At the onset of an evening flare I have been drinking an 8 oz glass of water and have noticed significant reduction or complete elimination of the flare within 10 - 15 minutes.
Also, if I drink the additional 8 oz of water after dinner (usually 1 glass of H2O at dinner) as a preventative, I get no flare at all, or if it does flare, it is barely noticeable.
Has anyone else experienced or duplicated this?
I have not, but definetly will be trying this TONIGHT !!!
Thanks for the tip
Me too. Will DEFINITELY try this. Hope it doesn't work just for evening flares. I get them after being on my feet shopping, etc. Have you tried during the day??
Yes - helps any time that I get a flare, but is more effective for flares after meals. Possibly because of body chemistry changes that trigger EM symptoms.
Lynee said:
Me too. Will DEFINITELY try this. Hope it doesn't work just for evening flares. I get them after being on my feet shopping, etc. Have you tried during the day??
I drink water all day long and it does not seem to have any effect on EM flares. I will make a specific effort to drink down at least 8oz as you suggest and see if there is any change.
Thanks for the idea!
Deni
Deni, you may consider drinking a little less water during other times of the day and drinking more when you have an EM flare or 30 minutes after a meal, as I am now doing. You can keep the total amount of water that you drink the same, just drink more in response to the flares or after a meal as a preventative.
My hypothesis is that flares may come as a response to body chemistry changes from meals. Perhaps there is an increase in sodium/blood concentration or an increase in acidity, or some other body chemistry change that triggers flares. The additional water may be counteracting that in some fashion.
Deni Winter Breitenbach said:
I drink water all day long and it does not seem to have any effect on EM flares. I will make a specific effort to drink down at least 8oz as you suggest and see if there is any change.
Thanks for the idea!
Deni
Does anybody have lymphadema in their lower legs? I have it and now although my legs
are less swollen, they are leaking clear lymph fluid in puddles around my feet.
I do not know if I need more water or less. Any sggts?
Sweetpea - that sounds like a serious condition for only your doctors to give an opinion on.
Don
Sweetpea said:
Does anybody have lymphadema in their lower legs? I have it and now although my legs
are less swollen, they are leaking clear lymph fluid in puddles around my feet.
I do not know if I need more water or less. Any sggts?
Something to consider. I will "play around" with it and see if I notice any difference.
I’m now pouring a glass to see if it helps. Great tip, lets hope it works for us all.
Very interesting. I've increased my water intake in an attempt to lose weight but haven't noticed a difference in the flares. Do you know if your EM is primary or secondary? I will try the water regiment you describe. That is wonderful for you, that such a simple thing is having such a marked effect!!!
I have primary EM.
I believe that many EM symptoms are due to the "rate of change" of heat, physical activity or chemicals (food) and the nervous system's overreaction to that change. So, my theory is that after eating a meal, our body chemistry is rapidly changing to incorporate the nutrients. By increasing water intake in conjunction with a meal or just after it, the water could be essentially "diluting" body chemistry changes as a result of the meal, thereby reducing the "rate of change" which triggers symptoms.
That is not how my flares develop. I can just be sitting and my feet will flare... without eating or doing any activity. I can get up and go to my computer and after sitting with my feet down for any period of time they will flare.
I do sewing and crafts so when I stand or sit for a period of time my feet will flare.
I have not noticed any difference with the water as you suggested.
Deni
My flares start with walking or standing on my feet for a while ESP if it's warm. I'll try the water too but doubt it will work as I drink a lot of water anyway. Worth a try!!
I have been wanting to increase my water in-take. i will have to see if it results in any less flares. It seems like mine tend to be more frequent with this cooler weather setting in. It has always baffled me why that is the case if it is also triggered by being too hot.
Karen
Yes, on days when I consume more water than I usually do, I find a slight difference in my condition, especially with the post meal flares.
I drink quite a bit of water with no change in symptoms but will generally will have more evening flares if I have been on my feet more that day. I guess out can just vary so much with each person, which is why it is difficult to treat.
I call the summer flares ‘warm-up’ flares - when I have become too warm by reason of exertion or the temperature, and winter flares ‘reactive flares’ which come out of the blue when the temperature gets lower, burn more and are much harder to cool down from. I haven’t noticed any improvement if I drink more sadly. Baffled is the right word for it.
I have been wanting to increase my water in-take. i will have to see if it results in any less flares. It seems like mine tend to be more frequent with this cooler weather setting in. It has always baffled me why that is the case if it is also triggered by being too hot.
Karen
Water does help with my postural orthostatic tachycardia, and treating that has helped my EM. So it makes sense to me. But my understanding is that drinking more increases blood volume and thereby helps with circulation so that blood is less likely to pool in my lower extremeties.
Drinking more water increases blood volume and helps with blood circulation - that makes sense.
Tullilou said:
Water does help with my postural orthostatic tachycardia, and treating that has helped my EM. So it makes sense to me. But my understanding is that drinking more increases blood volume and thereby helps with circulation so that blood is less likely to pool in my lower extremeties.