How much water do you consume per day?

[JAYCEE33]

A question for those with CKD (any stage): how much water do you consume in a typical day? For myself I try to keep to 2 litres per day and my urine is always very pale yellow colour, sometimes almost clear.

[Bassetmommer]

Hi Jaycee,

that is what I strive for, but everyone does not have the same requirement.

[Marvin8]

Don't even go there. Other than preventing dehydration, doctors have absolutely no clue as to how much water any particular individual should drink in order to prevent further kidney damage. Heck, they can't even agree on a proper definition of "dehydration".

[Arrow199]

I was diagnosed with CKD, my egfr was 53. I hardly drank any water at all, about 6 cups of coffee a day and half a bottle of wine. I started drinking 2 litres a day, cut the coffee to no more than 2, switched to decaf and cut 99% of the wine. 6 months later my egfr was in the seventies.

[RickHow]

All doctors say drink a lot of water. Not just for CKD, but in general. And the typical response to your question is 64 ounces per day. BUT, does this in any way repair your kidney? Not really. Think of how CKD is determined. They measure the amount of Creatinine in your blood, process the number via a formula and say you have CKD. A healthy kidney processes out of your blood more Creatinine than an unhealthy kidney. So they say increase your water intake. This causes your kidney to "work" more, process more, and therefore the result is it flushes out more Creatinine. Think of it as increasing the speed in your car. It increases the amount of fluid passed. In short, you produce more urine, thus you process out more Creatinine. But it does absolutely nothing to improve your kidney function over the long term. It is good because it flushes out toxins, but it is kind of a trick to improve your eGFR. Will your eGFR be better? Probably. As my kidney doctor tells me, think of it as ibuprofen for the kidney. If you have a back ache, you might take ibuprofen. Does it fix the cause of the muscle or back ache? No, it simply tricks the brain into not recognizing the discomfort. You drink more water for CKD, it lowers your Creatinine level a little, but does it fix the kidney function? Not a bit. It is one reason doctors do fasting blood work. To measure the true function of the body without the influence of too much fluid intake.

[AuntMishee]

you are so right!

[AuntMishee]

When I first showed decline in kidney function with an egfr of 52, my doctor told me to stop my daily protein drinks and cut back on protein, and to drink 4 liters of high alkaline water per day.

Two months later my egfr increased to 56. Big whoop.

[RhenDutchess123]

Yep...i am stage 4...but my Neph has not given me a fluid restriction...thank goodness....He just said if i start retaining fluids reduce them....i drink between 60 oz to 100 oz...just depends on what i am doing...