Hydration

Hydration is tied with rest for the number one thing that enables me to be partially functional with Long COVID. Like rest, I get sick of medical professionals reminding me to hydrate. Unlike rest, I have a good comeback. When whichever provider I happen to be with starts on the hydration lecture, I cut them off by informing them that I current drink between 1.5 to 2 gallons a day. They respond with “Oh.” Sometimes they then ask about electrolytes and I am armed with a good response there too, as just under 0.5 gallons of my total daily consumption is enhanced with electrolytes.

Despite drinking so much water, electrolytes, and tea daily, sometimes supplemented by juices and sodas, dehydration has been a problem throughout my Long COVID journey. I have learned much about how the body works while trying to address this issue, but mostly I have learned that there are many mysterious and invisible processes our bodies do daily.

For about the first five months of my Long COVID journey, I did not sweat. Throughout that time, all my medical professionals harped on the need to hydrate, which I was doing, but I never felt satisfied with the amount I consumed.

I started measuring my consumption at the end of December (month 2) based on my nutritionist’s guidelines that someone my age and gender should aim for 80 ounces a day. It turned out that I needed to consume 2.5 gallons a day to feel functional. That’s 320 ounces. I asked my nutritionist about the difference between the goal he set and the reality of what I consumed. He responded that my body was clearly using the additional 240 ounces. I still don’t understand what my body did with all the extra fluids as none of it came out as sweat and the amount that came out as urine was equal to that of my pre-Long COVID consumption, which was much closer to 80 ounces.

Sometime around March 2024 (month 5), I started sweating occasionally. Over the course of several weeks, my body’s sweat response seemed to return to normal. Since then, I haven’t noticed any moments where I ought to be sweating and wasn’t. Also, around that time, to my immense relief, I found that I didn’t need 2.5 gallons every day to feel functional anymore. To sip my way through 2.5 gallons a day takes an unsustainable amount of effort.

Except for the weeks following my first major setback last spring when I had to return to 2.5 daily gallons, I have been able to function with variable fluid intake. Sometimes, I’m maintaining between 2 and 2.5 gallons. Other times, between 1.5 and 2 gallons is sufficient. Anytime I fall under 1.5 gallons (192 ounces), my functionality diminishes rapidly.

It is hard work to consume so much. There are times when I just don’t have the energy or motivation to keep it up. Sometimes, when my abdomen is inflamed it feels like there is no room in my body for the fluids, or when my body is fighting a virus on top of Long COVID that it doesn’t have the capacity to process the fluids. And yet, those are times when fluids are even more vital to help the body do whatever it is doing. Eventually, with much concentrated effort, I am able to return to a consumption level above the vital 1.5 gallon threshold to fuel whatever all the invisible processes of my body are.

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Feature image credit: hydration by Amethyst Studio from Noun Project (CC BY 3.0)