Will drinking a lot of water really help my urine flow?

[rockydaydreamer]

I've heard I should drink alot of water when taking adhd meds, but it seems a bit counterproductive (maybe it's because I'm afraid it's going to hurt).

[Fuzzy12]

yes. Though it can differ from person to person and also depends on if you have any other medical condition. I drink quite a bit of water and i keep running to the toilet every two hours. I think though 2-3 litres should be enough. Why do you think it mig be counter productive?

[rockydaydreamer]

I tend to have UTIs.. I think it might be that I always forget to stay hydrated that causes me to have problems... Sometimes I have urinary retention even while off the medication too and I will feel pain before or after voiding. Sometimes that pain makes me afraid of peeing and alot of water would mean peeing often... I often carry Tynenol with me too..

...I probably worry too much. I'm trying my medication again this time and will try to drink alot of water.. (I just got the meds two days ago and I took a break for one day)... If problems still persist, I'm going to ask my doctor for something for the urinary retention and tightness I feel there... I'm not sure if what I would need is Flomax or Urecholine.. hmm... I think I might even switch from my Ritalin back to Strattera if I get something for this urination problem because I think it worked better than the Ritalin... but it might be too early to say...

lol, there I go rambling again

[alan1]

I don't know about drinking water with stimulants but with the nonstimulant Strattera which is very acidic and if you dn't drink lots of water with it you can get heartburn. It is also why you don't want to break open a Strattera capsule to change the dose. If you get some on your fingers then accidentally touch your eye you can burn the cornea. Strattera can also definitely make it harder to urinate.

As for how much water, I drink about 1 1/2 glasses (maybe 12 oz). Drinking 3 liters at once seems like an awful lot to drink at one sitting. Too much water can mess up your electrolyte balance. It dilutes the amount of sodium (hyponatremia) available in your bloodstream which can, among other things, cause a potentially fatal, irregular heartbeat.

[sarahsweets]

Originally Posted by rockydaydreamer

I tend to have UTIs.. I think it might be that I always forget to stay hydrated that causes me to have problems... Sometimes I have urinary retention even while off the medication too and I will feel pain before or after voiding. Sometimes that pain makes me afraid of peeing and alot of water would mean peeing often... I often carry Tynenol with me too..

...I probably worry too much. I'm trying my medication again this time and will try to drink alot of water.. (I just got the meds two days ago and I took a break for one day)... If problems still persist, I'm going to ask my doctor for something for the urinary retention and tightness I feel there... I'm not sure if what I would need is Flomax or Urecholine.. hmm... I think I might even switch from my Ritalin back to Strattera if I get something for this urination problem because I think it worked better than the Ritalin... but it might be too early to say...

lol, there I go rambling again

For some reason water is hard for me to get down but as a preventative measure I drink cranberry juice and it seems to hold off the UTI's

[rockydaydreamer]

Originally Posted by sarahsweets

For some reason water is hard for me to get down but as a preventative measure I drink cranberry juice and it seems to hold off the UTI's

Yeah, I actually drink cranberry all the time, sometimes even right before urinating (it makes me feel more confident to urinate)...

[purpleToes]

You don't need to go overboard on the water. In general, if you're drinking enougn to have colorless or lightly colored urine, you're drinking enough. (B vitamins and multivitamins containing B vitamins will turn your urine bright yellow for a while). Drinking very excessive amounts of water can deplete the body of electolytes and minerals.

I suspect the notion of needing to drink tons of water comes from the fact that people sometimes experience dry mouth with amphetamines, which is perceived as dehydration but may really only be the one of the physiological effects of increased norepinephrine.

Norepinephrine is also responsible for side effects such as increased heart rate, sweating, appetite suppression, and thirst suppression (think fight-or-flight).

Due to thirst suppression, there is a tendency to drink too little with amphetamines, and this in itself can lead to dehydration. However, to counteract this, logic dictates you only need to drink a normal amount of water or other fluids, not extra.

(Incidentally, the necessity of six-to-eight eight ounce glasses of water daily is controversial, but that's probably for another thread.)

[rockydaydreamer]

I've noticed I don't really need to drink too much water and Ritalin isn't continuing to give me urine flow problems anymore. Maybe what I experienced the first day was related to something else or it just took a while for my body to get used to the medication (I don't know).

[Drewbacca]

Originally Posted by alan1

I don't know about drinking water with stimulants but with the nonstimulant Strattera which is very acidic and if you dn't drink lots of water with it you can get heartburn. It is also why you don't want to break open a Strattera capsule to change the dose. If you get some on your fingers then accidentally touch your eye you can burn the cornea.

