Dehydration: very serious, with serious and painful consequences
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Great post. I had recently stopped Lithium, a med I took for Bipolar disorder. Lithium makes most people's ankles swell and mine were for years.
A few months later the bottom of my feet hurt just walking across a carpeted floor. my right foot felt strange. I looked down and like you said, it looked like i had a sprained ankle. my foot was so swollen that my toes looked smaller...duh.
i've been vaping boba's and gorilla juice for months. I didn't buy any 'drinks' at the grocery store yesterday. Tap water is my friend.
OP< i would never have thought of that. thank you! maybe i'm drinking more water because the swelling is gone.
A few months later the bottom of my feet hurt just walking across a carpeted floor. my right foot felt strange. I looked down and like you said, it looked like i had a sprained ankle. my foot was so swollen that my toes looked smaller...duh.
i've been vaping boba's and gorilla juice for months. I didn't buy any 'drinks' at the grocery store yesterday. Tap water is my friend.
OP< i would never have thought of that. thank you! maybe i'm drinking more water because the swelling is gone.
Actually it's not the sweetness of sports drinks that just icks me out, it's the "saltiness" -- it's kinda like the juice left in a watermelon rind after it's been salted and eaten. That salty taste is just horrible to me, and I found a brand of coconut water that has it too, and I can't abide that one; I buy the Goya and add just a little of that "salty" one, like 1 part to 12 parts Goya, and it's tolerable, plus I also add a bit of pineapple juice, the tartness counteracts some of the sweetness of the coconut water.
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sometimes people set up a gatorade stand where a mass of running trails are. because texas summers...well for a few years we have had +100 temps for 100 days. the gatorade angels served it cut by half. might taste better to you.
i like gatorade, the original green. one day i ought a red one, big mistake. It was the worse tasting drink ive ever had, including Boone's Farm. i threw it away.
when i was smoking the first thing i did in the morning was drink about a quart of water. drinking water is great for weight loss, too. maybe drink 8 oz before eating.
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sometimes people set up a gatorade stand where a mass of running trails are. because texas summers...well for a few years we have had +100 temps for 100 days. the gatorade angels served it cut by half. might taste better to you.
i like gatorade, the original green. one day i ought a red one, big mistake. It was the worse tasting drink ive ever had, including Boone's Farm. i threw it away.
when i was smoking the first thing i did in the morning was drink about a quart of water. drinking water is great for weight loss, too. maybe drink 8 oz before eating.
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I can see where the "gatorade angels" were real angels of mercy, in heat like that. The heat here is sometimes quite extreme too, but the main thing we usually have to deal with is humidity so intense it feels like you're trying to breathe jello. But, I've never found a single flavor of actual Gatorade that I could tolerate even slightly. It's just disgusting to me, like trying to drink salt water (which is an emetic!). I've had slightly better luck with some of the flavors of Powerade; the fruit punch is tolerable, and the white cherry is very light, so not too bad. I tried the Powerade lemon-line and it's one of the too-sweet ones, can't really stand it.
The fact remains, though, that I was drinking a lot of water and a good bit of powerade and a lot of other stuff, but the problem stubbornly refused to go away or even get any better, until I started the coconut water regimen. When I started drinking the coconut water, within a couple days I saw a significant reduction in swelling; within a week, the swelling in the ankles was completely gone, and so was most of the pain in my feet; after a few more days, all the swelling and lumps in my feet were gone, and all the pain.
After I had been on the regimen for about 2 wks, one day I was very busy running errands and didn't get as much coconut water that day; that night, I noticed a *slight* return of the "roundedness" of my right ankle bone (my ankles are normally sharply bony, not rounded at all), and leg cramps woke me. Same story last night; last evening I had a bit of an upset tummy, guess my digestion isn't quite back to normal after the appendectomy, so I didn't really want to drink the usual last glass before bed -- and I got rudely awakened from sleep this morning, hours before I needed to get up, with painful cramps in my feet. Not as stubborn as they used to be; I was able to ease them just by drinking some water, so that's a good thing. But it shows me that the potassium is what is really "fixing" this problem, and the main problem with sports drinks is that not only do they have potassium, they also have a lot of sodium, and apparently I get plenty of that already from my diet, so adding more is not a great thing, and not helpful for the foot/ankle problems.
I was thinking a few minutes ago that what I really need to do is look up foods high in potassium, and try to incorporate a lot more of them into my diet, so I'm not so heavily dependent on getting the full 12oz of coconut water daily. Normally it's not really difficult, but days I'm really busy, or not feeling well, I don't want the problem to keep coming back just because I didn't manage the full 12oz.
