15 Unexpected Reasons Why You Are Always Feeling Thirsty

Are you feeling thirsty always? We all indeed feel thirsty after eating spicy food or after any strenuous exercise. But, sometimes you might feel thirsty because of some hidden reasons. Let us take a look at the following array of the article and know about some of the unexpected reasons you are always feeling thirsty.

You might have heard of the standard rule of drinking water is 8 glasses of water a day. Many people follow this and are healthy. However, adequate hydration is directly dependent on several factors, like your size, levels of activity you do, and sweat rate. Some other unexpected reasons have a tremendous effect on your thirst level.

Xerostomia or dry mouth is usually mistaken for excessive thirst. Dry mouth is an abnormal dryness of the mucous membranes found in the mouth. This dryness of the mucous membrane occurs because of a reduction of the flow, or a change in the saliva’s composition. You might suffer from symptoms like trouble chewing, bad breath, and thick and stringy saliva if your glands are not making enough saliva. Smoking, stress, anxiety, or aging are some of the common causes of dry mouth. But, sometimes dry mouth can also be caused as a side effect of certain prescription medications, such as those prescribed for blood pressure and antidepressants, medicines for dizziness or motion sickness, and allergy medicines. Some diseased conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and diabetes, can also cause dry mouth.

So, it is always important for you to consult with your doctor if you have xerostomia or dry mouth and feeling excessive thirst.

One of the unexpected reasons you are always feeling thirsty could be chronic stress. Chronic stress causes the adrenal glands of a person to under-function. This might lead to low blood pressure when stress is high or severe. This can result in dizziness, anxiety, depression, and also extreme thirst.

When you feel thirst you should know that you must add more water to your blood so as to raise your blood pressure. But, be known that the only long-term solution for this excessive stress and thirst to reduce and manage your chronic stress.

Both types of diabetes, i.e. type 1 and type 2 diabetes, can increase a person’s risk of dehydration, particularly if they are not yet aware of their condition. Your body peer pressures both your kidneys to producing more urine for getting rid of the excess glucose, when your blood sugar levels are excessively high. One more common symptoms that would bring on thirst is frequent urination. This, in turn, results in drinking more liquids, which compounds the problem.

If you are experiencing too much thirst and urination along with symptoms like unexplained weight loss, irritability, or fatigue, you should consult with your doctor who would carry out a blood glucose test and diagnose if you have diabetes.

Our thyroid, located at the bottom of the neck is responsible for pumping out thyroid hormone. This helps in regulating our appetite, internal temperature, and various other vital functions of the body.

But, thyroid problems are quite common among women. It is estimated that 20 million Americans suffer from some type of thyroid disease.⁽¹⁾

When the thyroid gland produces excess or too little hormone, it can spur a variety of nonspecific symptoms, such as heavy periods, feeling hot, anxiety, and dry mouth, all of these symptoms can cause an increased level of thirst.

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, it is said that people suffering from hypothyroidism, are particularly more likely to suffer from other thirst-inducing health issues, like anemia, type 1 diabetes, and Sjorgren’s syndrome because of B12 deficiency.⁽²⁾

There are various signs of pregnancy that you should watch for, including too much thirst. During your first trimester, your blood volume increases, which forces your kidneys to create too much fluid that winds up in your bladder. This would result in frequent urination.⁽³⁾ Nausea and morning sickness that is experienced during pregnancy can cause a dip in hydration.

It is normal if you feel the urge to drink more water during your menstrual period. Oestrogen and progesterone levels can affect your fluid volume. In addition to this, there is blood loss from the cycle itself, and this can increase more of thirst in you. So, during your period, you should drink more of water to prevent excessive thirst.

Studies have shown that suckling is a stimulus to thirst in the breastfeeding mother, but it is still unknown, what exactly stimulates thirst during breastfeeding.⁽⁴⁾

You are transferring essential nutrients, water, and electrolytes to your baby growing inside you. This can certainly lower your hydration levels.

This is the reason why most mothers who are struggling with milk production, are advised to drink tons of water.

Excessive bleeding is also one of the unexpected reasons why you are always feeling thirsty. A sudden or ongoing loss of blood can spike your thirst levels. This happens because when there is blood loss your body intends to make up for the fluid loss. Anemia is caused due to excessive bleeding. In the case of anemia, your body loses RBCs faster than they can actually be replaced. A blood test and physical examination will diagnose if you have anemia and accordingly you will be treated well by your doctor.

Mild anemia usually goes undiagnosed for a long time, since the body adjusts itself and functions with a lack of RBCs. According to research, with time as anemia gets worse, you might also experience increased thirst and also sweating.⁽⁵⁾

One of the rare disorders is diabetes inspidus and it affects water absorption. This is not related to the diabetes that we know, but it shares some of the symptoms that are similar to diabetes, such as a busy bladder and dehydration.

With this medical condition, you lose vast amounts of water via your urine. Thirst strikes as your body begin to compensate for the loss of fluid from your body. You should consult with your doctor and get yourself diagnosed and treated well.

There are certain medications like laxatives and diuretics that can result in fluid loss. Some anti-depressants can result in dry mouth. One common side effect of several prescription and nonprescription medications is dry mouth. Some of these medications that cause such side effects are drugs used to treat allergies, pain, obesity, nausea, acne, epilepsy, colds, and even asthma.

Foods having diuretic effects can make you feel thirsty since they can cause you to urinate more. Some of these fruits are celery, beetroot, asparagus, melons, lemons, parsley, and ginger. Though these foods have plenty of health benefits, you should consider the diuretic effect that always makes you feel thirsty.

You can add more fluid-rich foods, like brown rice and porridge, which soak up water during the cooking process.

Keto diet has a common side effect of making you feel thirsty, and this is because the eating plan needs you to slash your carbohydrate intake significantly. Carbohydrates absorb and hold onto more water than fat and protein. This in, turn, will make you urinate more often, resulting in a spike in your thirst levels.

You can also feel thirsty always if you take too much salt in your diet. Salt pulls water out of your cells and forces the body for conserving as much water as possible, and thus you urinate less when you consume more salt. Your brain gets a chemical message from the water-deprived water to add more water, and you start feeling too much thirst.

However, it is suggested by a recent study that salt causes hunger, not thirst. However, the body usually confuses the two, which is why you might be struggling to lose weight. You generally eat when you should be drinking more water.

You should cut down the intake of salt in your diet and also make sure that you are drinking plenty of water.

When you are spending more time outdoors, especially on hot summer days, you can become dehydrated, even if you are not running or doing any physical activity. So, if you are going outdoors during summers, be well ensured that you have a bottle of water with you.

At higher altitudes, the humidity is lower. Sweat quickly evaporates and you might not realize how much water has been lost through excretion. The lower levels of oxygen in higher altitudes also make you breathe in and out faster and also more deeply, which makes you lose more water through respiration. It is suggested that you lose water via respiration at high altitude, twice as quickly as you lose at sea level.

We mentioned some of the unexpected reasons you are always feeling thirsty. You must not ignore this feeling of thirst always and check with your doctor to find out the underlying health problem that might be making you feel thirsty always. Apart from this, you should also follow proper hydration practices and drink enough water and other fluids to keep yourself well hydrated and prevent excessive thirst.

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Also Read:

• Why Does One Feel Thirsty After Having a Dessert?
• Why Do You Feel Thirsty When You Eat Foods High in Sodium?
• Why Do You Get Thirsty When You Have Diabetes?
• Why Do We Feel Thirsty & What are the Health Conditions Associated With Frequent Thirst?
• Reasons For Feeling Thirsty All The Time