Thirsty?

So I was wondering does anybody else get extremely thirsty like all the time? I'm not doing that much physical activity right now and its not hot here at all right now so those aren't doing it I'm sure. I can and do drink about 10 cups of milk, water, and juice in some combination everyday with ease.....and I still feel thirsty. Today for example I had 2 glasses of milk and 1 glass of juice around breakfast time, 2 bottles of water with lunch, 2 glasses of juice with dinner, 2 water and 1 glass of juice before bed. This seems like a lot to me. I know that people with IBD can often get dehydrated quickly but even when I was playing hockey 5 times a week I didn't drink this much. Just wondering if anybody else experiences this and is it normal?

Yikes, if I drank that much I'd never be off the toilet!!
I can't say I really have this problem, canuck, as I don't probably drink enough. I seem to be having to wee once an hour all day, even if I don't drink anything!
Maybe it's the steroids making you thirsty and making me pee all the time?
Someone may have some answers

I'm not saying this is it - but the first thing that comes to my mind is to have your blood sugar checked (diabetes) because I know if that is outta whack you can get pretty thirst and also pee a lot. I think that can be a side effect of the pred as well if you are on it - I guess I'm saying tell your doctor just to be sure.

And if you are having a lot of diarrhea then yes, you could be getting dehydrated as well.

Crazycanuck...you're not alone. I've posted on this before.

Do you get dry heaves most mornings? I drink all the time and am constantly peeing and then thirsty again. Peaches - I feared diabetes too but my glucose levels are all normal. I wonder if it's a side effect of meds.

I noticed you're on Imuran. I'm on 6-mp which is same thing...perhaps a link?

What medicines are you on? I know some meds can cause you to be really thirsty.

The first thing that came to mind for me is to have your blood sugar checked. Just get it checked out with your doctor to be safe.

I get really thirsty too since I've been on pred. I have less D but I am still in the loo all the time peeing! The view hasn't changed just the aroma in the facility! I have heard that steroids can induce symptoms of diabetes & when I was in hospital on IV steroids recently they checked my sugar several times per day so may be that's the cause? Of course with crohns and the obvious symptoms most of us ae probably losing lots of water in our stools so we have to replenish surely? Probably healthier to drink more rather than less? As long as it's the right type of fluids... I have had a bit of a thing for diet coke recently which I'm sure can't be doing me any favours... Anyway... That's my tuppence worth!

Lishyloox

Ditto on getting checked for diabetes, that's one of the first signs of it, don't frett tthough, it may be nothing other than your IBD-body telling you to keep up with the liquids to avoid dehydration, but none the less, a good idea to go see the doc.

I drink more since I started on pred - and wee a lot more too ! Makes a change from the backdoor trots and I can be in and out a lot quicker.

I'm also thirsty all the time. Now I do have diabetes, my normal blood sugar levels are around 110- 160. Normal for most people are 70- 120. When I was on higher doses of oral prednisone 40 mg my sugars were around 275- 350. In the hospital on the IV steroids they had to put me on insulin to control the levels as they approached 400+. If you are taking prednisone, definitely keep an eye on your sugars. The extra liquids you take in is just to dilute the extra sugar in your blood. Keep drinking if the levels are higher, its the bodies natural defense against higher levels.

But to answer your question. Yes. I am thirsty quite often. I drink upwards of 300 ozs a day.

Milk is processed as a solid and has a good bit of "sugar" (lactose) which can add to thirst, and juice has enough fructose to make you more thirsty, so it's difficult to count those as "fluids" the same way water is. It could be the disease, it could be a dietary factor. Could also be the meds. Many things can dehydrate you, many we don't even think about. That liquid consumption is close to what "normal" people should be drinking at a minimum (there's still hydration from milk/juice as they still contain water, it's just that some of it is offset by the other factors like the fructose)...around 64 oz. of water/fluids, but I tend to go for the gallon a day goal (128 oz...classic bodybuilding staple along with bodyweight in grams of protein, etc..)...So I carry the water jug around with me (1 gallon jug, should aim to finish or almost finish it by day's end.

A blood panel or glucose check may help, or a dietary examination, but then again you're studying that.

Wow thanks for the comments guys.
As for diabetes: Definately not me, I passed out recently (about a week ago) and they checked my blood glucose levels because they thought that might be it and they are completely normal.
As for meds: I'm just on Imuran 200mg a day (I only weigh in at about 145-150 so is that a high dose?) so could be part of meds maybe? I'm not on steroid drugs and haven't ever been so unfortunately thats not is either.
I will ask my doctor when I get a chance. I do see her on thursday this week so I'll have to bring this up. I am going through a good flare right now and sometimes am getting very sick lately so I guess that could be part of it but for example today I've felt pretty good, only gone 4 times today and its been semi-solid which is a nice change however I'm still very thirsty and I just had 2 glasses of milk.
Thanks for the help and input everyone.