WTF are you talking about?

[Drewbacca]

Originally Posted by purpleToes

I suspect the notion of needing to drink tons of water comes from the fact that people sometimes experience dry mouth with amphetamines, which is perceived as dehydration but may really only be the one of the physiological effects of increased norepinephrine.

You mean dopamine? Where are you coming up with norepinephrine from? Are you referring to the cascading effect, or are you misspeaking? Referring to Strattera instead of Ritalin?

Amphetamines do dehydrate some people.
Hypo- and hyperkalaemia have been reported. Dehydration is common.
http://www.inchem.org/documents/pims/pharm/pimg009.htm

Dehydration is common.
http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/si...rm+@DOCNO+3287

I can only speak for myself, but if I don't drink enough water while taking adderall I will have both hyposalivation and diarrhea.

[itsanADHDthing]

i get kidney stones. the more water the better. not to the point of water poisoning but as much as you can wont hurt

[Drewbacca]

Originally Posted by Drewbacca

WTF are you talking about?

I just want to clarify a few things now, before I forget about this thread.

First off, Strattera is not acidic, it is a pH neutral salt, pH = 7. Such salts are common in medicine and are known as hydrochlorides and are designated by HCL or by including hydrochloride as a suffix to the chemical name of the medication i.e. STRATTERA® (atomoxetine hydrochloride) .

Second, I just provided a link to the prescribing information for Strattera. If you can't find a claim about the drug on that sheet, than you are most likely misinformed concerning how it interacts in your body.
You are correct in saying that if you digest an acid, it will result in reflux but a) Strattera (or Ritalin, or Adderall, or Dex, etc.) are all pH neutral and b) even if they were acidic (they are not), the concentration of acid in a pill is not enough to change the pH of your stomach and cause reflux. If a pill could cause reflux, there would be warnings on vitamin C (ascorbic acid) tablets. c) you stomach pH is between three and five; it would take a strong acid to make it more acidic.

Third: "STRATTERA capsules are not intended to be opened, they should be taken whole." http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsa...411s039lbl.pdf Not because the medicine is acidic (because it isn't) but because the chemical combination is a known irritant and will be difficult to swallow if opened. It will cause an uncomfortable burning sensation and nausea. However, the Children's Hospital of Minnesota says that you can open the capsule if the patient has difficulty swallowing it whole.

No pharmacist will tell you that you can open the capsule, however, because it is clearly worded in the paperwork that you shouldn't open it. Do not chew, crush, or open the capsules. Swallow STRATTERA capsules whole with water or other liquids. Tell your doctor if you or your child cannot swallow STRATTERA whole. A different medicine
may need to be prescribed. http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/D.../ucm089138.pdf

Regardless, you should never take a dosage other than what is prescribed. Gel-caps are not meant to be split. If they are opened at all, it is for ease of digestion, not to redistribute the contents of the pill. In the case of Straterra, it would be easier to swallow it whole than deal with the burning sensation and nausea from opening it.

Burn the cornea? It will cause uncomfortable burning and the eyes should be flushed right away but you make it sound like it's going to burn a hole in the eyeball. Again, Strattera is a known ocular irritant (but it will not cause an alkali or acid burn as it is pH neutral). From the above link:
Avoid touching a broken STRATTERA capsule. Wash hands and surfaces that touched an open STRATTERA capsule. If any of the powder gets in your eyes or your child’s eyes, rinse them with water right away and call your doctor. or as the other link states it: STRATTERA is an ocular irritant. STRATTERA capsules are not intended to be opened. In the event of capsule content
coming in contact with the eye, the affected eye should be flushed immediately with water, and medical advice obtained. Hands and
any potentially contaminated surfaces should be washed as soon as possible.

If you know something that I don't, please let me know. I've actually learned some new things researching this issue tonight. Perhaps I misunderstood your intent, but I was left with the impression that you don't quite grasp what you are saying. Perhaps I'm the one missing something?

~Drew

[purpleToes]

Originally Posted by Drewbacca

You mean dopamine? Where are you coming up with norepinephrine from? Are you referring to the cascading effect, or are you misspeaking? Referring to Strattera instead of Ritalin?

