Patient education is a really important factor in improving patient outcomes. However, healthcare professionals should be checking that, as patient's, we fully understand what they are telling us. Diagnosis alone is a very overwhelming conversation. We are being told we have this life-altering condition that in fact some of the professionals that are diagnosing us, do not have an extensive knowledge base on themselves. Then we are bombarded with what we need to be doing to help ourselves.
Unfortunately a high proportion of us, at the point of diagnosis, will be de-conditioned. So when they tell us to simply increase our fluid and salt intake and exercise, it's no wonder we look at them with a perplexed look in our face.
1: Increase Fluid Intake
We are advised to increase our fluid intake to a minimum of 2-3 litres per day for adults. Now if you are anything like me when they told me this I did question if this was even physically possible?! I never drunk enough water, I am completely addicted to coca-cola. I am also a lazy shit and the less I drink the less I have to walk all the way to the bathroom to go to the toilet! So increasing your fluid intake, for some, is a huge adjustment in itself, as well as cutting out those sugary drinks we like to indulge in!
So why do we need to increase our fluid intake?
Increasing the fluid in our bodies helps constrict our blood vessels. Our blood pools in our legs when we stand because gravity pulls the blood into our legs, but because our autonomic nervous system is faulty, it stops that, normally automatic function, from happening. As a result, we don't have enough blood in our brain, causing our heart to work harder to try and pump our blood back up to our brains. This is why our heart rate jumps abnormally high upon standing. Due to our blood being in our legs rather than our brain we experiencing a severe drop in our blood pressure which is why we become dizzy on standing and for some lose consciousness altogether.
I purchased this 2L bottle recently as I found taking smaller bottles to university, I would drink the one bottle then I wouldn't refill them. I try to drink half a litre before I leave the house. I then drink this bottle while I'm at university for the day and carry on drinking when I get home. Take a look... they are really good quality and come in 9 different colours! They also have a built in handle into the bottle and a strap, giving you two easy options to carry it. The lid is secure and I have had no issues with leaking. At the time of writing this post they also have money off!
Disclosure: This blog post contains products and links to those products that I will earn an affiliate commission for any purchases made at no extra cost to yourselves.
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