bad headaches  and a really dry mouth like I’m really dying. It’s like I’ve been severely dehydrated while sitting in hot weather. Panadol doesn’t touch it neither does drinking water. My best remedy is to have a cup of tea with milk and 1 sugar. The headache disappears. Not sure whether it’s the milk, the tea,or the sugar.

Is any of this related to the extreme heat?  I have noticed heat-related, mild headaches this summer.  I don't even have to spend much time outside in the heat for this to happen.  I'm wondering, too, if we have our bowel output controlled through taking psyllium and etc., do we j-pouch people still need to take extra electrolytes?  I only take them when I've done some sweating since my bowel output is much less water than it used to be, but I have noticed muscle tightness at night especially, and I'm wondering whether this is related to lack of electrolytes, like the headaches/dehydration might be?  Should I add an electrolyte back into my daily intake instead of just taking it when I sweat?

Yes i think that we probably should introduce some more extra electrolytes into our diet. Actually i do drink a lot of hydralytes (electrolytes) when I’m feeling headachy and unwell. And also i live in the southern hemisphere where we are in the middle of winter and it has been freezing cold so it is not the hot weather which is causing these headaches. Also Idrink a lot of water too. And i usually end up going to the Gastroenterologist and obtaining a course of antibiotics to get me back on track. The problem is it seems to be a continuing cycle. I have had this jpouch for 9 years. It’s good to know that there are others experiencing such symptoms and I’m not being over dramatic. I think it’s one of the symptoms of having a jpouch. Thanks for your reply.

Hi!  Sorry for being so northern-hemisphere-centric!  Thanks for the advise on the electrolytes.  I think I'll add a capsule to my daily diet again and see if it helps with the overnight muscle tightness.  One thing that I noticed when I was having the headaches was that I had been having dark chocolate, which my local Co-op was giving away to members at one point.  I'm not particularly a chocolate fan, but I was reading that it was high in iron so I had a square or two a night for a while.  That seemed to correlate vaguely with the headaches.  Then I heard from someone that chocolate gave her headaches and read up and found that it can trigger migraines.  So I stopped eating the chocolate and that seemed to correlate vaguely with the stopping of the headaches.  Can't be sure it's the factor that caused them, and maybe it was a mix of stuff.  I have had chocolate in the past and I don't remember any headachey feelings afterwards, so who knows?

That is a thought. I’ve been eating more chocolate lately too. Not dark but normal chocolate. I’ll try and do s bit of research on it. Also i think i need more electrolytes in the water drinking. Thanks for your help. Cheers

Hi, Bubba. Back to your question of drinking water and hydration. Could you try sipping a glass of milk as you get ready for bed?  Milk has some protein and some fat (depending if you choose whole milk, 2 %, or lower fat) and can remain in your system longer than plain water. I find when I drink lots of water it makes me pee a lot and in that urine go my electrolytes, minerals, whatever else gets sluiced out with water that goes right through you. Milk will stay in your system longer and help hydrate you overnight. And it will have the bit of fat that Scott suggested via a spoonful of peanut butter. Do you drink fluids with your dinner?  If you don’t already, try to eat fruit or vegetables that are high liquid content such as watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew melons, these are at their best this time of year so try to take advantage. Also cooked spinach, steamed bok choy.  Google which foods and veg are soluable and are high water content. I say soluble in case you can’t process insoluble fibre foods that well, so be careful of blockage.

Although a K pouch differs from the J, I also struggle with dehydration.  First some suggestions and then, if you stick w me, a theory.

Suggestions, based on my experience and/or research:                                                                                                                   So long as you can tolerate milk, it is an excellent source for dehydration.  Another source is coconut milk as absorbed better than water by intestine.      

For those loving Gatorade, please read ingredients.  First is sugar and not lots of electrolytes.  One might consider getting electrolyte powders and add to water.  They have less or no sugar and easy to carry around.  Or make your own.  Recipes on line.

If you have muscle soreness and/or cramping you are experiencing a dehydration symptom.  So too is dizziness.  If both get worse, you can't make sense of anything nor make decisions, head to the ER for an infusion!

I take salt tabs, up to 4 g daily in the summer.  Then again I have a K and also CKD.  Salt/sodium is an electrolyte.

Staying out of direct sun helps me.

My personal theory is--understandably untested so don't blast me on this--based on fact that stool w colon differs from stool w/out colon by amount of liquid.  Liquid, with colon, is absorbed  by our bodies.  Yes?  And it is absorbed on a 24/7 basis.  According to my theroy, when lacking a colon, the expelled liquids in watery stool means that fluid was not absorbed.  I am assuming the absorption happens through osmotic transfer into the body's cells.  To compensate we need more liquids, whether from water or fruits or the such.  Ok, this is where I might be criticized for going out on a limb--when we consume additional liquids, those liquids expell more electrolytes through the kidney, so that they too are not absorbed.  Hence that's why electrolyte additions to our liquids helps keep us on track.  Curious what others think of this.

Sorry for length, Jan

Thanks Jan for your thoughts. I was in your comment on milk staying in your system longer than water. My problem is as soon as i drink water i need to turn and pee it out. Where as milk stays in my system longer. Maybe too when i stated in another msg that a cup of tea with plenty of milk tends to help my headaches. Thanks for your post Jan.

Louisa

Have you tried coconut water?  I’d be curious if its transit time, so to speak, through your system is slower than water. Dietitians, and a former G.I. doctor have suggested it to help combat dehydration because of better absorption.

Many with IBD are lactose intolerant, which eliminates the milk option.

do you drink herbal or caffeinated tea? Coffee usually clears a headache.

dehydration is serious stuff. There are days I can’t drink water and other days when too much is not satisfaction enough. We need to listen to our bodies and know how to regulate liquids and electrolytes. Wish more doctors would discuss this with J & K poachers, and those with ileostomies.

Be well, Jan