I drink about 110 ounces of fluids daily including coffee, water, and electrolytes (propel) .
I don’t like salty food so I have always limited my sodium intake. I never add salt to anything and buy low sodium foods.
I’m always tired and I’d have to say dizziness, muscle cramps, and brain fog bother me the most. I don’t sleep well and this started with SSRIs for anxiety 30 years ago.
I take duloxetine and Paxil for anxiety and depression. I stopped taking losartan after losing 50 pounds and stopped trazodone for sleep when my sodium levels dropped to 131. My physician followed my sodium for months and it increased to 136 after 6 months. So my sodium has been stable since last August.
First Of like to say thanks for the Sub 🙌! It means a lot, especially in these early days for me here on Substack. Really sorry to hear that happened to your Mom. I would bet anything she’s not alone. In regards to your question, I gave it a good amount of thought and I realize that I couldn’t give you an honest answer without asking you some questions first, so if you could direct message me the answers to these questions (or leave them here if you’d like others to learn from this), I’d be happy to give you a clearer, more grounded answer, either way, because honestly, even something like Gatorade can be dilutional if you drink too much of it due to its generally low concentration of sodium relative to fluid ounces.
Here are the key questions:
1. How much fluid do you drink, on average, in a typical day?
My mom became severely hyponatremic when she was drinking extra fluids in preparation for a colonoscopy. She became so confused that she had to be hospitalized and treated with sodium over a week.
How does salt restriction lead to heart dis-ease and fear based reactionary thinking? Is the article where I explain why salt restriction impacts the kidneys and adrenals.
The kidneys love removing salt - designed for this - it is their drive mode.
The adrenals switch on with low salt status because hyponatremia is an emergency.
The adrenals cause the kidneys to work counter to their primary design and scavenge for salt to maintain blood salinity - in reverse mode.
This is fine in short bursts but it causes kidney dis-ease if salt restriction causes a chronic deficiency.
Drinking water all day + salt restriction causes kidney dis-ease and adrenal exhaustion/enlargement over time.
Hydration = SALT + water
Water follows salt into & out of the body. Salt is the cup water must fill.
Add salt to your water bottle, you’ll notice the difference.
So age (lowered kidney filtration efficiency) and chronically pushing our kidneys to work in “reverse mode” by chronically restricting salt is likely deteriorating our kidneys even faster (speeding up age related drop in efficiency). This is the sad paradox. When we pair potassium rich whole food intake with salt consumption, we’re able to consume the amount of salt our body craves/needs with less of the adverse side effects typically associated with salt intake (bloating, higher blood pressure, etc.).
Bloating is a signal of fermentation instead of digestion, salt provides Cl to make sufficient stomach acid, HCl. Low salt / salt restriction leads to low stomach acid, heartburn, bloating etc.
Salt might rise bp 4-5pts in most people whereas salt sensitives rise 15-20pts.
Salt is not a factor in rising bp for the majority.
Salt restriction + adrenals that have adapted/enlarged to a low sodium dietary are very efficient when salt is added to diet, hence the over reaction.
Add salt gradually, gain confidence as the benefits become very apparent.
I drink about 110 ounces of fluids daily including coffee, water, and electrolytes (propel) .
I don’t like salty food so I have always limited my sodium intake. I never add salt to anything and buy low sodium foods.
I’m always tired and I’d have to say dizziness, muscle cramps, and brain fog bother me the most. I don’t sleep well and this started with SSRIs for anxiety 30 years ago.
I take duloxetine and Paxil for anxiety and depression. I stopped taking losartan after losing 50 pounds and stopped trazodone for sleep when my sodium levels dropped to 131. My physician followed my sodium for months and it increased to 136 after 6 months. So my sodium has been stable since last August.
So it’s been recommended for me to drink 100 ounces. My sodium tends to run on the lower side of normal. 130-132.
If I drink an electrolyte solution once daily will that help with dilution or should I drink less water?
First Of like to say thanks for the Sub 🙌! It means a lot, especially in these early days for me here on Substack. Really sorry to hear that happened to your Mom. I would bet anything she’s not alone. In regards to your question, I gave it a good amount of thought and I realize that I couldn’t give you an honest answer without asking you some questions first, so if you could direct message me the answers to these questions (or leave them here if you’d like others to learn from this), I’d be happy to give you a clearer, more grounded answer, either way, because honestly, even something like Gatorade can be dilutional if you drink too much of it due to its generally low concentration of sodium relative to fluid ounces.
Here are the key questions:
1. How much fluid do you drink, on average, in a typical day?
(Including water, tea, coffee, electrolyte drinks, etc.)
Why:
Excess fluid intake is one of the fastest ways to worsen low sodium.
It immediately tells you whether dilution might be part of the picture.
2. Do you deliberately limit salt, or do you salt your food to taste?
Why:
This quickly identifies whether there’s a meaningful sodium intake restriction.
Many people with low sodium values have been told for years to avoid salt.
3. What symptoms bother you most?
Examples:
Fatigue
Dizziness when standing
Brain fog
Anxiety
Poor sleep
Heart palpitations
Muscle cramps
Why:
Symptoms often reveal more than the sodium number itself.
They also give clues about autonomic nervous system activation.
4. Are you taking any medications regularly?
Especially:
Diuretics
Antidepressants
Blood pressure medications
Why:
These are among the most common causes of chronic hyponatremia.
5. Have your sodium levels been around 130–132 for years, or is this something new?
Why:
Chronic stable hyponatremia and newly developed hyponatremia are very different situations.
A recent change deserves more urgency and investigation.
My mom became severely hyponatremic when she was drinking extra fluids in preparation for a colonoscopy. She became so confused that she had to be hospitalized and treated with sodium over a week.
How does salt restriction lead to heart dis-ease and fear based reactionary thinking? Is the article where I explain why salt restriction impacts the kidneys and adrenals.
The kidneys love removing salt - designed for this - it is their drive mode.
The adrenals switch on with low salt status because hyponatremia is an emergency.
The adrenals cause the kidneys to work counter to their primary design and scavenge for salt to maintain blood salinity - in reverse mode.
This is fine in short bursts but it causes kidney dis-ease if salt restriction causes a chronic deficiency.
Drinking water all day + salt restriction causes kidney dis-ease and adrenal exhaustion/enlargement over time.
Hydration = SALT + water
Water follows salt into & out of the body. Salt is the cup water must fill.
Add salt to your water bottle, you’ll notice the difference.
So age (lowered kidney filtration efficiency) and chronically pushing our kidneys to work in “reverse mode” by chronically restricting salt is likely deteriorating our kidneys even faster (speeding up age related drop in efficiency). This is the sad paradox. When we pair potassium rich whole food intake with salt consumption, we’re able to consume the amount of salt our body craves/needs with less of the adverse side effects typically associated with salt intake (bloating, higher blood pressure, etc.).
Bloating is a signal of fermentation instead of digestion, salt provides Cl to make sufficient stomach acid, HCl. Low salt / salt restriction leads to low stomach acid, heartburn, bloating etc.
Salt might rise bp 4-5pts in most people whereas salt sensitives rise 15-20pts.
Salt is not a factor in rising bp for the majority.
Salt restriction + adrenals that have adapted/enlarged to a low sodium dietary are very efficient when salt is added to diet, hence the over reaction.
Add salt gradually, gain confidence as the benefits become very apparent.