Dr. Pepper and CF

I had an interesting observation pointed out to me not too long ago by a fellow co-worker. I'm an RT for those who don't know. Let me set the observation up for you....

Every day at lunch, I drink 2 20oz bottles of the best soda in the universe, Dr. Pepper!!! If I could take it intra-venously I would, except then you would miss out on all 23 of those wonderful, heaven sent flavors! I love it so much, Monica made my grooms cake look like a Dr. Pepper can! Back to my story, everybody at work knows I drink 2 with every lunch. I know it's bad to drink as much soda as I do, but hey it's my vice. Better that than drugs I always say, lol! A new employee one day noticed that I had 2 DP's with my daily usual of a cheeseburger and order of chicken strips with hot sauce and A1 for dipping the strips in. They couldn't believe I would drink 2 with lunch. Everyone around chimed in "Yea, he always does." One of the older RT's who works with us CFers said "Well yea he does, he has CF."

I laughed pretty hard at that, which got her and everybody else laughing hysterically! Let me first say before going on, that everyone I work with is EXTREMELY supportive of me and my CF! They are awesome and never say anything offensive about CF patients. Around me anyway, :)

So I asked her after we finished laughing, what having CF had to do with drinking so much soda? She said had a theory on this matter. Given it's just a theory, but she has been in respiratory for 40+ years and worked with hundreds of CF patients. She said she had noticed that almost every CF patient she'd ever taken care of (hundreds) drank a lot of soda! More specifically Mountain Dew or Dr. Pepper. Her theory is that we do this because of the high Sodium content in soda, especially in Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper, which have a higher content than others. In theory, it makes perfect sense right?! We lose a lot of sodium when we sweat, and our bodies need/crave more sodium. Whether it's scientifically proven or not, I was intrigued. I was reminded about this today when another new employee pointed out my 2 DP's with my lunch in astonishment. Food for thought... or should I say Soda for thought! :)

So for all you CFer's reading this post, do you drink lots of soda? If so, what kind?