Andria
I wonder if dehydration is always accompanied by swelling. I have no swelling in one of my legs; only cramps. Drinking water relieves the symptoms some, but only temporarily - until the next drink of water. My problem is I am not too fond of coconut and bananas. Perhaps Spinach or celery will help.
It is not always accompanied by swelling. Summer is here and I'm sure plenty of people are mildly dehydrated.
I have a question, or maybe just a concern, that I believe belongs in this thread and could possibly be answered.
Much like the op, I suffer from breathing problems as well, asthma and bronchitis. However mine are nowhere near to her's in severity.
I too experience dehydration while vaping, naturally, but nothing as bad as hers. I TYPICALLY stick to a PG/VG ratio of 70/30. However... I recently ordered a bottle if Boba's Bounty and fell in love. Now someone please correct me if I'm wrong about this, but I could swear Busardo said in one of his vids I've seen that Boba's is pure VG.
Much like the op said, I too CAN in fact feel a bit of a dense feeling in my lungs while vaping something high in VG like Boba's. It's not very overwhelming and doesn't bother me though.
However, this is where I'm a bit confused and/or concerned and I'd appreciate any input. According to the op, PG dehydrates you more than VG (or at least that's how I read it). And I'm not contradicting the op or saying she's wrong, but I've personally experienced the exact opposite. While vaping my Boba's I get EXTREMELY dehydrated with severe drymouth. I can sit here drinking water, soda, iced tea, and Gatorade while vaping and I still feel dehydrated with a mouth full of sand. I don't experience this at all with a PG/VG ratio of 70/30. So what could be causing it? Possibly one of the flavor additives in the liquid? Or has anyone else experienced this with Boba's Bounty from Alien Visions? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Much like the op, I suffer from breathing problems as well, asthma and bronchitis. However mine are nowhere near to her's in severity.
I too experience dehydration while vaping, naturally, but nothing as bad as hers. I TYPICALLY stick to a PG/VG ratio of 70/30. However... I recently ordered a bottle if Boba's Bounty and fell in love. Now someone please correct me if I'm wrong about this, but I could swear Busardo said in one of his vids I've seen that Boba's is pure VG.
Much like the op said, I too CAN in fact feel a bit of a dense feeling in my lungs while vaping something high in VG like Boba's. It's not very overwhelming and doesn't bother me though.
However, this is where I'm a bit confused and/or concerned and I'd appreciate any input. According to the op, PG dehydrates you more than VG (or at least that's how I read it). And I'm not contradicting the op or saying she's wrong, but I've personally experienced the exact opposite. While vaping my Boba's I get EXTREMELY dehydrated with severe drymouth. I can sit here drinking water, soda, iced tea, and Gatorade while vaping and I still feel dehydrated with a mouth full of sand. I don't experience this at all with a PG/VG ratio of 70/30. So what could be causing it? Possibly one of the flavor additives in the liquid? Or has anyone else experienced this with Boba's Bounty from Alien Visions? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
For rehydration, nothing beats Pedialyte. Not as sweet as sports drinks and contains prebiotics. I don't get the liquid version too often anymore but the freezer pops are actually quite tasty.
There's been some back-and-forth that perhaps PG and VG are equally dehydrating. It seems to be a property of both of them, and it's apparently that property that makes them good for use in vaping, being able to produce vapor at room temperature; most of that vapor is in fact "water vapor," and I guess it has to come from somewhere; both chemicals seem to grab any water available to make it, and given that our bodies are something like 86% water, I guess the source is "us" -- so the more you vape, then, rather than the quantity of PG or VG, may be the significant factor. It apparently requires an actual chemist to make any kind of informed determination on the difference between a double and a triple alcohol, and how each would affect a human body, but it seems that if there is any difference, it's slight. I do know that I was pretty much a "chain vaper," so if I want to keep my hydration and electrolytes balanced as I return to 100% vaping, it seems it would behoove me to learn to do it differently, using a higher nic level, and doing it more episodically, like smoking, rather than just at will, on demand, constantly.
