Why does my stomach hurt after drinking water?’ you have asked this question a hundred times. Now is the moment you know all the possible reasons.
Can you imagine life without water? Water is as important for life as is air. We can learn about its importance by remembering that this chemical comprises up to three-fourths of our body weight.
Eight glasses of water are recommended for individuals of varying ages, genders, and countries of residence.
But that amount is only adequate if the person diet supplements this water intake with other sources of fluid, for example, milk, juices, fruits, and soups.
What happens when consumption of this essential becomes a discomfort? Others may not know but water consumption can result in discomforts like stomach aches for some people.
If you are wondering why does my stomach hurt after drinking water, this post is for you.
Here we shall discuss 14 reasons that can cause this issue.
Water Drinking Habits that Cause Stomach Pain
Stomach pain after drinking water may be felt for several reasons. Most commonly it happens because the person chose the wrong amount or time of drinking water.
At other times, this pain results from medical conditions that make water intake painful for the stomach.
There are also some instances when drinking water becomes a problem because the water included impurities that were harmful to our health.
This section will look at the first set of reasons – when we choose the wrong conditions to drink water.
1. You are Drinking Water Too Fast
Our body has a set water level. It fluctuates up and down immediately after drinking water or after engaging in activities that consume water.
When this level goes down, our body signals to us the need for drinking more water to restore a healthy water level in our body. At this time, the water level in our body is low and our body is accustomed to this level.
Our water intake will disrupt this balance to create a new balance. Also, it will force the stomach to expand a lot in a short period.
This forced expansion causes discomfort to the stomach and it signals this discomfort as pain.
A better way is to drink water calmly allowing the stomach and our body to adjust to the gradual change in hydration level and respond healthily.
2. You Are Drinking Too Much Water
Water is the essential life component when you use it moderately. If you abuse it, it can be harmful to your health.
If you are surprised by this revelation, know that your body can get rid of only a certain level of water from your body every day.
Drinking more water than your body can excrete – either in urine or in sweats – can result in excessive dilution of sodium content in your body.
This condition is called hyponatremia and it causes health issues at a cellular level. The cells in your body may start to swell.
If the water level is extremely high, this condition can be life-threatening. In mild conditions, you will feel stomach aches, nausea, and vomiting. Also, you may feel drowsiness, headaches, and confusion spells.
You can minimize the chances of hyponatremia by keeping your water intake level under check. Also, note that the chances of this condition increase if you are malnourished or have lower levels of sodium in your body.
3. You Are Drinking Too Much Water Too Fast
Decreased sodium levels may lead to life-threatening health issues. But that decrease results from drinking water in huge amounts.
You wouldn’t become a case of hyponatremia as soon as you drink a couple of glasses more than the recommended amount of eight glasses a day.
But you can still feel uneasy immediately after drinking water if you drink too much water too fast. In simpler words, even gulping down a couple of glasses in minutes can cause stomach pain.
Why does this happen? It happens when you are too thirsty. You know that you can’t bear the thirst any longer.
And you want to quench it before blinking your eyes. So, you act rashly and don’t pause to note if your thirst is quenched or not.
You gulped down one glass of water and proceeded to take the second one ignoring your body’s signals that water intake was adequate.
When you pick the third or so glass, your stomach is stretched to its limits. It cannot hold more water in it. So, it gives pain signals to get your attention.
You can avoid this symptom by simply being more mindful of your water consumption.
4. You Drink Water before Breakfast
You have heard the advice of hydrating your body in the morning. But you take it too seriously and want to give all the water it needs in the morning.
Most people drinking water in the morning wouldn’t feel any repercussions because the stomach is not that hungry to warrant a protest.
But other people who are excessively hungry in the morning will get a sharp in Why does my stomach hurt after drinking water.
This is their stomach’s way of telling that it didn’t need water at that time but food.
5. You Drink Water at Night
This situation is rarer than the previous one. But people get water shock even at night.
The cause of feeling Why does my stomach hurt after drinking water at night is similar to the cause of the pain you feel in the early morning. Your stomach wanted food and you tried soothing it with a sip of water.
Yes, you don’t need to gulp down a whole glass of water to feel this pain. Even a single sip can send your stomach in shock and cause stomach aches.
6. You Drink Ice Cold Water
For most people, drinking cold water is better than drinking warm water or water at room temperature.
That’s because when we drink cold water, it doesn’t quench our thirst immediately. As a result, we get some time to drink more water before feeling that drinking has become a forced chore.
On the other hand, warm or lukewarm water quenches our thirst quickly leaving no desire in us to drink more water.
We can see that those people who don’t like drinking water should prefer to take cold water to increase their water intake naturally.
