Does anyone feel very bloated and find it hard to drink enough H2O?

[CMcH]

I feel like a human blow fish! I try to drink a lot of water but sometimes it makes me nauseated and bloated.
I can't eat the same foods that I used to.
It can go beyond discomfort into being quite painful.
Has anyone found a drink that helps them stay hydrated or food that sits well in your stomach?
Lately I have been eating Oatieeos and soft serve yogurt.
Not together but it sounds like a heck of an idea.
I hope my husband doesn't lift up the covers before he gets out of bed.
There is a fox in the hole and it's a bloody mine field in there.
Note to self I can no longer eat Indian food.

[FullOfHope77]

I found that I had to find something I liked and wasn't too bad for me and ate it until I was sick of it and then found something else.

I haven't fully returned 6 mos post tx but it is much easier. I found that I like GatorAide and drank lots of it as water was hard to do by itself. Any sports drink might be the same don't know. The obvious issue is keeping the sugar down but drinking sweet seems better than not hydrating at all.

Good luck.
-Scott

[Marcia2202]

As I cannot get the dark liquid here in Denmark, I order it over the net from the US. My hubby takes his bottle on tour. When his throat gets a bit rough from singing every day he uses it. Anyway, it helps keep good dental hygiene, too.

Good luck with it.

[chiara104]

Hi Marcia, I have applied the powder twice today. Hard to say whether it is helping, as the sores naturally tend to wax and wane over time. I will keep applying it... you're right, it can't hurt. If it works, then I would much rather use it than the cortisone gel I have been applying off and on for months, with very limited success... I will try to find the stevia drops tomorrow.... will keep you posted.

Chiara

[epiphiny]

Thanks for the tip with the Stevia.  I am plagued by sores or abrasions on my tongue for the past 3 months of tx and nothing I use, including Biotene, seems to help.  I have had minor success using a diluted solution of sodium hypochlorite but nothing takes them away completely.  I have only seen the clear solution of Stevia used as sweetener here in NZ but I will try it none the less and let you know how I go.  Thanks again!

Epi :)

[Marcia2202]

I have never used other than the dark liquid in drops form of stevia. It's in a water base, very thick liquid. I don't know if the white powder has the same healing properties or if it is as potent, as it has been refined. But maybe you can achieve exactly the same. I would just try it, I don't think it could hurt, as the powder doesn't have any additives.

Please let me know if it works too, would be really interesting to know. Beware that it might sting for a little while.

Marcia

[Marcia2202]

Stevia is one of those supplements you get at health food stores. It is mainly used as a sweetener, but has really good healing properties. I have used it on all kinds of sores. Had a musician friend come from Africa who had an infection on one of his heals and was limping. After having used it, he was already better the next day. And within a week he was almost healed.

been using it on cuts for years, on myself, hubby and kids. My eldest had a slight inflammation from a grwoing wisdom tooth, came for a visit and I put a drop of it on the area. He ended up taking one of my bottles home, as he could feel it become better within hours.

It stings like he!! when you put it on, but subsides quite quick.

[chiara104]

Hi Marcia, I am intrigued by your comment on using stevia concentrate to treat mouth sores. I have sores that prevent me from eating properly because it is just too painful to chew. I have been using Biotene, but it's hard to say whether it is having any effect. Does the stevia concentrate come as a powder or drops? I have the individual packets of stevia powder... do you think rubbing the powder on the sores help?

Chiara

[Kristina538]

I rinse with the Biotene mouthwash after every meal which seems to hold any mouth discomfort at bay. (you can get the Biotene gel for the night;  I haven't used it yet), but I do use a lip balm with olive leaf oil and it's awesome.    When needed, I use a saline rinse bottle for my nose, plus some nose gel.   It seems intermittant now (although early in tx these sx's were constant)..

I drink almost a litre of water on waking each morning, then wait at least half an hour before eating;   I was doing it before tx and it helped with my digestion;  the rest of the day I drink when I feel the need, but by the end of the day, it's usually 4 plus litres.   When I feel acidic a squeeze of half a lemon in a big glass of water (sip or gulp at leisure) does the trick for me.  

My specialist told me the smells were 'anxiety', but a friend of mine with MS gets the same whenever she takes 'anti-inflammatories' and it does seem to co-incide with the riba.    For me it comes and goes, but is usually (not always) hindered by what I'm eating, and to fix that, I have to get my mouth comfy and my stomach acid okay first!!!  (I was chained to my sx's for a while but have had some relief over the past month).   The blander the meal, the easier I seem to handle it.   Good luck

[CMcH]

Thank you for the great ideas. I have been meaning to get the Biotene but I keep forgetting. Is the Stevia like a mouthwash?

