Drinking water: good or bad (Part 2).

When my wife landed in hospital with Cushing Syndrome, her body fluids seemed to increase. So, doctors gave her pills to encourage the body to get rid of the fluids through urination. With a lot of water lost from the body in the process, a lot of minerals were lost too, exiting the body together with the urine.

One day, a doctor rushed to me and told me that my wife's body lacked potassium and needed potassium rich food. He suggested getting bananas and beef soup. I rushed out for the food. Upon my return, I was told that she had been injected with potassium as there was the danger of her heart stopping.

So, when lots of fluid is lost, many nutrients could also be lost. This could lead to dehydration and other problems such as the possibility of the heart stopping. That was when I learned the importance of having sufficient potassium in our bodies.I also learned that when too much fluid is leaving the body I have to be careful.

On further thought, could the loss of fluid from our bodies during sports bring problems? I have read and heard of long distance runners who have collapsed and died. Were these people dead because of the loss of potassium from their body? Did their heart stop because of that? Or was it dehydration? These are pertinent questions as these people who died were very fit, very healthy individuals.
I thought the knowledge on taking eight to ten glasses of water each day was excellent for health until I read in a newspaper about the person who collapsed because he drank too much water.

According to the report, he thought drinking a lot of water was good for his body. So that was what he did. Perhaps, here is a case of a little knowledge can be dangerous. He did not realise that excessive water intake would mean a constant need to drain the surplus amount. Each time he had to urinate, and it was so much more often for him because of so much water taken, more and more of the important nutrients such as the electrolytes were being drained from the body too. Here is. I believe, a case of lost potassium resulting in a lack of it.

Well, water is good for us, for the health of our body, our skin, our kidneys, our bladder and for losing weight. But like all good things, do not take it to excess. When our body has to remove excess, some nutrients are lost too and that loss could be fatal unless we know the need to supplement what our body lacks.