Do I drink too much?

I think I have a drinking problem.  NO, not alcohol...everything else.

I am one of those people who is always cold.  Prior to this fall that just meant that I wore a puffy winter coat 24 hours a day (literally, unless I was sleeping) from October to May.  However, now I am in an office, which, while fairly casual, requires dress other than the same stinky coat all the time.  My recent solution has been to constantly drink hot beverages.  This keeps me even warmer than the coat...but it has the side-effect of making me have to go to the loo about 12 times a day.

So far today I have drank: 3 travel mugs (which is probably about 18 oz?) of plain hot water, 3 travel mugs of herbal tea, and 2 travel mugs of vanilla chai.  And it's only lunch-time!! (Not to mention the cup of almond milk on my cereal and 2 cups of soup for lunch)

Disregarding the ridiculous amount of artificial sweetner that I am ALSO consuming with my tea, I am worried that this is just too much beverage.  I know it's good to be hydrated, but I also know that too much drinking can be harmful (to kidneys?  I'm not sure).  Also, when I'm drinking tea I know this is actuall NOT hydrating me.  Once I had an awful experience where I drank 4 POTS of hot tea in one night and dehydrated myself terribly.

So, how much can I drink?  What portion should be tea versus decaf tea or decaf coffee, versus herbal tea, versus hot water with lemon, versus just-plain-water?  I am really cold, and all I want is a big mug of tea, but I don't want to cause myself organ failure.

It's really hard to drink too much water although it's possible, have a few teas or coffees a day but stick with hot lemon water the most.

Most of all, I'd suggest getting checked for hypo-thyroid.  Begin cold all the time is one of the symptoms.

I was always cold in the office too - my solutions was simply to buy a little space heater and put it by my desk.

To your drinking question: are you drinking because you are cold or because you are thirsty, just to clarify? If you are drinking because you are thirsty you may want to have a diabetes test taken. If because you are cold, ask for a routine blood test with your doctor - as well as a symptom of hypothyroidism being constantly cold is also a symptom of iron-deficiency anemia. I think it was you who posted about donating blood and low iron levels. I refer you again to the links I posted there. http://caloriecount.about.com/donating-blood- weight-loss-ft116629#1

However, I sympathise. I suffer from iron-deficiency anemia and am cold very often. It's no fun to go away to Spain for a week and be the only one wearing a cardigan or a jumper! I too drink a fair few warm drinks a day but I do so through herbal teas, unsweetened, and hot water with lemon. Really, if you want to sweeten or flavour water use lemon or lime slices fresh. You don't need sweeteners.

For herbal teas, try chamomile, peppermint, fennel and green. All of these, again, rarely need anything extra to them save maybe the green tea, which can again be flavoured with lemon. I stretch green tea by using it in a teapot and making multiple pots with the same leaves. This also helps stretch the caffiene content; the other three teas I suggested are caffiene free.

Drinking excessively can be potentially harmful as it can strain your kidneys, as well as throw electrolytes out of wack and, if you chug a lot of liquid in a short space of time, result in something called water intoxication. The last is somewhat less of a threat but can be fatal. If at any point today you start feeling nauseous, faint or dizzy, find first aid asap. I would not worry too much on the last point.

If you really want your tea have small mugs with only one at a time and keep check of how much you are drinking. I really think, though, that you ought to speak to a doctor about a blood test after this thread and your mention of low iron in your blood draw thread. Hope this helps!

I just wanted to add, if you are worried about going to the bathroom so much/being dehydrated, hot water with lemon is a known diuretic. I would stay away from that. JMO.

Generally, drinking more than a gallon of liquid a day is dangerous.  For various reasons others here have mentioned, especially electrolyte imbalance.  You'll essentially screw up your body's mineral balance which makes it much harder for your body to properly digest nutrients.  That's why many professional athletes drink some kind of electrolyte replacement drink because they do drink a lot of liquids.    I'd stay away from caffeinated drinks because, like hot water with lemon, they are diuretics.   I also would look into the tests others here mentioned.  

How much is a gallon in oz/ml/L?