Has anyone looked at hyponatremia/salt-deficiency as an (intermediate) cause of their fatigue and confusion?
After extensive research I eventually found that I could manage my fatigue symptoms to a large extent through drinking a great deal of water. I realised that I was permanently dehydrated, sometimes not drinking anything all day and sweating all night - but I had no thirst. The problem was, though, that I was unable to hold onto water for more than 5 minutes. Water in, water straight out. If I was drinking lots of water I couldn't go far from a loo, and I'd have to get up many times in the night.
I solved this by consuming a lot of salt and electrolyte mixtures with the water. After a few days my brain returns and I sleep all night. As soon as I stop drinking so much, my symptoms return within days. I think the dehydration also explains my recurrent fevers, as the body heats up when dehydrated.
I'm wondering, now, why I can't hang on to my water. Hyponatremia (and article on salt/CFS here) seems like it may be an issue, but I don't recognise any of the suggested medical causes.
The thing is, back when I started getting ill, I was training in the gym fairly enthusiastically, had cut out almost all salt (having bought into the 'low-salt' medical message) and was drinking quite a lot of coffee. So, we have sweat salt-loss, low salt intake and further caffeine-induced salt-loss. Add to that a lot of emotional stress (given that the adrenal hormones also help regulate salt levels), and we have a problem.
So, I'm hoping that by staying watered, salted and relaxed, I may come back into hormonal balance. I'd much prefer that it was a balance issue rather than a virus...
Does this ring a bell with anyone else?
After extensive research I eventually found that I could manage my fatigue symptoms to a large extent through drinking a great deal of water. I realised that I was permanently dehydrated, sometimes not drinking anything all day and sweating all night - but I had no thirst. The problem was, though, that I was unable to hold onto water for more than 5 minutes. Water in, water straight out. If I was drinking lots of water I couldn't go far from a loo, and I'd have to get up many times in the night.
I solved this by consuming a lot of salt and electrolyte mixtures with the water. After a few days my brain returns and I sleep all night. As soon as I stop drinking so much, my symptoms return within days. I think the dehydration also explains my recurrent fevers, as the body heats up when dehydrated.
I'm wondering, now, why I can't hang on to my water. Hyponatremia (and article on salt/CFS here) seems like it may be an issue, but I don't recognise any of the suggested medical causes.
The thing is, back when I started getting ill, I was training in the gym fairly enthusiastically, had cut out almost all salt (having bought into the 'low-salt' medical message) and was drinking quite a lot of coffee. So, we have sweat salt-loss, low salt intake and further caffeine-induced salt-loss. Add to that a lot of emotional stress (given that the adrenal hormones also help regulate salt levels), and we have a problem.
So, I'm hoping that by staying watered, salted and relaxed, I may come back into hormonal balance. I'd much prefer that it was a balance issue rather than a virus...
Does this ring a bell with anyone else?