Lyme/sense of thirst

For so many years (suffering from lyme and not knowing it) I completely lost my sense of thirst. not thirsty, ever...and have had to force myself to drink anything. I always can tell by the way I feel and my skin dryness that im super dehydrated.

Was always perplexed why i had no sense of thirst despite feeling im very much dehydrated. I had done so many Google searches over the years to try and figure out what disease or condition would cause lack of thirst but could never find anything on the subject.

I just came across an article (or blog) that explains why this happens with lyme disease!

What I read is that borrelia bacteria thrive and flourish in a dehydrated environment. The lyme bacteria actually SWITCH OFF your sense of thirst in order to create an environment that is more habitable for the bacteria to live in.

Not sure if this means anything to anyone else, but for me it was a profound discovery on why this happens. Lol.

All the more reason to drink up. The bugs hate water!

That's a puzzler for me. I was exactly the same way until last Fall. Maybe I can time it with the end of my Doxy treatment. I'm positive for RMSF with a "pooh-poohed" positive Lyme test from '92. I am sure I've had it since 1985 but I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia.
But since last Fall I am thirsty almost all of the time. With only a scattering of days where I'm not.
So much so my Internist put me on CHF medication and warned me to cut it back because I was drowning myself, and of course warned me to cut out the salt.
I still am in congestive heart failure, in spite of the meds, and I am still always thirsty. My blood sugar labs are consistently good.

If everyone else is in agreement with having to force themselves to drink, I may have to rethink what bugs I'm fighting now.

No...july...don't rethink your diagnosis /treatment because of this post.

I've read some with lyme can have unquenchable thirst as well.

That's interesting. I feel sometimes very thirsty. I wonder if that a symptom of candida.

I'm with DaCarte on this one. I get either extreme thirst or none at all-that I have to make the effort to drink. These days I am so thirsty all the time. Always think of diabetics when I get that way.

With the exception of the times I have nausea, I am thirsty all the time... even while I'm drinking water - ha!

I've had such unquenchable thirst at times that I've had the MD check me for all sorts of conditions. I've also carefully measured input against output to make sure the fluids were doing what they should be.

Very interesting issue, though. Lyme & co can wreck any system function it can find so this doesn't surprise me. Dehydration can cause a great deal of havoc so I hope those of you who struggle with this are able to continue forcing yourself to drink. Sometimes it's really not easy..

-p