Too much water?

I know the amount of water your supposed to drink is about 8 glasses but for the last 6 months ive been drinking 6-8litres whilst studying at home.

Obviously this also means i need to use the bathroom very regularly and im worried that when i get a job in a few months its going to cause major problems!

I do find now that my mouth feels dry and i feel dehydrated if i dont drink water often.

Is there any reason you are drinking so much water? Do you work out a lot or eat a lot of dry, starchy, or very salty foods?

I guess you`d know right away if drinking so much made you ill, but I still think it`s a rather large amount.. plus it`s less of an issue if you`re doing it out of boredom, but more serious if you are excessively using water to supress your appetite.

I don't know your stats, but it's possible you don't actually need to drink that much water. Try using 

http://nutrition.about.com/library/blwatercal culator.htm

to find out how much you need. 

If you find that you get a dry mouth when not drinking water and don't need to be drinking that much water, try chewing gum, which stimulates saliva flow (also good for your teeth!) 

If you do really need to drink as much water as you are, try drinking a lot of it when it's not a problem. Obviously you're supposed to spread out your water intake throughout the day, but you can tweak it a little. Have some when you wake up so you can go to the bathroom before work, have some regularly after work. 

all of that water has probably thrown your sodium levels off... yes, believe it or not you DO need some salt

salt/sodium maintains adequate fluid levels in the body... this is why when you eat too much salt you bloat because it causes you to retain water; the cure to this is to eat less salt and drink more water... but in your case you are drinking too much water and it's depriving your body of it's ability to balance fluids, which is just flushing you out and making you thirsty because your not holding on to the water very long... make sense?

also drinking more then 3L of water in a short period of time can be FATAL.. people have died from doing this. All that water dilutes your blood and can put you into a coma, or worse

about 2-3L of water is ideal... 4-5L if you exercise

carmen is right, its possible to be sodium defiencient.

You might need to go to a doctor just to get a check up if you are feeling excessive thirst. I think that could end up being a problem and throw off your balances in your body. If it is out of boredom though keep smaller bottles of water so you aren't as likely to drink as much??

also your body does adjust to drinking more water... but not in excess. I think you are unnessarily overdoing it.

people who don't drink enough or drink too much other fluids (pop, coffee, sugary drinks, juice) usually feel A LOT better, happier, and healthier when they ditch the chemical-sugar-loaded drinks for fresh water, they also learn how to recognise when they need/or should drink

fyi waiting till you're thirsty already means that you are dehydrated, and there's something like a 2% drop in metabolic rate if you're just a little bit dehydrated... but in your case you should not be dehydrated. I think you are thirsty because your bodies natural fluid regulations are of out of balance.

so cut back a couple litres, and do something else when you are bored... I can't imagine how uncomfortable that must be to have that much fluid in you all the time, even if it is spaced out.

you are drinking twice the recommended amount of water. 2-3 L a day is definately enough. All of that extra water is flushing away all of the good ions in your body. Basically you are washing yourself out!!!!!!!

Windra, you should go to the doctor.  Excessive thirst that continues for that long can point to a lot of different issues including hyperglycemia or diabetes.

Are you having any other symptoms like feeling dizzy or tired?

Regardless, i think you should see your doctor about it.  We CCers are no substitution for proper medical care.

Original Post by laralives:

carmen is right, its possible to be sodium defiencient.

 ignore me, i can't spell :)

Thanks for the advice guys! I think i will mention it to the doctor when i go there next.

I did have a blood sugar test about a month ago which was fine and i do eat probably more than the amount of salt i should!

The weird thing is i really dont feel bloated or full when i have water, in the last hour ive had about 1.8l and i dont FEEL like ive drank anything, except for the fact that ive had to go to the bathroom about 3 times :S.