You may have been taking a cold sip of that sweet H2O, and you are suddenly feeling that something isn’t feeling quite right. You may be in for a nasty surprise.
Water is supposed to be this nourishing thing that we humans depend on. So you may be feeling confused as to why this liquid would suddenly be causing you issues.
It’s not like you went out the night before and had an excessive amount of alcohol to drink. In that case, it may be easier to understand why everything feels like it is hurting just a little too much.
We’d also like to get into a couple of the reasons why you may be feeling this pain. Here’s what you can do about it to make sure that you are addressing the underlying issues.
You may have wondered why a website that sells lead test kits is writing an article about your experience with a stomach that hurts when you’re drinking water. The sad reality is that the two may be connected.
If it does turn out that they’re connected, you will want to make sure that you aren’t continuously being exposed. The dangerous heavy metal may just be causing your stomach to be upset.
However, we’ll talk more about that as we get to that specific section of the article. For now, we just wanted to let you know that there is a connection. We haven’t gone fully off-brand to write this article.
You must make sure that it is not lead poisoning or exposure that you are dealing with. If you have recently removed a wall or found hairline cracks you repaired in your home, it could be a reason. Perhaps you didn’t take the necessary steps to protect yourself against lead poisoning.
Lead exposure can happen in many ways.
Pregnant women should also be especially careful not to do anything that would expose them to elevated lead levels. Perhaps you removed old paint without properly protecting your airways against the dust. Remodeling generates a bunch of dust if you aren’t using one of these chemical solutions to help you out.
However, it could also be that the pain you feel is entirely unrelated to lead exposure. Read on to understand better the most likely sources that could be causing these issues.
8 Reasons Why Your Stomach Hurts When or After Drinking Water
When dealing with stomach pain, it’s a good idea to figure out if it seems only to manifest itself at a specific time of the day. If so, it could indicate that something around that time is causing it. Are you only experiencing it when you drink water at a certain temperature?
Is it perhaps that you get it only when you drink something hot, or do you also get it with tap-cold liquids as well?
First 4 reasons
| Reasons | Notes |
| Shock in the morning | Change routines. Eating before drinking |
| Cold water | Raise the temperature of the water. Less icecubes. |
| Drinking too fast | Patience. Drink slower |
| Medical reasons | Lead poisoning. Lead test, blood test, water test. Removal of lead contaminated lead |
1. Shock in the morning
Mornings may be rough for a lot of people. Something will make them even tougher if you start experiencing pain in your stomach as you get out of bed.
Perhaps you manage to get down that one glass of water before the feeling sets in. It may be despite being told that starting the day with a glass of water is a healthy activity. Perhaps you’re hoping to curb some of those early morning cravings, like the craving to have a big sugary breakfast.
You could be experiencing pain in your stomach in the morning when you’re drinking water and have it be a shock to the stomach. Your stomach is longing for some food, and you have yet to give it any food.
If you believe that might be the case, try changing up your routine to see if at all it changes your stomach pangs. If you still want to have a glass in the morning before you start eating, perhaps try pushing back your breakfast a couple of hours. If you are used to eating at 7 am and have your first glass 10 minutes before that, try seeing if you can eat at 10 am instead. Have your first glass of water at 9:50 instead.
Is that changing anything for you? If so, great! Maybe you still experience pain if you are having a glass before you have any food. It could be that your body is not cut out for a lot of hydration before you have food.
2. Is cold water causing it?
You feel like getting the chilling effects of consuming a cold glass of water at certain times. There are also times when it may seem like the cold is causing the pain.
If you seem to mainly be experiencing it after a glass of cold water, while you won’t after a glass of warm H2O, maybe it’s the temperature. The easy answer may be to make sure that you put slightly fewer ice cubes in the water. Figure out what sort of temperature will trigger your body into its adverse reaction to this very healthy liquid.
Your body’s normal temperature is around 98 degrees. If you’re flushing down a very cold glass of water, it is no surprise that you are exposing your body to quite the shock. The same is the case when you put an ice cube in your mouth. It’s also the case with anything else that is very cold, and you’re experiencing a brain freeze.
Your body may not handle the differences in temperatures that you are exposing it to. Pain could be the obvious thing that comes out of it as a consequence.
3. Are you drinking it too fast?
You may feel that an unsatisfying amount of thirst is headed your way. You may think the best way to deal with it is to drink as much water as quickly as you possibly can.
However, are you getting the same level of pain if you drink the water at a slower pace? Try forcing yourself to consume it at a slower pace.
