This has been happening to me for as long as I can remember, I seem to be constantly waking up in the middle of the night feeling very thirsty and it leaves me feeling tired during the day. I don’t have a problem with thirst during the day and it doesn’t matter if I drink 1 litre or 10 litres during the day I still wake up just the same. I assume I am sleeping with my mouth open which is causing it to dry out but should this really be enough to require me to wake up and swig water?
Is there anything I can do to help the situation? My diet is very healthy, I don’t have much salt at all and like I said the amount of water I consume during the day has no bearing on how often I wake up.
There was an episode of House where this was given as a symptom of Diabetes Insipidus. The patient thought she had OCD because she sipped water all the time and had to get up frequently in the middle of the night to drink more. House pointed out that you can’t have compulsions while sleeping, and diagnosed her with that.
I personally had similar symptoms when an illness was impairing my liver function (it got better). Freakishly dry mouth in the middle of the night, but barely noticeable during the day.
If you’re breathing through your mouth when asleep, then yes, that could be the problem. Is there a reason (e.g. allergies) why your nasal passages might be blocked when you’re asleep?
I’ve done this all my life, to varying degrees. Some nights, I go through 16 ounces, some nights I have to refill my 1.5 liter bottle, and almost finish the second fill. It’s worse when I drink alcohol. I was worried about diabetes, but recent blood work was clear. I definitely sleep mouth-open.
House and leahcim may be on to something. Please see a doctor, or failing that, go buy a blood glucose meter and check your glucose level next time you experience unexplained thirst. Then, if the measure is over 125 mg/dL, go see a doctor for sure.
Diabetes mellitus (what you usually think of as diabetes) is UNRELATED to diabetes insipidus, the suggestion made above. Both conditions result in changes in urine, which led to their naming back in ancient Greece, but one has to do with problems in how the body processes sugar (and leads to sweet-tasting, sugary urine, hence ‘mellitus,’ meaning honey), and the other with lacking the hormone that makes the kidneys hold on to water as they’re filtering blood (leading to really dilute, insipid urine). Both, however, can make you really thirsty, and it’s probably worthwhile being checked for both.
And there are a number of other conditions which can cause PU/PD (polyuria = peeing a lot, polydipsia = drinking a lot; they tend to go together because what goes in must come out) - Cushing’s syndrome, kidney disease, etc. Echo on the go see a doctor advice.
BTW, alcohol is a diuretic, as is caffeine, and peeing a lot will make you thirstier as part of the body’s homeostatic regulation of blood pressure and blood osmolality.
Before we all assume that you have some sort of medical condition could there be environmental factors specific to your house/bedroom that kick in at night leading to your dehydration ?
Many years ago I bought an ioniser (maybe a deioniser?), which according to the blurb would make the atmosphere in my house feel like the clean air sensation you get after rainy weather.
The actual effect was to make the air bone dry and make me feel dehydrated.
I’m not saying that this is your problem, but could it be linked to central heating/air conditioning, or something else yet again maybe?
The symptom is highly recognized for pre-diabetes; it would be good to casually visit your primary care doctor and ask about it.
Though, if something left unsaid, like drinking alcohol near night time lately; could cause such symptoms too. It could be for all kinds of reasons. However, it is still highly associated with diabetes and should be a concern to give to your primary care doctor.
I nth the advice to see a doctor, but not only because of diabetes and other issues; if it’s really something simple like “sleeping with the mouth open dries out” and you happen to wake up from it (unusual, but not impossible), a doctor can give you correct advice and help on how to fix “sleeping with the mouth open”, once all other causes have been ruled out.
Because there are a lot of devices on the market that purport to help with this (because open mouth is related to snoring), but not all of them are good from a medical standpoint.
What a ray of sunshine it was when I read your post!! I have been suffering same symptoms for years! Also very dry skin. The dehydration, causing heart palpitations always in the morning after a horror night of extreme thirst and peeing. I have told my doctor who ordered a diabetes test, which came back negative. He had no answers to my problem! I have been treated with blood thinners (warfarin) because of the palpitations, when it is probably just the dehydration responsible for palpitations! Warfarin is actually “rat poison” and made my hair fall out as well as making me feel unwell! I have discontinued it. I am going back to him now, with this downloaded information, to educate him about Diabetes Insipidus. I am 100% positive I have this condition! Does anyone know which episode of “HOUSE” dealt with this condition??
While many who have posted here have given sound reasons for the thirst and increased urination they under estimate the problem. I have had this issue as well. The thirst manifests much differently than dehydration or as a result of polyurea from diabetes or diuretics. It is an intense thirst that is not satiated by any amount of water. All the above mentioned reasons for this mans thirst do not follow this pattern.
I solved my problem by taking a multimineral supplement. If I stop taking it then the condition returns. Curiously, I also have to stop drinking our spring water. Bottled spring water does not seem to effect me. Our own farm spring water does.
As a dietitian I can tell you that most (read almost all) Americans do not get adequate amounts of micronutrients, especially minerals. Even with a good diet you may not get enough minerals since the plant must draw its minerals from the soil which in many cases has been farmed for many generations.
At any rate it is worthwhile giving a multimineral supplement a try. You will feel the effects within a day. Also try removing artificial sweeteners and in general cleaning up your diet. Bottom line. If you have a problem keep trying different things until something works.
I thought I remembered seeing this on an episode of Mystery Diagnosis.
The thing that struck me was that the girl lost five pounds in THREE HOURS and they had to stop the test. Then the doctor gave her a simple injection and boom, all better.