Population vs. Individual Health Round 2: Water

I mentioned that I'm not supposed to whole wheat anymore. Whole wheat is bad for my health (part 2). Here's someone who's supposed to cut down on WATER because it's bad for her health:

Liz had a medical emergency which necessitated hospitalization over the last couple of weeks. ...

Lesser Known Fun Fact: Drinking more water and less soda like “the doctors say” isn‘t always the healthiest thing for everybody. That eight glasses of water thingy? Not true. At least, not always. Assuming that what’s healthy for the masses, or a generalization about drinking more water as a healthy personal choice for one specific person (as we now know) can and may lead to major medical trouble. I’ll explain what happened here. It began about a month ago.

In a perky resolution to be more healthful, Liz began drinking less sugary beverages, less caffeine, and more water. The brilliant thought behind this was “the apartment gets really hot when heat rises in the summer. I’m supposed to stay hydrated because of these medications I take, (take with plenty of water, they both warn) and I always have a can of pop next to me or an iced coffee drink. I’ll try reducing that stuff out of my diet, and this summer be one of those healthy people who carry water around, not to mention reduce my subscription to Starbucks.’

Which sounds simple enough. A nice healthy change of pace. Our dentist (The future author of ‘Liz’s Teeth Are Made of Fruit Corn Syrup’) would approve of this idea. Possibly even give a standing ovation.

Unfortunately, there’s a catch 22 to the above logic. That ’take with plenty of water’ thing for the medications? It’s true, but not when the two medications are together. Evidently one of them is a salt, and too much hydration will dilute it, removing the needed effect. ... But Liz’s chemicals really need the unaltered effect, otherwise she’s down for the count.

So for the last week, week and a half, I’ve been visiting Liz daily while she bounced from hospital to hospital (it took three networking forces) to reset her chemicals, bring the salt back into play, and find the right balance of medication. Minus the water....  So the end result? ... Mcdonald’s Frappe’s are delicious on road trips. Bottles of water in limitation.

In contrast, I'm on 12 cups of water (not liquids, but water) plus other liquids daily, and my doctors are still trying to get me to drink more. Someone is nuts.