#rehydration

bluemindaze:

iopele:

magnolia-lascivious:

jumpingjacktrash:

adigitalmagician:

the-rain-monster:

grimdarkthroes:

equalityformost:

grimdarkthroes:

as ur friendly Neighborhood Nursing Student™ i feel somewhat compelled to remind everyone with the hot weather:

1. every liquid except sea water and alcohol hydrates you. It’s not CHUG WATER OR DIE. in fact, gatorade and the like are designedto hydrate you efficiently.
   
2. yeah, this includes coffee and tea and soda. the diuretic is notenough to cancel out the liquid. juices and milk have solids in them, sure, but they’re also mostly liquid! it counts. 
   
3. your body can only absorb so much water at a time, so chugging 64 oz of water at noon and calling it good will do a wonderfuljob of flushing your kidneys, but not so much of hydrating your tissues. it’s more important that you’re getting consistent fluid throughout the day. 
   
4. there’s a lot of fancy ways to determine How Much Water (Liquid) I Should Drink but honestly? 8 oz (1 cup) every other hour on cool days and 8 oz every hour on hot days should be fine (assuming you sleep for a normal amount of time per day…. i’m assuming ur awake 16 hours a day.)
5. figure out how many oz each of ur favorite cups is. it’ll help your guesstimation. 
6. if ur urine is darker than light yellow, you’re dehydrated. 
7. if u pinch the skin on the back of ur hand for a couple seconds and it takes more than a second or two go to back to normal then ur dehydrated. 

In regards to #1, don’t take this as an excuse to drink the sugar water that they call sports drinks. They aren’t bad for you per se, but please choose water.

actually this entire post was written in the spirit of ppl using it as an excuse to drink sports drinks and soda etc

ppl have been commenting abt sodium levels in soda and sugar levels in sports drinks and thats all well and good but what i’ve noticed is that people who internalize “well, ONLY WATER hydrates me” but who HATE WATER remain horrifically dehydrated cause they dont drink anything. 

so like. if ur a person who haaaaates tap water, this is absolutely me giving you permission to drink whatever fluid you can stomach. please take this as a direct excuse to drink nothing but gatorade if that’s what it takes to get enough fluid into ur body.

it’s not the healthiest for you, sure, but you’re a smart enough person to know that. please drink fluids anyways. 

if u like water thats gr8. if you can stomach water that’s gr8. if you can’t, that’s okay too, and you need to stay hydrated just as much as anyone else, so pleasedrink. 

I used to hate tap water, and in some places (looking at you, Iowa) it is legit disgusting, but one thing I do which helped a ton and was long term cheaper than buying soda or juice was to get a bottle of Angostura bitters. It’s a cocktail additive with a strong distinctive flavor, so although a tiny bottle is like $6 it will last you for ages. Put a small drop or dash in your glass then fill with water. It has a pleasant sort of herbal metal taste (I understand that those words don’t seem like they should go together but it’s hard to describe) which masks tap water. It also helps me smooth an upset tummy but your mileage may vary. It’s not something that will get you drunk, just a flavoring like vanilla extract.

If that all sounds like too much bother, dropping a lemon wedge into water also helps.

I am learning that lemon wedges are magical in almost everything I like to drink.

here is the magic that made me stop being chronically dehydrated:

because yeah, i can’t STAND plain water – it tastes like the inside of my mouth. it tastes like spit. imagine drinking a glass of ice cold spit. ugh. but add a squirt of this stuff to your glass of tapwater, and now it tastes like apple, cherry, lemonade, whatever.

i also got a bunch of these

and pre-prep them with flavored water, iced tea, iced coffee, whatever (or ask my helper to do it), and then when i’m thirsty but distracted and want to just grab some kind of liquid without thinking about finding a clean glass etc., i can just grab one of these.

because yeah, hating water is a thing, and dehydration SUCKS. so drink SOMETHING, don’t be a water purist. better to chug iced coffee than go without.

mio was a damn genius for comin out with that shit

can I just speak up here as someone who has been a nurse for 17 years? I heartily endorse this post and also give you permission to DRINK WHATEVER THE HELL IT TAKES TO KEEP YOU FROM BEING DEHYDRATED

especially in the summer, you can’t play around with that. drink something. seriously. for the love of kittens. DRINK SOMETHING. 

