I know all the benefits of drinking water and agree with all of them.

Hubby and I were talking tonight about the subject of me drinking more water and he brought up what I think is a valid question.

Can drinking a lot of water ( what defines a lot? well say for example 60 - 90 ozs daily ) flush out any meds or supplements in our bodies?

The big concern is what about meds that your body needs to keep at a specific level as example - thyroid meds and such that in order to work correctly need to remain at steady levels.

any thoughts on this please would be appreciated :D

IMO, that's a good question, Beth. Contrary to popular belief, it IS possible to drink too much water under certain circumstances. The result can be a condition called hyponatremia ... water intoxication. This happens in babies and in certain conditions people engaged in athletics. It'd be uncommon in people going about their business and drinking water in normal amounts throughout the day.

What's a lot of water would vary from individual to individual depending on body size, environment, etc. ... 60 ounces would be only six 10-ounces glasses a day ... doesn't sound like too much to me, but I'm not a doctor.

IMO, you need to talk to your health care provider(s) about this as it really seems like a good question that'd be beyond the scope of advice people on a forum can give (especially me, but I'm up, so thought I'd reply).

I agree with athleta...

I also agree. You can drink too much water. You also hear people say to drink alot of water to get rid of toxins in your body. What if your body treats your meds as toxins? I think if you drink 6-8 glasses of water a day you would be safe. Any more too, you'd have to be near a toilet all the time:)

Beth, it might be best to speak to your pharmacist. They will know best what effect water will have on meds. Some are more water soluble than others.

Jungles have very inhealthy soil because it rains so much all the nutrients are flushed out of the ground.

I'd figure it's no different with a human body...
:)

I know all the benefits of drinking water and agree with all of them.

Hubby and I were talking tonight about the subject of me drinking more water and he brought up what I think is a valid question.

Can drinking a lot of water ( what defines a lot? well say for example 60 - 90 ozs daily ) flush out any meds or supplements in our bodies?

The big concern is what about meds that your body needs to keep at a specific level as example - thyroid meds and such that in order to work correctly need to remain at steady levels.

any thoughts on this please would be appreciated :D

My thoughts on this are that there are never any warning messages that came with any of my prescriptions saying that if I drink too much water my meds will not be as effective....I really do not think water would reduce the effects of meds supplements etc.. NOR DO I THINK OUR BODY IS LIKE THE JUNGLE...

this is a link I found which really is about as good as I can get but my answer as a non professional is absolutely no...

http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/325/24100/34048.html?d=dmtContent

LOL, it was just a thought. :laugh: kinda makes sense to me...

.....
Can drinking a lot of water ( what defines a lot? well say for example 60 - 90 ozs daily ) flush out any meds or supplements in our bodies?

The big concern is what about meds that your body needs to keep at a specific level as example - thyroid meds and such that in order to work correctly need to remain at steady levels.

any thoughts on this please would be appreciated :D Beth,

Not thyroid and most other meds, but there are a very few meds where liquid consumption is an issue, and that's when effective dosage is also close to a toxic level. In particular: variations of lithium medications taken for bi-polar disorder, have such a fine balance between effective and toxic dosages, that the user does indeed need to be very careful to drink liquids and not become dehydrated.

I'm confident that you can drink twice as much water as is beneficial to your body (say, four quarts a day instead of two), without seriously depleting your mineral, vitamin and med levels. But, why would you want to? Stick with a couple of quarts per day of all liquids, unless you're losing a lot of perspiration or the climate is unusually hot and dry. You'll know you're not consuming enough liquid, when your urine is darker with less volume, and at that point you're likely beginning to strain your kidneys.

rD

ps. I'd not go back to regularly drinking non-distilled water, after seeing how much rust (which is relatively harmless) and other metals (several are mildly toxic, and some tend to accumulate in our bodies) are left behind in the still. Most communities provide a free copy on request of the water supply's latest test results for dozens of incidental contaminants, alongside of the Federal "safe" maximum levels (however, those "safe" levels tend to be lowered from time to time as new problems are discovered, which is food for thought).

r-D...do you know of meds or supplements which could be flushed out of our bodies by drinking too much water?

Good question Beth. To my knowledge, and I asked one of my profs about this today as well, there are very few meds that can be affected by consuming too much water. You would have to consume enough water that you end up hyponatremic, which is very hard to do if you're a reasonably healthy adult. Hyponatremia--water intoxication--is typically a problem seen in infants whose formula is watered down to make it last, or in people with serious heart or kidney problems for whom processing excess fluid is a major issue.

Oral meds typically end up in the bloodstream via the intestines, well before the blood gets to the kidney to be filtered. Your meds should be able to produce the desired effects, find their receptors, etc. before they would even have an opportunity to be filtered by the kidneys and flushed out as toxins. Most of the molecules also attach to transport proteins in your blood stream, making them too big to get through the kidney "filter" and leaving them circulating in the bloodstream even after kidney processing.

Basically--if you drink enough water that you pee pretty clear you're doing great! If you're drinking so much that you're feeling dizzy or are "out of it" at all then that's a problem, but not due to flushing out meds--due to the fact that your cellular fluid levels are wacked from too much H20. Your thyroid and other meds shouldn't be an issue with water drinking.

Just my 2 cents! :2cents: Hope this helps! Just FYI--I've been drinking 3 liters a day, or around 100 oz., to try to flush extra sodium out of my body and I feel great! I think it would be almost impossible for you to drink TOO much water--your body would tell you to stop before it would become a problem.

I thank everyone who took the time to help me understand this subject better :D

and a special thanks to our "Dr.to be" ( amanda ) for looking into this for us even on the day she had a nuro exam :hug:

On the diet that I was on, before switching over to CALP, it said to divide your weight in half and then to drink that many ounces a day. As a result I was drinking 135 ounces a day... 17 cups a day. LOL, a few times I literally did feel as though I was drowning! My new diet suggests 8 cups is good. I usually have 12 - 14 though.

Amanda, your 2 cents are very valuable indeed. Are you a med student? Thanks for the good explanation.

Thanks Athletea--I appreciate that. Yes, I'm a med student but just a lowly first year, so I'm a long way from knowing much. Right now we know a little bit about a lot of things and not much about anything, it seems. :laugh: I checked out the water thing with a physiology prof before posting though, so it should be good info.

I just read an article in the paper yesterday that says you need about half an ounce per pound of body weight. That's a lot of water, but spread out over the course of a day, it probably isn't as much as it seems. I think, too, that if you are consuming water with tea or Crystal Light or something, it's still hydrating your body.

I agree with Amanda--- you should pee clear. My doctor told me once that if that wasn't the case, I should start drinking more.

Good points, everyone!

Amanda, that's great that you're gonna be a doc. Good for you!

I'm really interested in the topic of hydration as when I first moved to the hot climate I live in now, I weighed approximately 100 pounds more and (stupidly) used to go jog in the desert before I was really acclimatized (sp?) and ended up twice in the emergency room for them to pump electrolytes in me. I simply didn't understand hydration at all ... ok, now I'm thirsty ... see ye.