Although a colder temperature is preferable for most people, there is a limit on how cold this drink should be.
Ice cold water is never a healthy option. It can become a serious problem if you have taken your body to a high-temperature state – because of recent exercise, for example – before drinking ice cold water.
Of course, at that time, your body feels comfortable at a high energy level. And you changed that temperature level checker with water that was too cold to go well. Your digestive system goes in shock as a result.
Now, your stomach has to prepare the water to become digestible by warming it up to acceptable levels.
The pain intensifies if you eat or drink on top of this water. It happens because the stomach will take longer to digest the water.
After all, it was warming it up. Now, you have filled that already compact space with more food.
This will increase tension in the stomach resulting in stomach aches.
7. You Drink Water after Eating
You may also experience pain if you haven’t allowed your stomach to digest food before adding more water.
The reason is understandable. You are filling up the already full basket that is your stomach. It will stretch its lining making it painful and uncomfortable.
But this excessive stretching only explains part of the problem. This added pressure on the stomach walls causes it to feel the need to release more stomach acid. This release leads to heartburn and acidity.
Stomach Pain That Results from Medical Conditions
Here are the health issues that make you feel stomach pain after drinking water. If you are feeling pain, you should get yourself on home depot health checked for these issues.
8. Stomach Ulcers
These sores inside the stomach lining will upset your stomach whenever you put something in it. Water is one of the things that will disturb these ulcers resulting in severe pain.
9. Inflammation
If you are suffering from inflammation in the stomach, this symptom will be aggravated because of water intake.
You will feel even more discomfort if you drink warm or hot water. This water will give you burning pain in your belly fat. If your inflammation is severe, you may even experience trouble drinking cold water.
Intestinal and stomach inflammation is a common symptom of IBS. So, you will have the same trouble of burning pain after drinking water in this condition.
10. Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)
When Esophagus opens more than it should, acids from the stomach seep into this digestive tube and because it is not protected against these harsh acids, we feel a burning sensation as a result.
If you drink water in this condition, the water will signal the release of these acids to prompt its digestion leading to nastier back pain.
Water Poisonings That Are Causing This Pain
If your water isn’t suitable for drinking, you can get ill after using it. Stomach pain can be the first symptom to alert you against possible contamination.
These contaminants can come from the source of the water, especially if the water is not adequately treated or tested for suitability.
Or if you drink tap water, these pollutants can come from the taps and pipes that are sending this water to you.
Here are the most common water pollutants that may result in stomach pain.
11. Lead Poisoning
If you use newly installed pipes and plumbing for water, you are safe from this dangerous poison in tap water. But if you are using decade-old pipes, you should see if they were galvanized steel pipes.
These days, water supply equipment uses copper pipes. This is done to minimize exposure to corrosion and lead which was an integral part of galvanized pipes.
If you are being poisoned with lead, you will feel nausea, weakness, and vomiting on top of stomach aches.
You can start the diagnosis at home by checking your pipes. Or you can visit a doctor and come back to get the plumbing changed along with other medications suggested by the physician.
12. Arsenic And Other Contaminants
If you live near an industrial area or mines or if fields near your residence are frequently sprayed with pesticides and preservatives, you should also get your drinking water checked for arsenic content.
Why does my stomach hurt after drinking water ache from drinking water often happens when the water is polluted with this or other contaminations.
Besides, you should also send the water sample to check the presence of mercury, manganese, and copper in it.
13. Certain Allergies
If you are using tap water or groundwater, you are susceptible to these water-borne threats to your health. But don’t assume yourself safe from water-related problems only because you use filtered or treated water.
You can still fall prey to the chemicals included in this water even if it’s treated. The chances increase if you are allergic to certain chemicals.
If you are allergic to chlorine, fluorides, or chloramines; you should check if the treated water you are using has higher levels of these chemicals.
You should also check the tap water you are receiving because many municipalities add these chemicals before sending water.
14. Microbial Growths
These pathogens are the most common reason for water-borne diseases. If you use groundwater for drinking, you face a higher risk of these germs seeping into your water.
Fortunately, you can mitigate this risk to some extent by boiling and/or filtering.
Take Away
Water is a life source. It often symbolizes health and purity. But for some people, it becomes a source of discomfort and pain.
A very small sect of people experiences pain during or after drinking water. And they get concerned asking, ‘Why does my stomach hurt after drinking water?’
The question becomes increasingly confusing when they don’t have an illness to blame for this pain.
And when they get the ache suddenly or at a certain time of the day, they start dreading drinking water at that time.
This post answers your concerns if you regularly experience this pain. In short, if you don’t have medical conditions that warrant this ache, you must be feeling it either because of wrong drinking habits or poor quality of water.
