Drinking plenty of water is recommended by all doctors. However, if you have an uncontrollable urge to drink too much, it could possibly due to a physical or mental disorder, and needs looking into. Excessive thirst could be an indication of high blood sugar and is consequently essential in the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus.
Excessive thirst is a sensation of always wanting to drink fluids. Thirst is a signal that is set off by the body encouraging him to drink water to gratify a dry sensation in the throat and mouth. Profuse sweating, vomiting and excessive urination are known to make you remove more water from the body than you take in; thereby, resulting in dehydration and making you exceedingly thirsty. Extreme thirst, experienced without any notable cause, is medically known as polydipsia.
Causes Of Excessive Thirst
Common causes for the feeling of extreme thirst include:
- A very salty or spicy meal.
- Diabetes mellitus or Diabetes insipidus.
- Too much bleeding which results in a large reduction in the blood volume.
- Certain drugs and medications, such as, diuretics, anti-cholinergics, demeclocycline, pheno-thiazines.
- Loss of body fluids because of vomiting, diarrhea or undue sweating.
- Loss of water from the body because of burns, infections, heart, liver, or kidney failure.
- Psychogenic polydipsia – a mental illness.
Natural Remedies To Deal With Excessive Thirst
- Thirst is the body’s sign to supplant water that is lost, hence, it is required that you drink plenty of fluids.
- In case you have been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus; you need to confer with your health care provider, follow his diet chart and make sure you take the medications to maintain normal blood glucose level.
- If an activity is responsible for excessive thirst, you need to make sure you are well hydrated.
- Consuming spicy or hot foods also make you exceedingly thirsty; thus you don’t need to get worried.
- Adjust the amount of water you drink according to your physical activity and surroundings. When in warm, dry surroundings, or taking part in strenuous activity, increase your fluid intake.
- Watch how much water you drink per day. You ought to drink 10 to 12 glasses daily. If you fall short of this, you may feel very thirsty.
- You can also take lime juice with lukewarm water and honey; it helps battles extreme thirst. Some experts also recommend adding a pinch of rock salt. Limes and lemons put a stop to the loss of body fluids, thereby permitting the body to preserve liquids and manage excessive thirst.
- Another option that is very frequently advocated is to add honey to tomato juice. Drink this blend every day for 7 – 8 days to satisfy the extreme thirst.
- Diabetes insipidus is another hormone-triggered condition which sets off a very strong urge to drink a lot of water. You need to talk to your doctor deal with the condition effectively.
- Infections, diarrhea, vomiting and burns need appropriate treatment and handling.
- Check with your doctor if the excessive thirst still persists, and cannot be quenched. He may order a few tests and investigations to understand and establish the precise cause of the problem, so that prompt treatment can be started.
- In case it is a psychological disorder, you need to determine the cause and triggering factor and deal with it successfully. Counseling and behavioral therapy will yield good results.