There is also a very likely possibility that you will end up drinking less of it. We are not saying that you shouldn’t be looking to satisfy your thirst. Perhaps drink water until you feel you are no longer thirsty. Rather than trying to cause something that resembled a fluid overload, that is. Perhaps the expansion of your stomach is what is causing the hurting.
Drinking too much water
- Offsetting the electrolyte ratio
- Lack of sodium (hyponatremia)
- Stomack cramps
- Weakness
- Nausea and other
Water is crucial for our survival. You can drink so much of it that you die from it. That is when the electrolyte ratio is entirely off.
You could be drinking massive amounts of water without taking in the necessary sodium. This would be lowering your body’s overall sodium levels and getting to the point of hyponatremia. That can cause stomach cramps, weakness, nausea, and other nasty side effects.
4. Medical reasons
The methods above may have been able to address the situation. Maybe you are no longer experiencing any pain. We are happy that you managed to address the situation! If something else is causing it, it may indicate more serious issues. You will need to look into these. The first one that we will be talking about is lead poisoning.
The bad thing about lead poisoning is that there is very little that you can do about it right now. However, there is a good thing about discovering that it is an issue you are dealing with. Knowing means, you can take the necessary steps to remedy the situation. That may also include your landlord having to do work.
4 more reasons
| Reasons | Notes |
| Lead poisoning | Lead test, blood test, water test. Removal of lead contaminated paint |
| Arsenic contamination | Vomiting. Abdominal pain |
| Microbial growth and allergic reactions | Try boiling the water. Test for chlorine and chloramines |
| Other medical issues | Stomach ulcers, inflammation, gastroesophageal reflux disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and more. Talk with your doctor |
5. Lead poisoning
Unfortunately, lead poisoning is a very serious medical condition that can lead to some very difficult side effects. The later you find out that you are dealing with it, the worse it is.
We wish we could say that the situation was different. There are still many homes across the US that have lead inside of them. Perhaps you haven’t managed to get a professional to come out with an XRF analyzer to see the old paint installed back in the day. Perhaps when the house was built, it contained heaps of lead. Over the years, this paint has not managed to stay intact. It’s due to the constant weathering that it has been exposed to. As a consequence, you have been inhaling little lead flakes for a very long time.
- In homes built before 1940, as many as 87% are likely to have it
- In homes built between 1940 to 1959, as many as 69% are likely to have it
- In homes built between 1960 to 1977, as many as 24% of homes are likely to have it
- Banned in 1978
If your lead exposure stems from the fact that it is all over the walls, the best thing would be to make sure that you have it all abated. However, the second-best situation is to encapsulate the old and problematic paint.
The good news regarding the potential exposure to lead is that it has been limited over the years. Lead was previously used in residential paint and the pipes and plumbing of the house. However, heavy metal in residential paint was prohibited starting in 1977. There are still a lot of water pipes out there that were galvanized steel pipes that would trigger the release of lead over time.
These pipes were common between the 1930s and the 1960s. Luckily we have since gone over to use copper pipes instead. You would be well off making sure that your water doesn’t have high lead levels in it.
We recommend that you both get a blood test and a water test if you suspect that this may be an issue for you. Making sure that your home is lead-free is good for you and good for the other people of the home. If you are living with someone relatively young who is at risk of lead exposure, it’s especially important.
6. Arsenic contamination
There is a range of countries worldwide where the arsenic content in the water is dangerously high. If you get vomiting and abdominal pain, this could be another thing that is causing issues. You’ll be saddened by the fact that there are actual places in the United States where inorganic arsenic is in the groundwater.
This can pose a threat. Other countries where this is a concern include Argentina, Bangladesh, China, India, and Mexico. To get a more thorough list, make sure to check out WHO.
7. Microbial growth and allergic reactions
There may be a specific growth of certain microbial organisms that your stomach isn’t ready to handle. These pathogens can cause a range of problems, and stomach pain is just one of them. If you are used to drinking the water straight from the tap and experiencing discomfort at that point, try this. Try boiling it to get rid of those pathogens and see if it fixes the problem.
Allergic reactions are another thing to consider. Some municipalities may have different processes to expose the water before it’s sent to the houses. They could end up adding stuff like chlorine and chloramines, which you may have allergic reactions to.
8. Other medical issues
Don’t you think that these things are what is causing your issues? Unfortunately, there’s an extensive list of medical reasons why you could be experiencing stomach pain. This includes
- stomach ulcers
- inflammation
- gastroesophageal reflux disease
- irritable bowel syndrome, and other
Some of these issues may be resolved with a healthier lifestyle that is less inducive of inflammation. This includes eating a ketogenic diet in general. If you suspect medical reasons, you really should be consulting a doctor.
