"Eight cups a day keeps the doctor away!".... Or Something Like That

                Not trying to be all “Mama Bear” on you, but… we all need to consume more water.  It is essential to our health.  I advocate to this.  You will see in a minute what I am talking about.

One of my dearest and truest friends, Jared, had a run-in with the clear substance.  Jared is tall and very thin, and every time he sat up in bed or got off the couch, he would blackout and get dizzy.  You can imagine how worried and upset this made his parents, so they took him to their family doctor.  After the doctor measured his height, weight, and wingspan, also checking for any abnormities, he came to the conclusion that Jared possibly had Marfan syndrome. 

                People that had this syndrome, from what he told me, were tall with long wingspans and had flat feet, superflexible joints, nearsightedness, narrow faces, or a chest that sinks in or sticks out (funnel chest or pectus excavatum).  This was frightening to his mother as well as him because it also meant that he could have a heart defect. 

When they asked the doctor what they should do, he said that he would try St. Louis Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri to check out his heart and to ask an expert on Marfans.  By the time they got home, an appointment was made at the hospital, and in a week they would be off to see the specialists three hours away. 

When they finally got there, the nerves were kicking in.  After an expensive, overpriced lunch in the cafeteria and two hours of waiting, they got in to start their scans of the heart and brain.  More sitting around and waiting for more news followed.  They were finally called back in to wait some more for the cardiologist to give his report. 

                The doctor came in and shook hands with Jared and his family.  Once he explained what Marfan syndrome was and the causes and effects, he revealed to them that Jared did not, in fact, have the syndrome.  A sigh of relief came over him and his parents.  But in Jared’s mom’s mind, she was torn.  She was happy that her son didn’t have this horrible affliction, but she was also livid that the family doctor put the scare into her and her family when it was a “false alarm.” 

What made it even worse was the fact that the doctor’s solution to Jared’s blackouts and dizziness was the result of dehydration or lack of water.  He also needed more table salt in his diet to retain the water he drank (which was preferably two two-liters a day). 

When my friend came home and told me this, I was shocked.  Water and salt?  Is that really all you needed?  After all that money spent to go down to the Children’s Hospital and for what?  To find out that you need to salt your french-fries a little more?  Very nice.  Good to know.

So the moral of the story is that H2O is extremely vital to your well-being.  We all need to drink more.  I can’t say that I know one person that drinks enough or too much.  The reason that we get sick or tired most of the time, is that we are rundown and don’t have proper nutrition.  So drink up! J (556)