I do find that if I dilute high-VG juices with some water, they are FAR less troublesome to my lungs, so I think it may be simply the high viscosity of VG that my lungs find so difficult to deal with -- a nail polish or paint analogy comes to mind; if the nail polish is thick, it coats the nail much more thickly (and takes forever to dry!); if the polish is thin, then the coating on the nail is also thin, and requires a lot of coats to be truly opaque. With a lung disease that already narrows airways, if you're building up a thick coating of viscous stuff in the airway, it would narrow the airway even further, so that if/when an actual asthma attack occurs, it might be far more severe and terrifying than without that thick coating in the airway. I've been vaping mostly 50/50, thinned just slightly, for a couple weeks now, and I don't notice any particular problem in my breathing, although it's true that I'm vaping far less, currently, than I was before I got sick.
Andria
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No, I think the swelling is more from the electrolyte imbalance, than the dehydration itself. I know that too much sodium can definitely cause puffy ankles, and given how my swelling has disappeared since I started the large doses of potassium, it seems that was probably the type of imbalance I had -- too much sodium, not nearly enough potassium. I'm sure the dehydration caused it, but just correcting the dehydration didn't fix the electrolyte problem till I increased potassium drastically and reduced sodium slightly.
Andria
I believe there maybe some merit to the idea of them both being roughly the same as far as dehydrating goes. That could explain my theory that, rather it being a matter of PG or VG, it's something else added in, possibly for the flavor, of my new found daily vape that's causing the dehydration and SEVERE drymouth. I have to take a lot of anti-psychotics and mood stabilizers for some personal issues, and a couple of them cause drymouth, but I've never experienced it this bad until vaping this particular liquid.
Quite good analogies actually. It definitely makes sense in that aspect anyway. Even the actual liquid itself is much thicker. I'd never tried pure VG and was shocked at how it flowed more like waffle or pancake syrup than it did my usual liquids..lol.
Also I can completely confirm what you said in the next post regarding sodium. I've personally experienced this one myself. Too much sodium intake along with poor circulation in the bed I was sleeping on at the time had my feet and ankles swollen beyond belief. I cut down on the sodium and it went down considerably. Then I got a new bed when I moved and the swelling went away completely.
I will say that whatever it may be about this liquid causing my problems is rather disheartening. I REALLY love the flavor of it, even to the point of continuing to vape it regardless of the fluid intake I now consume because of it...lol. I know a lot will read that and probably say "yeah go right ahead ... REAL smart there, buddy.." lol. But hey, I used to be an over-a -pack a day smoker before giving it up two years ago for vaping. I knew they were killing me yet I kept on puffing so apparently I can't be too bright.. LOL!
ROFL... I know *that* feeling too well. Almost 4 months smoke free and now I'm puffing on coffin nails again.
Try diluting that Boba's just a little, that might help a lot. Although I generally have been diluting mine at about 20%-25%, because the 85% VG blend from myfreedomsmokes is *really* thick, someone suggested 5% was a good starting point; if it's still giving problems, add another 5%, and see how that does. It really doesn't seem to affect the flavor that much, though it might make the vapor just a bit thinner -- which I actually like, with the asthma and all. Thick vapor chokes me.With the swelling I had in my feet/ankles, lying in bed would actually help a lot, at least for the soft-tissue swelling round the ankle; it didn't help the lumpy painful feet at all, and it was a real challenge to first hit the floor (even the carpeted floor!) when I first got out of bed. Then one day after I'd been drinking a can of Goya coconut water faithfully every day for about a week, I noticed that my feet barely hurt at all, and most of the lumps were gone; a few days after that, feet and ankles were completely normal. So I'm sold; tonight we bought a nice canteloupe, which is great because of water content *and* potassium, and also some bananas, so I can get more potassium from my diet and not have to depend so hard on 12oz of coconut water daily.
Andria
ROFL... I know *that* feeling too well. Almost 4 months smoke free and now I'm puffing on coffin nails again.
With the swelling I had in my feet/ankles, lying in bed would actually help a lot, at least for the soft-tissue swelling round the ankle; it didn't help the lumpy painful feet at all, and it was a real challenge to first hit the floor (even the carpeted floor!) when I first got out of bed. Then one day after I'd been drinking a can of Goya coconut water faithfully every day for about a week, I noticed that my feet barely hurt at all, and most of the lumps were gone; a few days after that, feet and ankles were completely normal. So I'm sold; tonight we bought a nice canteloupe, which is great because of water content *and* potassium, and also some bananas, so I can get more potassium from my diet and not have to depend so hard on 12oz of coconut water daily.
Andria
What do you use to dilute it? A flavorless PG blend or simple water? I've never tried any DIY liquids, nor have I ever tried any kind of mixing or diluting them, so I'm clueless on the matter.