I thought of this earlier today, too: If you’re trying to be really conscientious of the sugar levels in many drinks, a simple thing I do is cut my juice or gatorade like 1:1 with water. That way, it has just enough flavor, but it’ll also dilute some of the sugar content. Tbh, I find that some juices and such have too much flavor for my preferences anyway, so this also helps me want to drink more often.

HYDRATION FRIENDS! If you do not care for sports drinks or the like, but still want something that will help replenish depleted electrolytes, can I recommend…

SEKANJABIN?

Sekanjabin is a drink used across Northern Africa and the Middle East today and has its origins in medieval Persia. It is a vinegar-based drink (which sounds weird but I promise you can barely taste it if made properly). Modern sekanjabin is traditionally made with mint, or mint and cucumber. The first written copy of the recipe was simply honey and vinegar (10th century, in Fihrist of al-Nadim).

Here is my actual award-winning Pomegranate Ginger Rose Water sekanjabin:

Ingredients

1. 2 C sugar
2. 1¼ C water
3. ½ C vinegar (white, white wine, or red wine)
4. 1 C pomegranate juice
5. 1 T rose water
6. 3 ginger candies

Instructions

1. Bring the sugar, water, and vinegar to a boil. Stir for three minutes (sugar should now be fully integrated).
2. Add ginger candy; stir until melted. Remove from heat.
3. Add rosewater and pomegranate juice, stir.
4. Let cool to room temperature, then bottle.
5. To drink: add 1 part syrup to 5-10 parts water. Can be prepared hot or cold, but I think it tastes best over ice.

Notes

1. Sekanjabin is shelf-stable and will last a very long time. Feel free to play with the flavors and proportions of the base ingredients – other popular flavors include mint, lavender, and quince. It’s also worth noting that the different vinegars will affect the flavor of the final product.
2. I use Gin-Gin ginger candies. You could also use ginger syrup (1 teaspoon per candy, or 1 tablespoon/3 candies). You can even use powdered ginger, although the end result will have “floaters” in it as a result.
3. If you live in a large city, you may be able to find rose water in your local grocery store (in the middle eastern food area). Medium cities: you can find it at your local Middle Eastern grocer. Oftentimes in health food stores. Small towns: you may want to order online.
4. Rose water is not a common flavor in modern Western cooking. It is VERY easy to over-do  the rosewater; if you are concerned about it tasting like soap or perfume, start with a teaspoon and add more.
5. It’s fun to experiment! Hate ginger? Try adding mint (both have soothing qualities for the stomach). Think pomegranate is boring? Try quince. Know you can’t stand roses? Go for lavender! You could make a bunch of sample bottles to see what works for you.
6. Storage: I put mine in (thoroughly cleaned-out) glass booze bottles. I also currently have two gallons in an old water container. A little bit goes a long way.

Awesome things about sekanjabin: it’s an AMAZING recovery drink. I had folks drinking mine when they were sick and thanking me afterward because it was the only thing they could keep down and likely kept them from dehydrating to the point of hospitalizaiton. I also had folks drinking it as a hangover cure – a higher syrup:water ratio than I’d usually recommend, but it worked for them. 

Hydrate in whatever way works for you! But if you want those electrolytes, make you some sekanjabin.

http://www.hextilda.com/2017/08/01/summer-sekanjabin/

Sacred stones.

Sacred water.

Sacred plants.

I saw my GP this morning regarding both my loperamide prescription (I’ve been having a reaction to the liquid so needed a new script for the instand melt tablets) and my rehydration methods. She said she was happy to do a monthly prescription for 112 instant melt tablets of loperamide and I can always adjust the dose as I need to. So that’s one thing fixed relatively easilly.

When talking about my rehydration, she admitted she wasn’t as knowledgable about it so she would email my dietitian for me. I explained my reasons for no longer having the St Mark’s rehydration solution and that I was instead drinking Lucozade and a suppliment drink called Sneak as both have a somewhat decent amount of sodium/salt.*

As I had a blood test just yesterday (Thurday) morning, she had a look at the results and it showed that my sodium was back to normal levels as were pretty much everything else. I asked if I should keep going with what I am doing and she agreed. She said she was still going to email my dietitian just to keep them in the loop which I am more than happy for her to do.

All in all, A good visit to the doctor. I just need to wait for my loperamide to be ready.

*Just a quick disclaimer: I am drinking Lucozade and Sneak suppliment drinks as a replacement for the St Mark’s rehydration solution as this works better for me personally. Please do not change or stop your rehydration methods recommended by you specialist/GP/dietitian without talking to them about it in detail first. Be safe.