Hydration powder is the way to go!

[Shamrock4806]

Always had a problem with too much runny output because I was drinking a lot of plain water and milk which in turn caused more runny output and more drinking of fluids.

So I was so dehydrated one day I decided to buy a hydration drink and felt so much better, not only that the runny output basically tapered off.

So I bought a few bottles and keeping them chilled would take a sip or two of the hydration drink then some plain water.

Because of the high price of bottled drinks I found powdered version in the supermarket that gives 6 bottles for the same price as a bottled version with the water in it.

So now I'm happily doing my rehydration routine at home or wherever, taking a few sips and then chasing it with a little plain water to clean my pallet.

Definitely less watery bag dumps and not feeling as dizzy etc.

Someone here recommended it but I blew him off because according to what I've read all one needs is the salt to replenish electrolytes and the rest will come from ones food they eat. So I just drank slightly salty water of ate a salted cracker or something.

Well that's for normal people, for illeostomy types we lose all electrolytes all the time, so switching to a hydration drink provides across the board electrolytes replacing what was lost during the bag dump.

So I've much improved my hydration and I wish to apologize to that whomever whom I tried to explain why do I need to buy hydration powder when I'm going to get the other electrolytes from food. Apparently that's not fast enough when one has an illeostomy.

Instead of explaining that to me we debated but now I realize he was correct. He didn't explain why, just said that's what you do. I needed to know why. So if he said the hydration powder works faster and more consistently to stay up with the bag dumps then I would have understood.

So anyway I finally figured that out for myself. But he was correct that the AI program I was using was steering me wrong some. That hydration powder or drink is much more effective than simply waiting for them to be replenished with food.

So don't always trust the AI people, others experience can be more accurate, but visa versa can be true as well.

Typical composition of ileostomy output (per liter):
Component

Typical Amount Lost

Sodium ~80–140 mEq

Potassium ~10–20 mEq

Chloride ~50–110 mEq

Bicarbonate ~30–50 mEq

Water ~1 liter

[Shamrock4806]

Okay AI says the Gatorade hydration powder drink mix isn't designed for illeostomy types we lose more salt, but it said to add 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon to 32 or so fluid oz mix.

We will see how it goes because normal ORS tastes terrible.

[Shamrock4806]

Added one of those tiny McDonald's salt packets to a 32 oz bottle of Evian mixed with the hydration powder, tastes even better and I'm getting my iodine.

Ya I know, Evian and McDonald's, what's wrong with this picture right?

Medical sources straight up say:

Sports drinks don’t have the right electrolyte balance (for illeostomy type) - UC Davis Health

Why?

Too low sodium
Too dilute (or wrong sugar ratio)
Can actually flush through you

The Gatorade hydration powder has low sugar which is good, just enough for absorption, just the salt level is for sweating loss and not illeostomy/medical sodium loss so it needs to be higher. Why added salt was necessary.

Ah I see said the blind man..

How have I managed to survive this long lacking this vital information. This is what happens when you are poor and on Medicaid, you only get emergency care and everything else is insurance covered as it's all outpatient and they want cash or insurance.

I got on a ACA plan and went to the best cancer place in my area, took lots of blood tests etc. and they still didn't tell me squat, just wanted to do lots of surgery.

Now I'm on Medicare and although paid for by SSDI, I still have to pay other stuff and some don't take any insurance. It just discourages me to even bother contacting them.

I had ChatGPT explain more stuff to me than anything else for a small monthly fee. But only if I happen to ask it the right questions. It won't teach me what I don't know unfortunately.

[Shamrock4806]

Definitely some correction going on, I actually drank quite a bit of the mix and expected to be dumping like crazy but haven't.

Funny I wasn't craving anything salty but was craving the hydration salt mix quite a bit today. It was warm though but I didn't stay outside for long just in case.

Always something.