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Water therapy

By Nickunj Malik - Apr 20,2016 - Last updated at Apr 20,2016

There are many problems with drinking one and a half litres of water first thing in the morning. The main deterrent is visiting the toilet repeatedly for the next hour or so after glugging the liquid. But why would anyone have so much of water in one go? 

Researchers have discovered that the body’s biological thirst signals can be mistaken for signs and symptoms of other illnesses. If we treat the root cause of these, which is dehydration, we can avoid costly and unnecessary medical interventions and enjoy long-term well-being. Or so they say. 

Apparently, when the body produces complicated secondary symptoms of dehydration, the result is general confusion. Many doctors misinterpret it as: dyspepsia, rheumatoid arthritis, angina, migraine headaches, colitis, constipation, hypertension, anaemia, obesity, sinusitis, pulmonary tuberculosis, asthma, kidney stones, diabetes, leukaemia, and uterine and breast cancer. Water therapy eliminates and gets rid of all these health issues, is the claim made by people who follow it. 

I was not unduly impressed by this initiative when I was first introduced to it more than 15 years ago but a chance meeting with an Ayurveda specialist made me rethink the whole thing. He dismissed my self-diagnosed arthritis ailment and said what I was suffering from was chronic dehydration. “Your treatment is to drink six glasses of water as soon as you wake up madam, this remedy is a life saver for you,” he told me in a matter of fact manner. 

That was all. He refused to give me any fragrant powders or multi coloured pills for my aching joints and I came back from his dispensary with an inscription chit, which read the exact amount of water I should be drinking first thing in the morning. To tell you the truth I was not impressed and for a few days I did nothing about it. But a week or so later I decided to give it a try. 

To add a bit of excitement to the dull chore, I bought a tall copper glass from the corner Nature Cure store. It kind of blended with the Ayurveda concept and the metal made the water stay cool for longer. 

On day one I sipped the refreshing liquid experimentally. The taste of the toothpaste I had just used got diluted somewhat in my mouth. I had forgotten to ask if I was allowed to brush my teeth before drinking the water. In any case, even if he had told me not to, I would have overruled the caveat anyway. 

I drank the first three glassfuls easily but when I refilled the copper tumbler for the fourth time I felt bile rising up my throat. I persevered somehow and swallowed it back with the water. The fifth one was an effort and by the time I reached the sixth glass I felt like a water balloon, which was filled to its bursting capacity. My trips to the washroom became more urgent and if the loo was occupied I contemplated breaking the door down. 

I abandoned the experiment exactly 10 days after starting it.

“What about the pain in your joints” exclaimed my concerned friend?

“What about it?” I countered. 

“The Ayurveda doctor said it would get better,” she reminded. 

“Yes,” I agreed. 

“Why did you give it up?” she persisted. 

“My bathroom door needs fixing,” I told her.

“What happened?” she asked. 

“I rammed a chair into it,” I confessed. 

“Water, water everywhere?” she laughed. 

 

“Ahem,” is all I said. 

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