Amphetamines do dehydrate some people.
Hypo- and hyperkalaemia have been reported. Dehydration is common.
http://www.inchem.org/documents/pims/pharm/pimg009.htm

Dehydration is common.
http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/si...rm+@DOCNO+3287

I can only speak for myself, but if I don't drink enough water while taking adderall I will have both hyposalivation and diarrhea.

No, dopamine doesn't have those effects. I don't know whether Strattera or Ritalin increase norepinephrine levels, but I was talking about amphetamines, which do. It's not controversial. Maybe you were thrown off by thinking I meant that was amphetamines' primary action, since we're used to thinking of ADHD as a dopamine problem.

(OK, I'll admit when I wrote the post, I was hazy on the details of how norepinephrine in the brain caused dry mouth outside the brain, since it doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier. I've been researching it and can safely say amphetamines cause the release of norepinephrine at the site of sympathetic nerve endings in peripheral (body) tissues, including the salivary glands. The sympathetic effect on salivary glands is to slow or stop producing saliva. There must be another pathway involving norepinephrine in the brain, like when your mouth goes dry in stress situations, but I haven't gotten that far yet.)

Also, please re-read my post. I didn't say dehydration doesn't occur with amphetamines. I said that dehydration can occur as a result of inadequate intake of water due to thirst suppression (and, I should have added, appetite suppression, since many foods contain a significant amount of water as well), which isn't contradicted in either of the articles you linked. (One appears to be a reprint of the other.)

I also noted, in that article, dehydration was mentioned in the context of amphetamine toxicity, on a website dedicated to chemical safety. It's not clear, in that context, whether "Dehydration is common" means for all users, or relative to other reports of toxic side effects.

I haven't ever found a journal article that finds amphetamines to be a diuretic at therapeutic doses, although I once found a very old one that mentioned no diuretic effect was found. So I'm not persuaded that amphetamines at therapeutic doses cause significant fluid loss. You don't need to replace fluids you're not losing. Though if you're eating less on amphetamines, you might need to drink more to compensate for water you would otherwise be consuming in food.

I've already covered dry mouth. It doesn't surprise me that drinking fluids gives you relief because it moistens your mouth. I'll bet even if you don't drink extra water, after the stims wear off your mouth won't be dry anymore. Diarrhea is a known side effect of amphetamines and is a cause, not an effect of dehydration. It's interesting though, that you've found drinking water prevents the diarrhea and I'm curious what the reason could be.

[spunkysmum]

Originally Posted by rockydaydreamer

I tend to have UTIs.. I think it might be that I always forget to stay hydrated that causes me to have problems... Sometimes I have urinary retention even while off the medication too and I will feel pain before or after voiding. Sometimes that pain makes me afraid of peeing and alot of water would mean peeing often... I often carry Tynenol with me too..

...I probably worry too much. I'm trying my medication again this time and will try to drink alot of water.. (I just got the meds two days ago and I took a break for one day)... If problems still persist, I'm going to ask my doctor for something for the urinary retention and tightness I feel there... I'm not sure if what I would need is Flomax or Urecholine.. hmm... I think I might even switch from my Ritalin back to Strattera if I get something for this urination problem because I think it worked better than the Ritalin... but it might be too early to say...

lol, there I go rambling again

From what I understand, drinking a lot of (good quality) water is one of the best things a person with a tendency to UTIs can do.

[spunkysmum]

Originally Posted by purpleToes

t
Also, please re-read my post. I didn't say dehydration doesn't occur with amphetamines. I said that dehydration can occur as a result of inadequate intake of water due to thirst suppression (and, I should have added, appetite suppression, since many foods contain a significant amount of water as well), which isn't contradicted in either of the articles you linked. (One appears to be a reprint of the other.)


I've already covered dry mouth. It doesn't surprise me that drinking fluids gives you relief because it moistens your mouth. I'll bet even if you don't drink extra water, after the stims wear off your mouth won't be dry anymore. Diarrhea is a known side effect of amphetamines and is a cause, not an effect of dehydration. It's interesting though, that you've found drinking water prevents the diarrhea and I'm curious what the reason could be.

Hunger suppression, I get, but I've never to the best of my knowledge experienced thirst suppression on Adderall. Far from it, lately. I have a raging thirst all day long especially when working. I'm not allowed to have a drink next to me at work and have to go into a back room when I want to drink something. Every time I have to ring up a drink for a customer I want to take it for myself. I thirst to such an extent that it seems more like hunger for liquid than thirst.

Have also never experienced diarrhea on Adderall, though sometimes I wish I would. Life with chronic constipation isn't a walk in the park, LOL/