Chapter 4 – Water, Wee and BO

When I left Brooke, my Naturopath, I wondered – how many times do I actually get up during the night? Was it 1-2 or was it more like 2-3 times? hmmmm

I knew I definitely wasn’t drinking enough water. Some days I was getting as little as 750ml and for me that was super low. I prided myself on drinking about 2L a day, but I hadn’t done that in a while.

I took this opportunity to shift my habit.

My S’well water bottle was 750ml and Brooke had said for a person with my height and weight I needed about 2.6L a day. This meant I needed to drink about 3.5 bottles of water a day.

I knew it wasn’t going to be good for my body to go from 750ml a day, straight to 2.6L a day. I had to gradually work towards it. My first step was 2 bottles a day, then 3 and then aiming to hit that 3.5 bottles a day.

Within about three weeks I was there, consistently over the 2L mark, with the occasional 3L day but generally hitting that 2.6L quantity.

I was going to the toilet more, it varied day to day and my wee wasn’t smelly – as it can be when our bodies aren’t hydrated.

Here’s a quick water calculator you can use to check how much water your body needs each day: Water Calculator

Here’s a hydration calculator, which tells you:

• How hydrated you are
• How much water you typically lose each day, and
• The water you typically get from food each day.

 

Wee tracking

What I was most concerned about was how many times I was getting up during the night, and if I was drinking more water, would that mean I’d now be getting up even more times – I mean, was my bladder shot or what?

I was also interested to see, using the Chinese Body Clock, what organs were working at the times I was getting up – and this became very interesting.

To track my night time wees and the times I was getting up, I had to write them down. Before I went to bed, I put a pencil and piece of paper on the kitchen bench. Each time I got up to wee, I’d then head out to the kitchen, check the time on the oven and write down the time.

My personal goal was to do this for the next 2 weeks. I find 2 weeks achievable in our minds, any more and I’d probably feel overwhelmed and stop before I’d gotten through a few nights, any less and I’m not sure what the data would actually tell me.

Plus my next appointment with Brooke was in 2 weeks, so I wanted to share with her any results that I’d created.

Here’s my Wee Tracking Spreadsheet Template that you can use to take what you write down on paper, and then see what’s happening for you: My Wee Tracking Spreadsheet.

 

My Wee Tracking Results

Now building a new habit can sometimes be really challenging, but I didn’t find it hard to start my wee tracking habit. I started tracking straight after my first appointment with Brooke in October, and as I’m writing this in December, I am finding it more difficult to maintain, but I’m still doing it – and sharing this might help you move forward.

As I mentioned earlier, each night I’d make sure my pencil and paper were ready on the kitchen bench. I’d write down the day e.g. if it was a Monday, then I’d right down Mon, what time I went to bed, and whilst initially I wasn’t tracking my water intake as part of wee tracking, I quickly found it really useful to track that as well. Therefore, I’d write down my water intake for that day i.e. the Monday.

Then, when I got up for a wee during the night I’d come out to the kitchen, check the time on the oven and then write down the time. Then I’d hop back into bed and go to sleep until the next time I woke up for a wee and I’d repeat the process.

To be clear, the data you will see on your Wee Tracking Spreadsheet is (using Monday as an example):

• Water intake from Monday
• Bed time from Monday
• Wake up hours from Monday night through until Tuesday morning.

Initially, I found myself always waking up during the liver hours, 1-3am, and the Large Intestine hours, 5-7am, it was like clockwork for the first 7ish days. There were a couple of anomalies though:

• Day 1 – I woke up during the Gall Bladder and Lungs hours
• Day 3 – I woke up during the Gall Bladder, Liver and Large Intestine hours
• Day 6 – I completely forgot to do it, so I have no data (yes I’m human)

Then, on Day 11 to 18, I woke up during the Gall Bladder and Large Intestine hours only. This is when my water intake increased consistently to between 1.8L – 2.25L.

On Day 12, I woke up 1 time – it was a miracle!! I went to bed at 11pm, I’d drunk 1.8L of water for the day and I woke up at 11.58pm – then slept through…it was heaven.

I took this information back to my Naturopath, Brooke, and she was so excited – as was I!

We talked about the shift, as my water intake increased, I no longer woke up during the liver hours, but I was waking up now during the Gall Bladder hours.

My blood test results weren’t back yet, but I’d remembered something on my Chest CT scan about my Gall Bladder, which I shared with her. When I had my Chest CT scan in early 2020, the last line of the report (the bit perhaps no one reads) said ‘A 19mm calcified gallstone.’

I’d read it at the time but I didn’t have any issues in that space so I didn’t follow it up. Chatting with Brooke we decided to adjust my Herbal Liquid to add ingredients that would support my Gall Bladder and see if that helped.

 

Bad BO

I hate bad BO, you know when someone needs a shower – well I’d become that person and I was struggling to ‘sort it out’. I wanted to use non-toxic or low-toxic deodorants, making sure they didn’t have toxic chemicals that can disrupt our hormones, but I couldn’t get through the day without needing a second shower and I didn’t want to always have a second shower.

Sometimes I could get through the day, but if I’d had a particularly hot night, including night sweats that were a flow on effect from my lung issues, then I could wake up stinking – and it wasn’t nice – for anyone.

Plus, I was having to throw clothes out because the stench stayed in there. That being said I have had some success with popping Eucalyptus Essential Oil into the arm pits of certain clothes, letting them sit for 5ish minutes and then popping them in the wash, but it’s not a forever solution at this point.

I’d tried different brands of healthier deodorants and it didn’t really matter – I stunk.

But you know what, the moment I started drinking more water, that stench went away. Yep!! It’s now December and I very rarely, and I mean maybe once or twice because I’ve had a particularly sweaty day and I probably need an additional shower anyway, have had to manage the stink.

What worked for me is drinking more water, it could be something that helps you – if this is an issue you deal with too.

My next step

To keep going. Keep tracking and keep taking my supplements. I’d decided to do a Hair test, to check foods that cause inflammation in my body, and a poo test to look at what was happening in my digestive tract. I did both tests through my Naturopath and they were insightful.

In the next Chapter, I’m going to share with you my blood test results, because this was all about my health baseline – what was working and what wasn’t. Then in Chapter 6, I’ll come back and share with you the results of my Hair Test, which were so illuminating. I also had hair tests done for Chris and Teddy too, so I’ll share their results and what I noticed by getting them done.

It’s also important that I mention my poo. In Chapter 3, I shared the Bristol Stool Chart and I’ve been regularly paying attention to my poo. In Chapter 7, I’ve included the changes to my stool because of the impact of drinking more water and making dietary changes, based on the results from the hair and poo tests. A stiff but needed conversation ha ha.

You can check out everything about my Project 22 over here and Chapter 5 – My Blood Test Results.

 

Share with me

Are you going on your own journey in 2022? Then tag me and use #project22 so we can connect xo

 

Disclaimer

Everything shared in this post and across my website is my story and recollection of conversation and events. They are in no way medical or mental health advice, prescription or diagnosis. Should you be interested in what I’m sharing and what this could mean in your life, then I’d encourage you to engage with the relevant health professionals or if you need support please seek out the health professionals that can support you.

In relation to my podcast, the information shared is mine or my guests. Again it is not medical or mental health advice, prescription or diagnosis. If you need support, please seek out relevant medical professionals.