Water is always the first go-to, but if you have reason to believe you are losing too many natural salts, electrolyte drinks can be okay if they don't have too much sugar. That's the thing, though, they all seem to have sugar or high fructose corn syrup, which can wreak havoc on the gut.
I imagine eating plenty of water-rich foods would help, too! Healthline has a great list here. As somebody who doesn't have IBD though, I wonder which of these foods might be triggering for patients.
@MeganMattox excellent point about water rich foods. Many people don't understand the value of that and they end up drinking so much water to battle dehydration that they end up diluting their electrolytes. It's sadly ironic.
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Care Partner of Adult
My son's headaches are almost always from dehydration, proven when he is reminded to drink well and feels better almost immediately afterwards.
So let us make sure people w ibd and IBS know that they need to rehydrate / in my case certain drinks do trigger diarrhea so one needs to be careful!
Is water the best for re-hydration or the electrolyte drinks?
Care Partner of Adult
Water is always the first go-to, but if you have reason to believe you are losing too many natural salts, electrolyte drinks can be okay if they don't have too much sugar. That's the thing, though, they all seem to have sugar or high fructose corn syrup, which can wreak havoc on the gut.
I imagine eating plenty of water-rich foods would help, too! Healthline has a great list here. As somebody who doesn't have IBD though, I wonder which of these foods might be triggering for patients.
Care Partner of Adult
@MeganMattox excellent point about water rich foods. Many people don't understand the value of that and they end up drinking so much water to battle dehydration that they end up diluting their electrolytes. It's sadly ironic.