Does Water Consumption Offset Sodium Intake?

I drink tons of water everyday. I end up walking to the bathroom at least once an hour. Does this process offset eating too much sodium? I know they say that sodium will make you retain water but if you are going and going (more than the Energizer Bunny) can you possibly be retaining water?
If can effectively flush out the sodium with water consumption and you ensure you are getting enough water does sodium really matter?

Sat. Oct 7, 5:29am

this is something i have always wondered as well and i anxiously await the answer! good question!

Saturday, October 7, 2006, 3:19 PM

I can't find any articles that say to drink water to flush out sodium. Everything I've found so far says to reduce your salt intake and increase exercise (to sweat out the sodium). If you can excrete sodium through sweat, you should be able to excrete it in urine, too (by drinking alot) I would think! I'll keep looking. This is an interesting topic.

Here's a link for now:

Link

Saturday, October 7, 2006, 3:58 PM

3:58 poster again. I found a site that says to *avoid* excess fluids to treat edema (water retention)

Link

Saturday, October 7, 2006, 4:00 PM

I drink about 40 oz of coffee in the morning and water throughout the day and I'm in the bathroom every half hour or so. I tend to have to go again soon after I've already gone but I try and wait it out. I know I consume a lot of liquids but I see others drinking a lot too and they are never in the bathroom. When I was younger I had frequent bladder infections, do to holding it all the time I think. Before I go to bed I feel like I have to go but then when I do it's a tiny amount, this happens at least two maybe three times a night. I wonder if I have an abnormally small bladder. This has been going on as long as I can remember.

Saturday, October 7, 2006, 4:42 PM

frequent urination is often a sign of diabetes. I drink a LOT of water as well, but am certainly not in the bathroom every half hour. (In an 8 hour shift, I tend to drink 2L of water, and have a 8oz smoothie- but will urinate 6 times at most and I don't suffer from retention) And when I urinate, it's not a "tinkle".

Saturday, October 7, 2006, 5:25 PM

4:42 - Thank god I am not alone!! You sound just like me.

Sunday, October 8, 2006, 1:19 PM

4:42 poster - I'm the exact same way. And I have had my blood sugar tested for diabetes every year at my physical and I'm not diabetic.

Sunday, October 8, 2006, 2:13 PM

It's 4:42, is there anything we can do about this? I schedule my whole life around how quickly I can get to a bathroom. This got me thinking and I did some searching on it but I didn't find anything. All I found was people who couldn't control it, I'm glad that's not my problem but it would be nice not to have to go so much. I'm in classes a few days a week and in an hour and fifteen min. class I go 2x and once before and after. This is nuts! I feel bad for the people around me. I've been lucky enough to work from home so I don't notice it until I am out of the house. The only positive thing is that I could tell you where every bathroom in every store and restaurant in my city is!
What do you do about it? Did you also have frequent infections?

Sunday, October 8, 2006, 7:10 PM

edema

It would do no good to increase water consumption because it will just cause edema and isn't good for your cardiovascular system. It will raise your blood pressure and your heart has to work harder and the pressure against your blood vessels causes damage and weakness to the linings of the vessel walls. The best thing is to just cut out some sodium from your diet.

Also some sodium gets excreted through urine.

Sunday, October 8, 2006, 7:38 PM

To the 4:42 poster, wow, 40 oz of coffee? That could be part of the problem, that much coffee can make a lot of people go running to the bathroom. But I find myself thinking about my mother who has a tilted uterus thats pushes on her bladder, she goes to the bathroom all the time. Have you ever been told that you could have a tilted uterus?

Monday, October 9, 2006, 2:04 AM

To 7:38
I haven't but thank you. I will be sure and talk to my Doctor about it, the symptoms of it are a lot of what I experience.

Monday, October 9, 2006, 8:42 AM

8 glasses no longer valid

According to the newest news reports, the whole "drink 8 glasses of water per day" is no longer valid! Just drink it when thirsty and more when you're hot and sweating.

Friday, April 4, 2008, 1:27 AM

I have a small bladder....it sucks...I have to pee A LOT! And there is nothing wrong with me...just a small bladder...it was inherited from my mom and grandma

Friday, April 4, 2008, 4:33 PM

The Truth About Sodium

Another myth about sodium...salt in particular. Salt actually makes your body lose water. People who occasionally get gout have learned the hard way. If a person, who is proned to get gout consumes too much sodium... his body loses enough fluid to cause crystals to form around his toe joints...hence gout. Keep your body properly hydrated....and low consumption of sodium......and no gout. Heart patients are told to keep away from sodium because blood becomes less fluid and harder for the heart to pump. Coffee, by the way, is a diuretic...that's why all the trips to the restroom.

Sunday, April 13, 2008, 3:06 PM

There is a book called "Your body's Many Cries for Water". It is an older book, but recently is in reprint...you can order it from watercure.com. There is all info about water. The average person should drink half their bodyweight in ounces...if you are 100lb. then you should comsume 50oz. of water minimally.

The idea that we should only drink when we are thirsty is absurd! By the time we are thirsty it is too late, we are dehydrated.

I urge to go the website and read more about water. 100 years ago we drank nothing BUT water, and our body's are made up of primarily water, so why do we assume that we don't need it?!

This book changed my life, and my relationship to water. As a personal trainer I give this book to each of my clients...

Any feedback after you have read this would be wonderful!

Friday, June 13, 2008, 3:20 PM

Water doesn't Potassium does

If you read down to the last sentence, you'll see that potassium helps offset high sodium intake.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/water_sodium_potassium_intake.htm

Harvard Health Letter reports guidelines about water, sodium, and potassium intake
April 28, 2004

BOSTON , MA.— The May issue of Harvard Health Letter reports on the Institute of Medicine 's (IOM) guidelines, focusing specifically on water, sodium, and potassium. Dr. Kenneth Minaker, a geriatrician at Massachusetts General Hospital and a longtime member of the Health Letter 's editorial board, was a member of the committee that wrote the guidelines.

The article emphasizes the importance of measuring total daily water intake. All the water in beverages and foods, including soft drinks, salads, and fruits and vegetables, should count toward your daily intake. According to the IOM, men should get the equivalent of 15.5 cups of water daily in food and drinks, and women should get 11.5 cups.

The adequate intake of sodium is 1,300 milligrams (mg) for people ages 50–70 and 1,200 mg for those 71 and older. According to Harvard Health Letter, the average American adult consumes 3,000–4,000 mg of sodium daily—well over the recommended value. Processed foods or those high in preservatives should be eaten in moderation in order to reduce sodium intake.

The third nutrient the May issue focuses on is potassium. Guidelines suggest most adults should have 4,700 mg, but surveys show Americans consume 1,000–2,000 mg less than that. Potassium-rich foods include fruits and vegetables like bananas, mushrooms, spinach, and almonds. Potassium helps offset high sodium intake by triggering more sodium excretion by the kidneys.

Friday, June 13, 2008, 4:04 PM

go to a web sight to look up IC you may have that i think i might i pee all the time so much i drives me nuts

Sunday, June 22, 2008, 1:27 PM

Water consumption

Too much water drinking and going to bathroom doesn't mean any problem with you.It means that all the problem are getting solved. Drinking water flushes out the problem from the body.

Link

Monday, November 5, 2012, 1:47 AM

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