3-4 bottles of water does not sound like very much in a 6 hour shift under those conditions. I used to work in restaurants and the chefs would drink water literally out of gallon jugs to stay hydrated. Hell, I drink 3-4 bottles of water in six hours under normal conditions. I would speak to you doctor about the chronic headaches.

I agree with Rick, you may not be getting enough water. In sports we tell our kids to pre-hydrate. Don't wait until you are thirsty, then you are only playing catch up. Drink a bottle of water before you start working to get ahead of the curve.

Check with your doctor, see if there is a chance you have an electrolyte imbalance. That has caused headaches for me in the past. Normally we get enough salts in our food, but if you are really losing a lot of sweat you might want to consider adding a sports drink or two during the day to replenish the salt you lose. But talk to your doctor about this FIRST! If you are not losing salts then adding more in is not a good idea!

i have cut out alot of salt in my diet.i barely eat it at all and dont eat processed foods anymore.
so there might be an imbalance there.
thanks for thoughts

I forgot to address your first statement. "If you are sweating you are losing weight."

A person can sweat just being in a hot environment. True, you are losing weight, but it is just water and you will gain it right back when you rehydrate yourself.

If you are sweating because you are exercising hard, then I agree, odds are that you are losing weight, but the catch is that you are sweating because you are working hard, and you are losing weight because you are working hard.

Hi Annie

I remember you had trouble before from drinking too much water so I'd be careful about upping your water amount without talking to your doctor.

The headaches are possibly from heatstroke. You do have to stay hydrated but if you're in a hot kitchen the water might not actually be cold enough to cool you down. I had trouble with heat stroke when I was farming because I was my only field hand and it can get hot out there. You don't have to be outside to get heatstroke though.

Some things that helped me are:

I have loads of hair. I'd soak it under a COLD tap and then put it in a low bun at the base of my neck where it would stay wet and cool for hours. When it dried or stopped helping I'd stick my head under the tap again.

I also draped wet towels around my neck. I'd run them under cold water every half hour or so.

If you're handy with a needle and thread you could make yourself something like this.
http://www.amazon.com/Body-Cooling-Cold-Pack-Systems/dp/B000S89HGC

Hope you find something that works for you.

facinng50. i did not even consider heat stroke because i thought that would only occur outside in the sun.
but i guess it could happen inside as well. thanks for you advice. i think i may know how to handle this now.