Why am I thirsty all the time?

Symptoms:

Feeling thirsty over the last few days, you’ve had an attack of diarrhoea and vomiting with a fever and you’ve been sweating a lot.

You feel thirsty because your mouth is dry, you’ve also noticed that your eyes feel dry and prickly when you wake up and you’ve developed new aches and pains in your joints.

Feeling thirsty, you’ve been putting on a lot of weight recently, and diabetes runs in the family.

It could be:

Dehydration, due to losing too much fluid through sweating and diarrhoea.

Sjögren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disease that attacks the lining membranes of the eyes, the mouth, and joints.

Type 2 diabetes. Thirst is a symptom that must never be ignored as type 2 diabetes causes many complications.

Stop it:

Sip water at the rate of an 8-ounce glass every half hour. Take fluid in any form you like but no coffee or sugary drinks. Only eat bland foods like dry toast.

See your doctor/ specialist for tests to confirm the diagnosis and start taking NSAIDs to counteract the inflammation. There are wetting solutions for both the eyes and the mouth.

Try to lose weight, see your doctor taking a specimen of urine to have the diagnosis confirmed, and get advice on treatment. You can take drugs by mouth to help type 2 diabetes.