dehydration while cruising causes conspitation

[ekenna]

Sorry if the topic offends but I have a real problem with this. When ever we are sailing on the boat I always get a dry mouth. Even though I try to drink a lot of water. I think it has a lot to do with that fact that the wind is blowing. Do other people experience this? do you have any ideas? My bowel habits are touchy as it is and I already take metamucil daily but after 1 or 2 days I am conspitated and we are planning a 2 week cruise shortly. I need a solution.

[kd3pc]

water, plenty of it, cut the caffeine and alcohol out.
fresh veggies, fresh fruits and whole grain breads and fiber rich snacks..not the processed stuff

should do well...

[ekenna]

I do not drink alcohol, coffee, or soda only water. and I like granola bars but I have found I need to drink a lot of water with them. I am lite on the veggies and fruits.

[eryka]

I find that water alone doesn't do it and make sure to keep electrolytes (salt) in balance too. That helps you retain the water; don't know if that would assist your system. We like to mix Gatorade about 1/2 strength and sip on a bottle of it all day. If you aren't peeing about every couple of hours (distracting though that may be!) you may still not be getting enough water.

[jackdale]

The wind and the sun reflecting off the water and sails will dehyrdate you quickly. You are also probably eating a slightly different diet. I might suggest yogurt. On my three trips to Turkey, yogurt with honey and nuts was a staple for breakfast. That combined with a rule that anytime that anyone went below they came back with water resulted in a healthy crew. Adding iced tea mix or a powdered gastrolyte to the water helps with the flavour. Increasing your fibre intake, as mentioned earlier, will also help.

I also recommend to my crews that they check their urine after using the head. If it starts to smell and gets darker, you are dehydrating. Severe dehydration can be checked with a skin tent test on the back of your hand.

[sailor50]

I find hard candies help to salivate the mouth, then you have to drink water to get the sugar off the teeth. Serves two purposes.

[wind_magic]

Beans and rice!

Try it tonight, just go out and get yourself some beans and some rice and eat them.

You'll know by tomorrow if it is going to work.

[Michael K]

Is that why you call yourself Wind Magic?

[jgeissinger]

You take a laxative every day and wonder why you're dehydrated!? You wonder why you get constipated if you don't take it or do anything physical or outdoors? You are physically dependent on the Metamucil, which is a laxative not meant for continuous use, not just a fiber. You need medical advice, not sailing advice.

[ekenna]

While I do not deny your claim about being adicted to metamucil I think there is something else going on here. (BTW my doctor recommended the metamucil). My understanding is you are supposed to drink 2 liters of water a day. Well I just checked and the bottled water we were drinking is .5 liter a bottle. On memorial day from 6:45 am (woke up) to about 3 pm (left the boat) I downed 4 of these which is 2 liters. I think I downed 4 the down before from 11 am (when we got on the boat) to about 9:00 pm (when we went to sleep) I had additional water once we got home around 6 but clearly the 2 liters was not enough.

I think wind is a factor. Heat is another is was in the 90s on memorial day. Wind's evaporative effect is well documented and high heat would cause more perspiration. So maybe the guideline needs to be something like add 1 liter per 10 degrees over 70F and 1 liter per 5 knots above 10?