WaterFull
April 9th 2009 08:34
A friend of mine who had the same prostate op as I did (the oddly named: TURP - the op, that is, not my friend) told me the other day that he now drinks more than he used to in the past. And so do I, but not enough apparently. I'm currently fighting off another urinary tract infection (UTI). It came out of nowhere yesterday, and, while it didn't lay me completely low, it certainly showed up those unpleasant symptoms that I remember from the December to February period. In other words, more frequent need to urinate, queasy stomach, pain around the area where the prostate lives and some other niggles as well. Plus a lack of energy.
Fortunately, this time, I got onto it more quickly, and had the antibiotics to hand within a few hours. As a result, even though I started out today feeling under par, I managed to work through the full day, instead of having to take yet more time off. (I was off yesterday afternoon, when the symptoms showed their true colours.)
Anyway, the odd thing about all this fluid intake is that before I had the biopsy last year, my usual day would consist of a few cups of coffee, or maybe tea, and the occasional glass of water. And I was well. Healthy.
During my catheter period I was required to drink and drink in order to keep flushing the
liquid through (I suggested a more economical alternative would be just to pour a few litres of water down the toilet each day), and after the op I was supposed to drink great quantities of water for the same reason. My bladder isn't greatly impressed by this, since, as I said above, my normal fluid intake has been fairly mild.
Anyway, in conversation with one of the nurses from the Health Centre today, I was told that I should have been drinking a lot more in the past - water, that is, or other (non-alcoholic) fluids. Seemingly a lack of water affects blood pressure (though I don't suffer from high blood pressure), kidney cleansing, bladder cleaning, heart (no heart problems either) and anything else pretty much that you can think of. Which ought to mean that I should have been half-dead by November last year, not hale and hearty.
Anyway, if the only way of avoiding UTIs is to drink more, I guess I'll have to. Up to a couple of drink bottles worth a day. At least the nurse and I agree on the sense of not drinking much late in the day - she advised drinking most of my needed fluid intake during the morning (which is pretty much what I thought I was doing) and slackening off as the day grows older. Then, at least, I shouldn't spend half the night getting up to go to the loo. (The irony here is that I'm still getting up more in the night now that I've had the prostate op than I was before I had it!) My bladder still hasn't got the message: it's living in the past, poor thing, at a time when it dealt with a moderate fluid intake; not this seemingly endless stream.
Vaguely apropos of all this, I've just been reading about HGH. (Thought I might as well introduce as many acronyms as possible into this post.) HGH is human growth hormone, and is apparently the flavour-of-the-month life-enhancer for people over the age of 40: all those who think that somehow they're going to live forever if they take some artificial supplement to keep them on their toes.
If the nurse is right, all they really need is water, and lots of it. (I'm now off for another guzzle.)
The photo of the glass of water is by Tim Purdue.
Fortunately, this time, I got onto it more quickly, and had the antibiotics to hand within a few hours. As a result, even though I started out today feeling under par, I managed to work through the full day, instead of having to take yet more time off. (I was off yesterday afternoon, when the symptoms showed their true colours.)
Anyway, the odd thing about all this fluid intake is that before I had the biopsy last year, my usual day would consist of a few cups of coffee, or maybe tea, and the occasional glass of water. And I was well. Healthy.
During my catheter period I was required to drink and drink in order to keep flushing the
Anyway, in conversation with one of the nurses from the Health Centre today, I was told that I should have been drinking a lot more in the past - water, that is, or other (non-alcoholic) fluids. Seemingly a lack of water affects blood pressure (though I don't suffer from high blood pressure), kidney cleansing, bladder cleaning, heart (no heart problems either) and anything else pretty much that you can think of. Which ought to mean that I should have been half-dead by November last year, not hale and hearty.
Anyway, if the only way of avoiding UTIs is to drink more, I guess I'll have to. Up to a couple of drink bottles worth a day. At least the nurse and I agree on the sense of not drinking much late in the day - she advised drinking most of my needed fluid intake during the morning (which is pretty much what I thought I was doing) and slackening off as the day grows older. Then, at least, I shouldn't spend half the night getting up to go to the loo. (The irony here is that I'm still getting up more in the night now that I've had the prostate op than I was before I had it!) My bladder still hasn't got the message: it's living in the past, poor thing, at a time when it dealt with a moderate fluid intake; not this seemingly endless stream.
Vaguely apropos of all this, I've just been reading about HGH. (Thought I might as well introduce as many acronyms as possible into this post.) HGH is human growth hormone, and is apparently the flavour-of-the-month life-enhancer for people over the age of 40: all those who think that somehow they're going to live forever if they take some artificial supplement to keep them on their toes.
If the nurse is right, all they really need is water, and lots of it. (I'm now off for another guzzle.)
The photo of the glass of water is by Tim Purdue.
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