One Of Her Patients Thought Mountain Dew Was Water And That It Would Keep Her Hydrated
Imagine going to the doctor and casually mentioning that you stay hydrated by drinking Mountain Dew. That’s exactly what happened to one healthcare worker named Abby Fernandez (@abs_fernandez).
She is a physician assistant in neurosurgery and recently met with a patient who was having headaches. The interaction reminded her of a previous patient with “mysterious” headaches.
This patient had been complaining about her headaches, so Abby asked her a bunch of questions about the headaches to try to figure out the root cause.
Abby posed questions about daily activities, diet, exercise, and water intake. The patient told Abby that she drank a ton of water and always carried a bottle with her.
Then, she proceeded to pull out a bottle of Mountain Dew. Abby asked if she balanced each soda with a cup of water, but she asserted that the soda was water because that was the first ingredient on the bottle.
Abby explained that she needed to drink regular water since soda was filled with sugar and other additives.
Abby was shocked that the patient thought soda was an appropriate replacement for water. In the end, it was obvious that all the sodas she had been drinking were causing her headaches.
The interaction highlighted a bigger issue: the alarming lack of health education and literacy in today’s world. If people are mistaking soda for water, then what else are they getting wrong about nutrition and wellness?
It turns out that these misguided beliefs about water are very common. In the comments section, many TikTok users shared examples of people who definitely do not drink enough water on a daily basis.
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“I worked in pediatrics for eight years. The amount of people who put Mountain Dew in their babies’ bottles was INSANE,” commented one user.
“My ex only drank Dr. Pepper and refused to make the connection between that and chronic kidney stones,” stated another.
“My grandma spent the past decade living on just coffee, red wine, and a singular glass of water a day (despite our pleading). Her kidneys failed two years ago. Shocker,” wrote a third.
“My neighbor had chronic health issues and claimed she was allergic to water, so she ‘had to’ drink 12 Coke slushies a day,” added someone else.
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