POTS and sport drinks, how to use them

[lauluce]

I´ve got a question for anybody here who has POTS (postural tachicardya sindrome) or knows about it. I use sports drinks like gatorade or powerade to ease my symptoms, which I read works by increasing blood volume. Do you think that I should take one liter at once like I do, or should I take smaller sips over a longer period of time? This I ask because when I take those drinks, I seem to loose most of that water trough urination, which increases notably. Thanks!

 

[Jammy88]

i think being constant over a longer period of time would be probably the best idea.

Too much in a lil time is not always good. Then I guess it depends on your body and other co-factors.

 

[Sushi]

Mythought would be to skip the sports drinks (which are full of sugar) and use a purely electrolyte product. I put ElectroMix into about 8 oz of water, some take it more than once per day.

Sushi

 

[JaimeS]

I'm with @Sushi. I make my own mix of baking soda and multi-mineral salts. Sometimes I have an Emergen-C, which is quite helpful and doesn't have a lot of sugar.

-J

 

[ahimsa]

I also don't like sports drinks. They have too much sugar for me.

I mix up my own version of an electrolyte drink at home. It's close to what is in Pedialyte. It has a similar ratio of sodium and potassium. Sometimes I add in dextrose (about 1/2 of what is in Pedialyte) since that seems to help me with absorption. But sometimes I make it without any.

Back to the question of how to drink it, I usually mix up a liter and then drink it over a couple of hours.

 

[JaimeS]

Oh, I should add that if you chug the baking soda, you risk a paradoxical effect, as your body produces more acid to keep your system balanced. Sip slowly and as needed.

 

[SOC]

I'm with others -- sports drinks have too much sugar. I use either ElectroMix, or when I can't get it (like now, for some unknown reason) I mix my own electrolyte mix without sugar.

I was told that it is better to take fluids in larger amounts, and that sipping throughout the day wouldn't substantially increase blood volume. I was also told to do boluses (about 750 ml) before bed and before getting out of bed in the morning to compensate for overnight blood volume loss and the resulting morning dehydration.

his I ask because when I take those drinks, I seem to loose most of that water trough urination, which increases notably.

My cardio said that is what happens when you drink more without taking the medications necessary to keep the fluid in your blood. Your body's messaging system is telling your kidneys to take too great a percentage of water out of your blood, so drinking more just makes you urinate more and doesn't increase your blood volume. Meds that help with this problem are Florinef (fludrocortisone) and vasopressin, I believe.

 

[Strawberry]

I'm with @Sushi. I make my own mix of baking soda and multi-mineral salts. Sometimes I have an Emergen-C, which is quite helpful and doesn't have a lot of sugar.

-J

Would this qualify as multi mineral salt? http://www.amazon.com/Wright-Salt-8...F8&qid=1433087335&sr=8-1&keywords=wright+salt

And how much salt and baking soda would you put into a liter? Can it be flavored with lemon or fruits?

Thank you in advance!

 

[JaimeS]

@Strawberry - yes! It would! Mine is a multi-mineral salt, so it's multi-colored. It contains flecks of black salt, pink salt, etc. I initially bought it for culinary use, so I'm not actually certain of its composition the way I would be if I had bought it for medicinal purposes. However, I know it contains more than pure NaCl.

For mild POTS issues I just use a good pinch of each, Strawberry, like 1/16 of a tsp. For more severe POTS and / or crashing, I use 1/8 tsp of baking soda and two or three pinches of salt. Elsewhere you'll see 1/4 tsp baking soda, but if it's a crash, I drink it super-fast, and I don't want to achieve a paradoxical reaction by imbibing too much base too rapidly (your body produces more acid if you do).

If your crashes are brought on in part by increased lactate, I'd be cautious about putting anything acidic into the mix; although I have put a bit of homemade chai syrup in mine once or twice, which is mostly warming herbs like cinnamon, cardamom, and clove, and a little easily-absorbable sugar to steady myself. YMMV.

-J

 

[Strawberry]

Thank you @JaimeS I will try some today. As I don't know if I have POTS or not, I will stick with the pinch for now.

I also don't know if it is lactate or not, but considering I keep buying a lemon to help my liver and gall bladder, but then throw it away due to mold, my body probably is not wanting the excess acid.

I had often wondered how everyone drank electrolytes as I can't stand sugar. This will be easy to try as I love salt.

 

[JaimeS]

I can't stand sugar. This will be easy to try as I love salt.

Then you probably need it. When my POTS is acting up, water with a touch of salt, enough to change the consistency but not the taste, is fantastic. My body stands up and shouts that it Wants That.

-J

 

[SOC]

Thank you @JaimeS
I had often wondered how everyone drank electrolytes as I can't stand sugar. This will be easy to try as I love salt.

I'm with you. I love salt, but I can't stand sugar.

If you love salt, it is quite possible that you can get enough sodium by salting your food generously. It's likely more important that you get enough potassium, calcium, and magnesium -- especially potassium. The electrolyte powder suggested to me by the INIM exercise physiologist does not contain sodium, but has properly balanced other electrolytes. It's not just about the sodium. ElectroMix has no sugar and almost no flavor when mixed properly in 1 liter (not one glass) of water.

Unfortunately, ElectroMix is currently unavailable anywhere, so I have to mix my own. I just use potassium, magnesium etc powders and mix to the proportions in ElectroMix, except that I actually need more potassium because I take Florinef which is potassium-wasting.

 

[Sushi]

Unfortunately, ElectroMix is currently unavailable anywhere, so I have to mix my own.

When did it become unavailable? I got a few boxes from Vitacost a couple of months ago. Is it supposed to be coming back?

 

[mango]

Is it supposed to be coming back?

I signed up last week (or the week before?) to be notified by iHerb when it's back in stock. At that time it said they expected it back by May 28, but it's clearly not there yet.

 

[Strawberry]

My body stands up and shouts that it Wants That.

-J

Just finished my first liter. My body thanks you.

 

[SOC]

When did it become unavailable? I got a few boxes from Vitacost a couple of months ago. Is it supposed to be coming back?

It became unavailable within the 4-6 weeks. I haven't been able to find any information about why or whether it will come back. I sure hope it comes back. It works well, it's easy, and it's relatively cheap.

Mixing my own has been a pain because the components come in bottles of varying amounts, so now I have a half bottle of this, and a third of a bottle of that so it's hard to keep track of what I need to buy next to have the right amount for the next batch. And mixing it up correctly when cognitive dysfunction is acting up is a hoot (not!). We ended up throwing out one batch because in the end we weren't sure WTH we had when we were all done.

Daughter found a few boxes of ElectroMix she had stashed at her fiance's place. We're hoarding them for travel and other away-from-home situations and hoping ElectroMix comes back soon.

We have an additional difficulty finding a substitute because daughter is not supposed to have any folic acid since she is homozygous for MTHFR and has very high blood folate levels. I was surprised how many electrolyte tablets/mixes have folic acid in them. Another electrolyte mix/drink/tablet that is minimally sweetened or flavored and has no folic acid has so far eluded me.

 

[SOC]

I signed up last week (or the week before?) to be notified by iHerb when it's back in stock. At that time it said they expected it back by May 28, but it's clearly not there yet.

Oh, thanks for the reminder. I'll have to go do that, too.

 

[JaimeS]

@SOC - maybe this? I'm not super-fond of Stevia, but the rest looks really good.

 

[SOC]

@SOC - maybe this? I'm not super-fond of Stevia, but the rest looks really good.

That's the ElectroMix that we like, but it's out of stock.

 

[JaimeS]

That's the ElectroMix that we like, but it's out of stock.

Noooo!