3 year old excessive thirst

[ShallWeGoToTheFirepit]

Hi everyone.

My 3 year old DD has always been a big drinker. She guzzled her bottles and milk as a baby and always drank lots of water and milk.

I never thought anything of it until preschool mentioned it to me recently.

Since then (on Friday) I have kept a tally of how many drinks she has. She mostly drinks water or milk, with the occasional squash or diluted fresh juice.

She has had 14 drinks today in total, she has a large munchkin cup if you know the one I mean, so it's quite a big cup rather than a small beaker.

When she does drink each drink, she will more often or not guzzle them down. She does pee very often and her pee is clear. I honestly thought it was just good hydration!

Is this normal? Or anything to worry about? No other symptoms of anything, otherwise a very strapping healthy preschooler. She is slightly on the smaller side, but I am petite and she's plotting on her charts correctly. I'm now worried about over hydration.

Thank you!

@ShallWeGoToTheFirepit

I'm wondering did your daughters bloods include Sodium levels or have I missed this somewhere in the tread.

Low sodium levels (Hyponatremia) can cause seizures if it's low enough.
Some of your symptoms stated can be a result of this electrolyte inbalance.

Hope you get answers.

@ShallWeGoToTheFirepit oh your poor girl. She is going through a lot. Have they already officially ruled out water diabetes? Good luck for Monday and hopefully they will figure out quickly what's causing it all.

Good luck with it all, @ShallWeGoToTheFirepit

It sounds very worrying for you and your lovely little girl.

@jannier thank you so much for your well wishes, it honestly means so much.

@tazzy73 yes the bloods included sodium. She was slightly low, but not low enough to be abnormal. She was on the lower range of normal IYSWIM

@Sunshine085 I don't think they've 'officially' ruled it out yet, but that was one of the main diagnosis the consultant thought it could be, so I know the bloods she ordered covered that and they came back normal, so back to the drawing board with the drinking! On the plus side, because the drinking doesn't seem to be related, I can slowly, but by bit, start to reduce her intake. She has naturally decreased over the last week, which is good!

@TheShellBeach thank you so much ❤️

She has been an absolute trooper. There was a play therapist with her when she had her bloods. Because of my medical history, she has seen lots of cannulas, paramedics, etc etc so she was very frightened and I really didn't want to restrain her and traumatised her. The play therapist worked an absolute miracle! By no means was DD pleased about the blood test, with only a few tears though, we managed it.

The play therapist and all the staff, nurses and consultant have been incredible.
The consultant is very speedy with getting back to me, so I know DD is in the best hands, whatever the outcome will be. I just hope they can figure out what's going on in her little brain.

It's so much easier when it's me going through it. I wish I could take it all away from her. It's a total different pain when it's your child isn't it 😔

Thank you again, truly, from the bottom of my heart for your support. I don't know if you saw my other thread (I had it removed as STBXH saw it) but my marriage has recently broken down after finding out about a 2.5 year affair (while I was in hospital battling my own health conditions in ICU) so things are so tough at the moment. But DD is keeping me going. Shes my world and I just want to make her little world as bright and as happy as can be.

I'll update as and when I get updates for you all wondering how she's getting on. Thank you again ❤️

@ShallWeGoToTheFirepit it seems like it has been a tough year for you so far. I hope you have someone you can talk to and who gives you a bit of support? You need to look after your own mental health throughout all of this too.

@ShallWeGoToTheFirepit

I lost your thread, I'm so happy to have found it again!

what's the latest with DD?!

I won't say much about your Ex given you pulled that thread after him finding it. But my thoughts are still with you over that xx

how are YOU doing? Xx

@AmelieTaylor

Hello! Thank you so so much for thinking of me and DD and for your well wishes.
She's actually had a pretty good week. She's had a couple of absent seizures but she seems on the whole okay! So strange, when the weather is hot she isn't drinking her obscene amounts, I can't put my finger on it! Which may mean it's behavioural rather than neuro linked but I'm open to anything at the moment!

I'm okay, just trying to keep one foot in front of the other at the moment, it's super tough trying to navigate everything, now as a single mum too but I'm getting there slowly! I've managed to get a bit of legal advice now to get the wheels in motion. It's a lot to go through on top of my medical issues (my hearts in all sorts of a mess from my chemo) but things are slowly ironing out. I've got such a long way to go but as long as DD is happy I'm happy. She has her GA MRI on Thursday. She's got a little pre assessment type thing on Tuesday. I haven't had the results of the EKG yet but she didn't have any episodes whilst having the EKG (typical) but I do have about appointment in a couple of weeks where I guess they'll go through the MRI and the EKG. She's being such a trooper taking it in her stride.