I know I am more thirsty in the winter..Just due to the heater running and drying everything out. But it's not a big difference from having to drink a lot of fluids in the summer from the extreme temperatures....HAVE it checked again.

Canuck- those are kinda high levels of Imuran for your body weight. I'm usually between 140-160 and I've never been higher than 150mg a day. I know Benson has been on really high doses though, so I dunno.

I have the same issue! I'm not diabetic. I've been checked three different times. I do tend to get some low blood sugar but keep it under control with diet and exercise. I wake up in the night sometimes two or three times and have to drink water. I also drink a big giant glass of water right before bed. It's not only during the night either. I don't have it all the time though. Seems to come and go. I've tried to monitor my activity and food intake to see if there was a correlation but can't find one. Sometimes I feel I could drink ten oceans of water! Let us know if you find out what this is! My docs look at me like I'm nuts if I mention it. I'd like to add- I never drink fruit juice or anything sugary- only water. Sugary stuff can just make you more thirsty. Do you consume a lot of salt?

I drink gallons, I'm always thirsty. I get through 10-12 pint glasses of water each day, on top of my 4-5 cups of coffee.

I put it down to codeine cotton-mouth, always ready for a glass of water. Imuran doesn't help though. I keep salt and sugar to a minimum as much as I can, but still alway thirsty.

Yeah well for now I'lll keep drinking lots haha. Thanks for the input.

Katiesue-It is a fairly high dose for my weight I think but I'm flaring and have been for a while. I think my GI is trying to use the Imuran to bring me back down without prednisone or anything like that which I said I would not take. I hover around 150lbs, I can get as low as 147 and as high as 153 but very very rarely over the last 2 years have I been outside that range, besides when diagnosed was at a strapping 5'11 130lbs at hockey tryouts haha.

Lifelover-I don't ever add unessecary salt to anything and I think I eat fairly healthy because in general healthier foods make me feel better. I don't think I have an abnormal amount of salt in my diet though.

Thanks for the input everyone though.

crazycanuck, do you have a stoma? as us ostomist have to drink more, and our bodies makee us thirsty so we drink more. we need to drink more as we cant absorb as much fluid.

This is an interesting thread for me because I have been unusually thristy for the past week & was wondering if it was a Crohn's thing. I had a really, really bad episode a week ago...for the first time in 20+ years I threw up. Multiple times, at that. Called my GI in the morning & he wanted me to get over to the ER asap...he was afraid I might have an obstruction. However, we were in the midst of the worst snowstorm in years here (2 feet!), so I talked him into letting me ride out the storm & see if things improve. Things did improve over the next couple of days & I'm feeling pretty much my normal Crohnie self now. Except for the thirst.

I know I probably got dehydrated initially, but I ingested plenty of liquids in the days shortly after this episode. It's been a week now, but I can't seem to get enough to drink. I haven't talked with the doc about the thirst, but I'm just wondering if this episode triggered some change in my system.

yes I do drink a lot all day, and through the night I drink at least half a pint of pop or water, my suger levels are fine, just put it down to CD eggy

Does anyone know if a person can have high blood sugar even if they have been off prednisone for a year or so ? That is what seems to be happening to me. I took prednisone for around 4 years and had normal blood sugars. Now that I'm off of it except for the occasional flare, my blood sugar is going up.
Thanks.

Get checked for diabetes! What's you sugar levels?

If it doesn't turn out to be anything Canuck, I honestly think it's the amount of juice and milk you're consuming, as the juice has sugar (can just make you more thirsty) and the milk has some of that and sodium, so it's not the same as drinking the same volume of water. Other than that, I think it's the disease, to be honest.

I'm on 275 mg of Imuran as a last resort (or that was a last resort until the current GI wanted to try Methotrexate and some other stuff possibly)...So I can't say, but part of what I know of the drug, is that like many drugs, it's dependent upon how your body is metabolizing it. "A lot" for one isn't always "a lot" for another, and weight isn't always the determining factor with metabolizing it.

When I am flaring my GI says absolutely no dairy. You might want to check this out with your GI b/c it could add to your thirst. Especially if the dairy is causing more D. If this is the case then that would explain your thirst.