I just got out of CCU after a close brush with death…
I’m home now. I discovered something really important in the hospital. My kidneys were failing. They couldn’t handle all the fluid I was pouring in. I have something called “Psychogenic Polidypsia” which is like an addiction to fluids. I was consuming many liters a day… MANY. And my body couldn’t handle it…fluid was backing up into my body tissues…and diluting my electrolytes so severely that I was literally at death’s door. They put me on severe water restriction. 1000 ml a day. That’s 32 oz. two 16 oz water bottles a day of ALL fluids including coffee. I was furious. I vowed as soon as I got out of there I would drink what i wanted. Then I read this article on polydypsia. It turns out that it is an SZ thing. something very common to schizes. And it can be fatal. I was in the last phase of it: Kidney failure. Read about it…google it.
Anyway, once I read about it and understood it and realized that a lot of my recent weight gain was fluids swamping my tissues…i decided to cooperate and put an end to my endless thirst. I began in the hospital on the new diuretics they put me on and also after taking the stress off of my kidneys, everything began to work to purge my body of all this fluid. I’ve been peeing gallons. And my “pregnant” tummy is obviously flatter. Today I weighed myself. On hospital admission i weighed 205 (dressed)…Today i weighed myself: 194!! I tell you it is worth suffering a little thirst!!
I decided to do 1500 ml which is three water bottles. And not to count my coffee in that. Idk…that might be too much. I will play it by ear and just drink what I absolutely must and see how low i can get it. And this 11 lb weight loss is even with me cheating and sneaking drinks whenever i could. It’s amazing that I’m not dead. Literally drinking myself to death.
It really got bad after I quit smoking. I replaced smoking with drinking. Every time I wanted a cig, I had a drink instead.
I have this.I’ve known about it for 11 years because it started in hospital and I found out shortly after leaving that is a possibility for death for people with schizophrenia …
No one has told me to monitor it no one has told me about any adangers I was so sure that it was only bad when I was in hospital because they never drink anything like chilli sauce or lamb sauce
I didn’t know it was a thing for when you’re normal and between psychosis
I have looked it up but thank you for this information I’ve been pulled out by my family for drinking too much
Yes…it continues all the time with us. Not only when in psychosis. If your family has commented on how much you drink, you are probably drinking too much. IN the hospital they told me to get a 1 ltr bottle and fill it with water and keep it near you so you can see how much you have drunk and how much you have left in a 24 hour span. I’ve decided on a little more than a litre as I feel that is really too difficult. Good luck to you!
Its meant to be 1.9 L minimum so that means roughly 2 L please don’t under drink it’s a nightmare having even one cup left alone
Google it it’s the old 8 ounce water eight times a day
I think I’ve been having at least 4 L that’s an average it probably was more or less on other days
This is very long-term.I’m now going to 2 L a day
Thank you so much for this post
it sounds like you have a lesser case of it. I was drinking several GALLONS a day …My electrolytes were almost non-existent and my kidneys were failing. I asked the kidney doctor about the 8 8 ounce glasses a day and he told me "no , absolutely not. You cannot have that much. " But he said “YOU cannot have that much.” I think for you 2 ltr is probably fine.
hi
i think i just have never measured it
I’ve been awake 18 hours a day lately
if i am up in the night for 2 hours, i have about 4 cups of tea, 1200ml total
then the rest of the day probably a tea every 30 - 40 minutes say 400ml per time - 9,600 ml plus about 2500 miililitres of non tea drinks
it’s been worse lately than it was
I get a craving for a cold drink and a hot drink at the same time so i just have both.
take 1000 ml off for times when i can’t drink and it’s still an average of 12 litres
i think that could be a bad day
but i had acute water intoxication at hospital and have several of the signs of problems with the long term use - i.e. nausea, vomiting, fatigue, memory problems etc
I guess i never measured it I really didn’t think it was this bad
also on another subject i would get back in touch with the doc and see if that is for life or not??
seems extreme to have less than 2 L as a maximum
I drink 1000 ml of water a day. The rest is coffee. And I drink a lot of decaf coffee. I don’t think I drink near as much as you say that you did though. I’m thirsty all the time though due to the mouth drying effects of AP and AD medications. Which is real common to sz/sza people. I have been hospitalized in the past due to overdrinking of water. A total of ten times, in fact. But, I never had kidney failure over it. Only hyponatremia. (Low sodium levels in the blood). I haven’t been hospitalized for hyponatremia for many years now.
Yikes! You are lucky to be alive @locamotion!
Yeah listen to the doctors.
I haven’t been hospitalised for it - how much do you drink for that to happen?
i have had low sodium levels tested but not any kind of investigation i guess it wasn’t that bad at the time.
acute polydipsia is really scary
have you got it under control at the moment on a daily basis?
Yeah, I got the water drinking under control now. I keep a 1 liter bottle of water at my side all the time and I fill it in the morning and it has to last me all day. The remainder of my fluids I get in the form of juices and decaf coffee that I drink throughout the day. That all adds up to about 1800 to 2000 ml per day.
Sorry…for some reason the site isn’t allowing my sign-in to work…maybe
it’s a temporary glitch. I will respond here to the comments. Chrystal it
sounds like you need to get your fluid intake in hand. Set yourself a
goal…and work to slowly cut back. Take small sips and cap the bottle
after each one. Make a drink last a long long time…
I did okay yesterday …drank 1.5 L and a cup of coffee. Today was hard.
I lost track of what and how much I drank. I was kind of rebelling against
the need to be this strict. I reasoned with myself that I’m doing a lot
less drinking than I used to and that should be good enough. But I notice
this evening that once again, I am “puffy” …it looks like my body is not
flushing the fluids aggressively enough. Maybe my kidneys really ARE
compromised. Shoot. I really really WAnna drink!!
Gina: it’s not just water. what you need to measure and account for is
every kind of fluid you drink in a day. water, soda, coffee…tea…etc.
It all counts.
Wave: i know. God rescued me from what could have been a fatal mistake.
But, even knowing that, I feel defeated. I feel like there’s just no way
that I can live with that small an amount of liquids.
I have an appointment with the nephrologist (Kidney specialist) in
October. That was as soon as they could get me in. Tomorrow I will be
having labs drawn again…so we shall see how my half-hearted attempts
today at cutting back will have affected my blood sodium levels. I see the
cardiologist on Friday and he is the one who has been on my case to see a
nephrologist.
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I drink enormous quantities of tea.
Wesley…if you can’t cut back…then make sure you get regular Basic
Metabolic Panel blood tests…to check your sodium, potassium and magnesium
levels…head off trouble before it starts
Good luck! this is a hard thing to manage or cure.
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Next time i see the doctor i’ll ask about it. Relatives have noticed that i drink abnormally huge quantities of tea. Now i know what is causing it. Thanks.