I've actually got a weekend to myself this weekend, I'm a bit lost as to what to do but I've bought some books and I think I'm just going to sit in my jarmas get a Chinese and just be..

Have a lovely weekend, I'll update here as and when and thank you again for your kind thoughts. It means so much to me ❤️

DS is very similar on the amount they drink and always has been. We think (he's currently been tested for) micro-deletion to the STS gene.

Also thinking about you OP. My husband goes away a lot with his job and I find it very scary if the children are ill or need to go to hospital. It’s very stressful and also tiring so take care of yourself as well.

Morning all,

Today is the day. Me and DD are in hospital and she's waiting to go to theatre to be put to sleep, she's got her magic cream on. She's a little nervous bless her and I'm dreading watching her go under but I want to be next to her for as much as possible.

She has to have another EEG (I keep calling it an EKG sorry about that) on Monday, but this time with flashing lights and sounds and other tests on them.

She's not medicated yet, but I think she will be soon.
Shes already asked the nurses for jam on toast for when she wakes up! They've been so good with her, she's under a really fantastic team. Paediatric medical staff are absolute heroes.

Thank you again all for thinking of my little girl, I'll update later when she's all done and we're home. I've promised her a duvet day on the sofa with her favourite snacks and films.

Will report back later, have a good day all

@ShallWeGoToTheFirepit thinking of you and your girl.

Wishing your daughter and you all the very best for today. I hope all goes smoothly and you back home having cuddles soon.
My son went under GA at age 3 and it was nerve-wracking but the medical team were fantastic and took care of him so well.

She's just gone down now, watching her get put to sleep was so traumatic she really fought it but I'm hoping she won't remember any of it. I would switch places with her in a heart beat. Just want her back now but she will be back soon 😭

Hope everything goes well today for you both.

She'll be back with you before you know it @ShallWeGoToTheFirepit .

When a friend's baby was having an MRI, she and her husband tried to name a vegetable for every letter in the alphabet to keep them busy, then fruits etc. Just to keep the mind a little distracted.

Hope you get answers soon, and that you have a lovely afternoon snuggling on the sofa.

Hi OP just read your thread. Hope you get some answers today. I think you are doing a great job to support your little girl and it is so nice to read the support from other lovely MNetters. Well done for being so strong.

poor lass. Really hope you get some answers soon.

pardon my ignorance but why does she need a general for an MRI? Isn’t it just a scan where you lie in a machine? Or is this more specific given how poorly she is? Sounds horrible.

@otravezempezamos I think they often put little kids under as it's quite a long time they have to lay perfectly still, plus it's a huge noisy machine that can be frightening for a child. And I don't think anyone can sit with them/be with them while it's going either.

They put DD under as the scan took 45 minutes. She's only 3 and she has to be very still for it. I have 2 MRIs a year due to cancer and they're incredibly noisy and you have to wear headphones, so there's no way DD would've laid still for that long, I think it would be very frightening for a child. An MRI is the narrow tunnel scan.
There's 2 other children quite a bit older than DD who are having a general too :)

She's dozing now, she's had some yogurt and some juice. Waiting for her to wake and go for a wee then should be off home thankfully!

Thanks for all the lovely thoughts and messages everyone

Been thinking of you .hope she recovers quickly. To reassure you I've had plenty of generals as a child and all I remember is going to sleep and that's it and that's much older.

Keep us updated as to how's she's doing xx

Oh OP that is the hardest part. 😢 she won't remember. My son fought as well and it was horrendous but he doesn't remember a thing thankfully. I hope she's back with you now 🫂

Thinking of you OP, she is a little superstar - as are you

Yeah, it's totally normal for MRIs of little ones to be under GA. My 5yo has been having them periodically since 2.5, probably at least 8 of them, all under GA.

Hope you get home soon x

Hello all!

Just a quick update for anyone still around, DDs MRI is clear thank the Lord. I was most worried about that, as with seizures we can deal with that, but if they were caused by anything growing on her brain or structural problems then that's a whole new kettle of fish. EEG has shown seizure like activity, she will probably have to have another one over a longer period of time as both EEGs she's had have been quite short. But her MRI is normal. Had a big cry of relief yesterday when they told me the results.

We're heading down the epilepsy / petit mal pathway now. Her drinking has been a bit of a mystery and perhaps maybe a way of regulation or soothing. I have ADHD so it wouldn't surprise me if DD had some sort of ND and maybe it could be linked to that, who knows. But I've been scaling her drinks back very slowly (a beaker a day) and she's been doing amazing. She's back at the childminders today for the first time in a while so she can see her friends and I can get some work done.

A huge sigh of relief and can breathe a bit now for sure.

That's fantastic news, I'm so glad to hear it. I hope you get the seizures regulated soon.