Q: I know a person who drinks as many as 20 glasses of water or pop a day, and she always seems to be cold and tired. I do not think this is healthy. My friend says that you cannot drink too much water, as the kidneys will get rid of the excess. Is this correct? Also is it true that drinking too much before a meal will dilute the stomach acids and interfere with digestion?
A: The general rule is that it is good to drink about eight glasses of water a day. It is abnormal to drink as many as 20. Although the kidneys can cope with a certain amount of excess fluid, they may not be able to keep up with that rate of drinking, and so the urine will be pale and look almost like water, which it mainly is.
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A doctor can tell if the urine isn’t concentrated enough by checking its specific gravity. This can indicate a medical problem. Another good test is to examine blood electrolytes, such as sodium and potassium. These would be present in smaller quantities if the person was diluting her blood too much. Of course, it would also be a good idea to check blood sugar to rule out diabetes, since this disease makes a person abnormally thirsty, but also passes large volumes of urine.
Diabetes insipidus (not sugar diabetes) is an illness caused by a tumor of the pituitary gland in the brain. It leads to excessive thirst and fluid intake and passing vast quantities of pale urine.
The tumor is usually benign, but may have to be surgically
removed and treated with replacement hormones.
This is a rare condition so it is unlikely in your friend’s case.
A much more likely situation is a psychological condition known as psychogenic polydipsia. This is a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder where the person feels compelled to drink continually.
I once had a patient who suffered from this. Even when she was hospitalized and her drinking restricted, she would go to the bathroom and put her head under the faucet to drink.
People with this problem can actually behave as if they are intoxicated, even though all they have had to drink is water. This is because the disturbance in electrolytes and lowered blood sugar can lead to a confused state of mind.
This is a potentially dangerous situation if left untreated, because eventually the kidneys can fail.
Drinking too much before a meal may interfere with your appetite but it would not dilute the stomach acid enough to interfere with digestion.
