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Importance of Maintaining Adequate Hydration

Today I had a scary and interesting event… I went to the local rec center to see when the open gym occurred…  It turns out that I timed it well and that there was an open gym for volleyball.  My thought was that this was fortuitous… I played on a competitive intramural volleyball squad in college (think decent high school level) after I stopped playing D1 basketball.  I need to exercise.  I found out when the future open gyms will occur.  Win Win Win…

The problem is that I was not prepared for the lack of a working water fountain at the gym.  They had a water fountain, but the pressure made it very difficult to consume enough… I have been drinking copious amounts of water as part of my current diet…  Internally, I acknowledged that I should be careful and listen to my body…

We played for about 2 hours…  I was fine (very out of shape but fine) and played decently for the first hour.  Then after a particularly long and grueling point I felt light headed…  Being on the 1200 calorie diet I have felt light headed before and the doctor said it was a possible side effect of the diet and the medications.  Being a former athlete I didn’t think too much of it…  Yes I am tired at this point.  Tired is good.  I pushed on.  Getting water in between the matches, but never enough…

Through the next hour I got more and more light headed with less and less physical effort on my part.  Eventually I decided that my body was telling me something and stopped playing…  I should stress that while tired I didn’t fell spent.

I sat down and the lightheadedness didn’t dissipate…  I eventually worked up the energy to stand up and walk to my car.  When I went outside my eyes were extremely sensitive to the light… driving home I felt distant.  I probably shouldn’t have driven…

Once home I had 5 almonds drank a 16oz bottle of water and a diet fresca…  I had another 5 almonds and another bottle of water and took a shower…  The whole time my eyes were sensitive to light, I was light headed, and my arms and legs felt week. 

After the shower I laid down and had another bottle of water.  When my wife got home I was still feeling pretty shitty and I called my doctor from Jumpstart Medcine, Dr. Sean Bourke.  Talking to me over the phone I answered a series of questions and he concluded that it wasn’t a heart arrhythmia or something worse.  He conclusion, dehydrated and possible low of salt and potassium.  His prognosis, drink a large mug of chicken borough, half a banana and eat my next meal sooner rather than later.

Having followed doctors orders I am feeling well enough to write this blog post.  I will continue to play volleyball (after today I don’t think my body is up for basketball just yet…), but in the future I will bring LOTS of water to the gym with me.  Also, I will try to be more aware of my body so that I don’t push myself to that point again.

It was a scary event… If you take one thing away from this post… take this…  Always drink lots of water prior, during, and post exercise.  Listen to your body.

May 6, 2008 | Filed Under exercise, wellness 

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