And the reason THAT bed caused problems is because it sat at such an incline/angle that I honestly believe the box springs was slightly broken. More than likely I could have just laid the opposite direction and it solve the problem, but I have an OCD problem with which way I'm facing in a room when I sleep.
Sobi, I don't think we were saying water DOESN'T help with dehydration, but rather in our instances, water alone simply wasn't enough. In my case for instance, it's a combination of dehydration AND drymouth. For me personally (I don't know if its due to my medication or what) my drymouth actually gets WORSE when drinking bottled water. Sure, my mouth is nice and moist right after I take a swig, but a couple of minutes after that, it's right back to feeling like I have a mouthful of sand. As opposed to iced tea and sports drinks like Gatorade leaving it feeling wet far longer.
Actually, drinking water WILL help reduce dehydration. But as with any "good thing", too much can be just as bad as not enough. In the OP case, it was flushing out the potassium and causing other issues. Easy fix once she knew what to do about it.
Well.... She does seem to have experimented a bit. Almost like not every person was the same or something....
Distilled water is what most people recommend, it's by far the purest type of water you can find. In my case, we have a whole-house filtration system, and on top of that, an additional reverse-osmosis filtration system at the kitchen sink, which we use for "drinking" water, cooking, etc, and that's the water I use. It's probably not nearly as "pure" as distilled, but it's close enough to suit me.
I can sympathize with that feeling you have to lie a certain way, in bed; although I *can* sleep, even go to sleep, lying on my left side, and often have to if my right shoulder is killing me, I still prefer sleeping on my right side.
I can relate to what you said about drinking water, too; when I was drinking 10 cups of [caffeinated] tea a day, anytime I would drink water for an extended period, it seemed to actually make my mouth feel drier, and I think I've arrived at the reason for that -- the sugar. Sugar makes your saliva thicker and more "slippery"; drinking water washes the sugar out, so you don't have that "film" in your mouth, so it seems drier. But it's odd; since I'm restraining my tea-drinking to 2 cups in the morning, and drinking a fair variety of other stuff, none or almost none of it caffeinated, during the day, and above all, getting that potassium, I find that I don't need to *always* have something to drink right at hand, because my mouth doesn't seem so dry. If I do feel a little thirsty or dry, I just go to the fridge and chug a couple oz of water, and that fixes it -- I don't feel "drier" after drinking water, because I've already eliminated the constant sugar-film in my mouth. I guess I'm *finally* fixing my "compulsive drinking" problem, nearly 22 yrs after getting sober!
But I guess what I'm actually fixing is, constant sugar intake, constant caffeine intake, chronic low-potassium, while also increasing beverages that aren't full of sucrose, and are actually good for me -- including water! I think perhaps your medication may be filling much the same role for you, that the constant tea-drinking was doing for me (I find hot tea very soothing and calming), so it will probably be more difficult to address, since presumably you need the medication a great deal more than I needed an ocean of tea, but adding healthful beverages may still give some relief, as well as adding other foods to your diet that are high in potassium.
Andria
Actually, drinking water WILL help reduce dehydration. But as with any "good thing", too much can be just as bad as not enough. In the OP case, it was flushing out the potassium and causing other issues. Easy fix once she knew what to do about it.
Well.... She does seem to have experimented a bit. Almost like not every person was the same or something....
Exactly. Once the electrolytes get out of whack, just drinking more water will not fix them, and sports drinks aren't the best option, if they're already seriously unbalanced -- sports drinks are kinda like water itself, to *prevent* the problem, not to fix it once it exists. But the coconut water has been miraculous, how quickly and how well it has corrected all my symptoms. And yeah I tried a lot of different things to try and address it... only the high-potassium coconut water did any good at all, as far as additions, though I'm sure that cutting down on salt, sugar, and caffeinated beverages was also a big part of the "fix."Got some canteloupe last night, so I'm looking forward to a couple slices of that, with my "breakfast."
Also bananas, but they need a few days to develop their freckles, so they'll be sweet.Andria
Hey. I just re-read the label on my favorite fruit drink
V8 v-fusion Energy drink has 170 mg potassium.
So there is another alternative. It IS sweet, but mix half and half with water and it should work for you Andria.
V8 v-fusion Energy drink has 170 mg potassium.
So there is another alternative. It IS sweet, but mix half and half with water and it should work for you Andria.
Just thought I would chime in here... you should NEVER EVER drink Reverse Osmosis water or use it for cooking or watering pets. It contains NO minerals and will strip the body of minerals and other elements. Please let me know if you would like more info on this... I hope this help as that would be a major issue with your health!
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