• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2026 Survey »

Active, lowish carb Type 1 - always thirsty!

Snapsy

Snapsy

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,551
Location
South-East UK
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Hi folks, just a question about thirst.

I'm a well-controlled Type 1 with stable blood glucose levels, a decent HbA1c, steady weight, daily exercise, and I'm very thirsty!

I had an issue last week where dehydration was flagged up, and since then I've been being even more careful about drinking enough. But I'm thirsty most of the time, and of course there is a side-effect to taking on board so much liquid, as what goes in must come out! I drink very weak sugar-free squash by the pint, and I add a little salt to my first couple of pints after my morning exercise. My blood pressure is lowish but still within normal range.

Things that have been different (for me) in the last three months, and in particular in the past four weeks, are that I'm exercising more frequently (swimming three days a week, running three days a week - one of those six days is both swimming AND running - and one rest day) and eating a relatively low amount of carbohydrate (20g breakfast, 25-30g lunch, 55g or so supper). All of the carbs, apart from the 20g in my pre-exercise porridge, come from vegetables and dairy, rather than grains and potatoes.

I feel absolutely brilliant, and life is good. I'm the best me I've ever been! But I'm drinking loads!

Does anyone have experience of more-than-typical thirst, despite good blood glucose control?

(I have my annual review the week after next, and have just had bloods taken. I will of course ask the question when I'm there - but I'm just wondering about other people's experiences of this issue.)

Thanks so much for any input or insight you're able to provide.
:)
 
@Snapsy, with the warmer weather together with your strenuous exercise regime it could just be you need to drink more, I drink a lot more in the summer than I do any other season.
 
Hi @Snapsy I find that the side effect of low carb is that I drink litres a day. Around 4-6 of them. I think it's physiologically to do with the amount of ketones circulating, and because one of the key benefits of doing it in the early phases of a body transformation scheme is that it is highly diuretic.

Apparently burning fat requires more water as part of the process, hence the thirst.
 
Thanks, @tim2000s ! I'd heard that those on a higher-carb diet tend to hold on to water - and from my own higher-carb days I recall that I didn't really often need to get up in the night to pee. Different story these days, though! It seems I'm taking on water, but just not holding on to it.

It's good to hear that I'm not the only one needing to be drinking so much. I think because I'm fairly new to my lower-carb, higher-exercise regime, I'm drinking not quite enough and not quite soon enough - but as it sounds as if 4-6 litres a day isn't abnormal, I'll just go ahead and drink what I feel I need, without thinking 'blimey, that's a heck of a lot'. The right amount for me right now is I think is perhaps a little more than I'm having at the moment, hence my brain complaining that I'm always thirsty.

Thanks again - that's really useful, @tim2000s .

:)
 
Back
Top