[Marcia2202]

I get a very dry nose, even though I drink so much water. I put a very small amount of a mixture of shea butter and coconut oil in my nostrils and it works wonders, especially at night. And I use Oral Balance gel by Biotène for the mouth, it lubricates it very well and has enzyme balancing the ph value of the mouth, helping ward off mouth sores. Each time a mouth sore starts I quickly use stevia concentrate (it tastes like licorice) and it goes away within a day. It has worked every time. Also for those little blisters which sometimes come on the tongue.

Just some tips you might want to try, it has helped me all very well.

[CMcH]

Thank you all. I am almost always thirsty from a terribly dry mouth and skin. It never seems to be quenched. My nose is dried out also and I have turned into a mouth breather esp. at night leaving me parched. I enjoy Jamba Juice and soft serve because of the mouth sores but there are a lot of calories in them. I unfortunately have gained 25 #'s on TX with the lack of exercise and my penchant for ice cream. Comfort food I guess.
Sometimes I wish I had an IV of water to combat the dry skin, mouth and eye's.

[rita863]

Same here I do not drink enough water,  When i first started tx, i was drinking as much as i could and then i was loosing weight because I was so bloated from the water I didnt eat. plus I hate water,, the side to not enough water is more sides!

[jdwithhcv]

Drinking enough water was, for me, one of the hardest things about treatment.  I switched from tap water to seltzer and that was a bit better but I never managed as much people recommend.  Odd, most of the time I drink a lot of water but on tx I just didn't want to.  Good luck with it.

jd

[epiphiny]

I second that emotion!

[Marcia2202]

I believe that the drinking water part is very individual. I drink about 4-5 liters on most days. But I don't force myself to drink it, I drink when I'm thirsty and it adds up to that. I don't drink any other fluids though, as I really don't feel like it.

I remember there was a member on the forum, who had to cut down on his water intake, 'cause it was bothering him. I think he ended up being good with 2 liters.

So I echo your last sentence... that one needs to listen to ones body

Marcia

[wyntre9]

During the 72 weeks I treated i was CONSTANTLY thirsty and as a result I was in the john every hour like clockwork.

I never got the bloated feeling but i did lose my appetite and there were stretches when the only thing i ate were ice cream sandwiches and grits.

don't worry.  once you;re off meds your appetite will come roaring back with a vengeance. In the meantime, eat whatever you can keep down.  A lot of us existed on ice cream.

[epiphiny]

I know that bloated-sausage-with-legs feeling very well!!  It was at it's worst when I was trying to force myself to drink nearly 4 litres of water per day (because I had read somewhere this is what I should aim for!).  It just didn't work for me due to the bloated feelings and the accompanying nausea.  There is a difference between keeping hydrated and drowning ourselves in fluids!

I did a little research on the whole 'how much water should we drink myth' that seems to pervade modern thinking and came to the conclusion that I should just drink when I am thirsty and leave it at that. Since then I have felt much more comfortable.

Btw, It is TRUE that drinking lots of water will help with your sx but if you think about that logically, the way the water helps us is to dilute the meds (toxins) in our blood and flush them through our system FASTER!  I don't know about you, but I would rather keep the meds in there doing their virus killing job than flush them out too quickly.  I'll take the sx in favour of increasing my chances of SVR.

I also found the bloated feelings increased when I drank a lot of water around my riba meals so I eased it off then as well and try to drink in between meals rather than a lot with meals.  My fat intake also seemed to influence the bloatedness.  And remember, everything we imbibe counts towards our fluid intake...

Here are links discussing how much water is enough:

http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20020711213420data_trunc_sys.shtml

http://www.livescience.com/health/080403-water-intake.html

http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/07/wellness-water-8x8-myth.html

There are heaps more articles out there if you care to look for them.

And I have to add that I am not disputing that we need to drink fluids, I am just raising the question of how much is enough!  

As someone wisely suggested to me: drink when you feel thirsty and if you find you are constantly going to the toilet you are probably drinking too much.

Here's to a healthy fluid intake!

Epi :)

[Trish77]

Very funny.  :)   I wonder if it's the hypothyroid having an impact?  I notice since I went from hyper to hypo that I feel more bloated, I have acid indigestion where I didn't have any up until now on treatment and I'm not thirsty anymore and drinking makes me feel bloated too.  I enjoy my spicy foods but now they talk back to me.  I too noticed more of a ... "minefield" as you call it ... lol  seems to be rubbing off on my cat lately, is that even possible?? :)   Just tossing they hypothyroid thing out there as I think your thyroid is in the same state as mine?

I like carbonated water, always have.  Quenches my thirst.  I think I've been cautioned against it but nothing like it for hydrating my mouth and throat.  I had another friend on treatment swear by Gatorade but I haven't tried it.

Good luck to you AND hubby. :)

Trish