Dry mouth - feeling dehydrated, but water doesn't help - PaleoHacks.com

Dry mouth - feeling dehydrated, but water doesn't help

2010-10-17T02:30:32Z

I noticed a few other posts on this, but has anyone found a solution for the weirdly dry mouth on strict paleo? Even my lips feel like they are cracking. No amount of extra water seems to help. Am I missing something important? I've been eating plenty of fat/oils.

Answer by Tom R. for Dry mouth - feeling dehydrated, but water doesn't help

2010-10-17T03:12:17Z

When I notice I am the most thirsty is when I have not paid enough attention to drinking water throughout the day after a good CF workout. I think looking toward a Paleo diet is a little bit of over-analysis. If you feel like you are dry or thirsty, then you are probably dehydrated. Drink more water.

Answer by ScottMGS for Dry mouth - feeling dehydrated, but water doesn't help

2010-10-17T04:00:45Z

Are you a recent Paleo convert? Diabetic? It could be that you're still adapting.

Answer by Girl Gone Primal for Dry mouth - feeling dehydrated, but water doesn't help

2010-10-17T05:09:02Z

What's your version of 'plenty' of fats? I know immediately when I haven't had enough dietary fat: my skin feels dry and tight - on my face, hands, lips, and inside my mouth. I also upped my sodium and water intake to help stay hydrated, and that has worked well. When I hit about 150g fat per day, my skin is pretty happy.

I also used to be on a medication that caused dry mouth, and I found that my old toothpaste left me the same way. Are there any substances you're using now that you weren't before?

Answer by Luming Zhou for Dry mouth - feeling dehydrated, but water doesn't help

2010-10-17T05:19:13Z

I used urinate so much at night that I have to drink so much at night. I think it's typical of reactive hypoglycemics. I think it's due to an electrolyte imbalance from excess cortisol secretion during hypoglycemia.

Cortisol causes sodium retention and potassium loss within the small intestine.

For example, I get thirsty two or three hours after my dinner time. Starting from that time, I would drink water all night and urinate all night.

I think fruit or fruit juice will help. Because of the potassium content. It helped me.

In fact, I once got water poisoning from drinking so much water at night. See my blog for more info.

But I think it's important to get a balance of electrolytes. For example, I can't eat salty food by itself because I will get very thirsty and urinate too much right after and/or have kidney pain. But I don't have a problem eating a meal with a balance of electrolytes.

Even if I get thirsty after a balanced meal, I won't drink plain water. Drinking plain water will make me even more thirsty.

Drinking fruit juice solves the problem. I think fruit juice contains potassium; which is important when the small intestine is excreting potassium due to excess cortisol. Drinking fruit juice or at least water with juice from a squeezed citrus fruit helps me if I ran out of fruit juice.

How do you know that you have too much sodium in your body? If you didn't do any test, then how do you know? Each individual is different, so the cause of dehydration may be different.

Restricting sodium may be deadly if you have Addison's disease, for example. However, eating a normal amount of sodium may be excessive on the kidneys for someone with Cushing's syndrome.

For me, I think it's due to reactive hypoglycemia. But for you, I think you need time to adjust because you may be hypoglycemic from too much insulin and/or not enough carbs.

Answer by David Moss for Dry mouth - feeling dehydrated, but water doesn't help

2010-10-17T06:22:22Z

I had (and occasionally still do have) this, to the extent of drinking about 3L of water at night and more during the day. The main possible culprits seem to be: excess protein and/or low carbohydrate (increasing dieuresis) or electrolye imbalance, as others have suggested. While extra protein can exacerbate the problem, reducing it doesn't seem to do much to resolve it (I tend to keep around 1.5g/kg). I definitely don't get enough potassium as a rule (although I tend to get substantial amounts of salt only very infrequently), so it's difficult to tell if this is a factor. Carbohydrate seems to be the main factor and the problem is reduced now that I'm eating a small sweet potato most days. It's difficult to discern though, since I find you can't just switch the problem on/off instantly, since after a period of higher water intake/excretion, your kidneys will adapt and so make you thirsty such that you drink up to the expected level of liquid. Following on from Luming Zhou's point about cortisol, cortisol and so stress in general can make you thirstier by giving you a dry mouth and increasing dieuresis. Certainly I find that stress, caffeine or tannins (coffee, tea, cocoa) instantly make me need more water.

Answer by ben61820 for Dry mouth - feeling dehydrated, but water doesn't help

2010-10-17T14:08:28Z

Could it be just too much salt?

I only ask this because when i was first on paleo i was using a lot of salt. A lot. In addition i was shooting for ketosis most of the time so i would sometimes think, wrong though i was, that i should drink less water. This combination led to me feeling always thirsty. Unquenchably so.

Anyway, i just cut back my silly level of salt usage, drink things like bone broth more often (which i believe may have some hydrating-capabilities that are still being discovered), keep hydrated and im fine now.

Answer by Lindy for Dry mouth - feeling dehydrated, but water doesn't help

2010-10-17T17:40:49Z

Thanks for so many thoughtful responses. I'm going to do the following: (1) cut back on adding any salt, (2) go without the bacon/sausage for a few days, (3) cut back on dried fruits (they're dehydrated, after all!), and (4) if I'm still having issues, I'll add a sweet potato in the mix. Bone broth is a good idea too!

I greatly appreciate this forum for troubleshooting. As Loren Cordain recently mentioned, there's been no controlled trial of this diet for those with autoimmune, but I'm willing to be a guinea pig for those with ankylosing spondylitis (inflammation in the spinal cord). I'll post results later.