Recently I decided to attempt prolonged fasting again. I had blogged about my fasting in the past, but this time it was a little different. Given my experience of eating only two meals a day for over one and a half years now, and often having one meal a day at times, I thought, let’s go ahead and do a 48-hour fast.
There are plenty of benefits to be had from prolonged fasting, such as, releasing dopamine and giving your body a rest from the constant digestion of food every day. But my goal this time was to help clear my head and reset my relationship with food. I think the fasting did help me with my mental health, but I am not so sure about my physical health. Was it all a mistake?
Last time I did a prolonged fast like this I was working from home due to the covid situation and I was able to just reduce any strenuous activities during the day. This time I decided to throw in some exercise like running and cycling during my fasting time. I had, liquids like, coffee, tea, water and plenty of sodium and potassium to keep hydrated, but apparently, I wasn’t hydrated enough.
To cut a long story short, two days after the fast I was feeling burning pain during urination a couple of times and that night, my urine was completely red from blood. I was totally shocked and felt like I needed to see the doctor straight away. I did not want to just google the systems, hoping that it would heal itself. I eventually saw the doctor the next day and I did urine, blood tests, as well as ultrasounds. He needed to rule out any serious conditions before just settling on what most likely was the cause, an infection.
I had to wait several days, thinking that the bleeding could have come from, kidney stones, prostate problems, or even a tumour. I was on edge by the final day before knowing my results and luckily there are no problems with my bladder, prostate, or kidneys. The problem was a urinary tract infection. The most common cause of these infections is dehydration.
I can’t understand. I thought that I was careful and was hydrated enough, but I wasn’t. I think that I will not try fasting for that long straight away. I will ease myself into it and research more on the best ways to stay hydrated. Maybe coffee was no good, as it is a diuretic. Maybe I didn’t drink enough water.
I thought it is well worth sharing this information, as the benefits are great from fasting, but there are also these painful problems associated with fasting. You need to know what you are doing and take things slow. Know your limits and stop when you feel you need it.
If anyone else has had some problems fasting, I would like to hear about it in the comments.
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