Need to hydrate

[Mabethea]

I have never been a water drinker. For years all I drank was Coke then diet Coke. I broke that during chemo and now only get it when I go out. Now I'm drinking diet lemonade. I find myself this week with a painful UTI (and shingles!) and dehydrated. So help...suggestions on how to hydrate.

[BklynCatwoman]

Try drinking water infused with citrus fruit slices. Get one of those infusers and pack it with cut lemons, oranges and limes. It's actually very tasty. There are fancy infusers at Amazon (amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywo... and cheap, simple ones at dollar stores. I find that drinking water that actually tastes like something helps. Plus with infused natural fruits, no chemicals.

You can also put ginger in the water, which has healing immune system properties. Or make ginger water: livestrong.com/article/5038...

Good luck!

[Cu4281]

Try iced tea - lots of flavors or unsweetened with lemon or vitamin waters

[Mabethea in reply to Cu4281]

I tried some of those when I was on chemo and everything tasted awful. I'll give it another go! Thanks!

[Cu4281]

I do a lot of lemon water too. Melon in it is good too.

[Hidden]

Water w/ lemon. Stay away from sweet beverages.

[RLN-overcomer]

Sister : Mabethea I had a co-worker years ago who lived on coffee and coca-cola. She also smoked alot of cigarettes. One day she had severe back pain, and passed out at work. When she got to the hospital she was severely dehydrated, and her kidneys were infected. Even with the extreme infusion, and forcing her to drink water, and high doses of antibiotics, they had to remove one of her kidneys, and saved the second one that had some failure.

Listen to this second story. My 45 years old friend also would not drink water, and would only drink coffee, and soda. He asked me to be his medical proxy. He had me go with him to his doctors appointment. I asked the doctor to print out his test results and information from his last 3 visits, and I saw in his paper work, that his kidneys were functioning at 60%, yet the doctor(s ) never told him. If your kidneys reach 40% function you have to have dialysis treatment. My friend told me he would swallow down pain killers prescribed by these same doctors with soda or coffee. My friend was very upset, but I showed him how to put lemon, and lime in his water. He also loves chewing on chips of ice. from his refrigerators ice chip maker. He very rarely drinks soda or coffee. He also eats lots of watermelon and cucumbers which have a high water content. My friend is now so fearful of having to be on dialysis. I continue to make sure he is hydrating his body/kidneys adequately. I come from a family of water drinkers. God made the water that we take for granted to drink, to bathe in, to clean clothing ,and dishes. I infuse my daily 64 oz of water with lemons, limes, crushed garlic and alkaline drops to neutralize the acid in my body. We can live without food for long periods of time, but we can not live without water for long periods of time. Please drink water and visualize it as being the best tasting drink you ever had in your life, or just kick your behind into, and fake it till you make it to really enjoy it. I don't drink soda, and very rarely will I drink a very weak coffee. I love, love love water. I pray you will begin to love and appreciate water just as much as I do. Merry Merry Christmas, and have a Happy and Healthy New Year Warriors.

[Mabethea in reply to RLN-overcomer]

Thank you!

[RLN-overcomer]

Remember when we were kids ,and we had to take bad tasting medicine .We would hold our nose so that we wouldn't have to taste it. That's another option (smile). God bless you sister.

[IGotSunshine]

I was told to aim for 8 glasses of water a day. It was easy to lose count, so I tried two things, both of which helped: 1) I got a knitting counter to keep track of the number of glasses I drank and wore it on a string around my neck, and 2) I found a really, really big cup--20 ounces--at Starbucks and then had to fill it only three times a day. One thing I noticed: I had been afraid that drinking so much water would consign me to the bathroom to eliminate it, but it turned out that diluting my urine with all that water resulted in having to pee less often rather than more. Really good for your complexion too, by the way. And a massage therapist told me that if you don't drink enough water your fascia and internal organs actually get dehydrated, stiff, and wrinkly. That image was very motivationsal!