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help. advice needed on making electrolyte water

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
Im in a fix right now. I usually during the day drink HEAPS (several litres sometimes more) of soda water. Soda water contains potassium and I find I can drink it in large quantities without it making me sick. Today .. my support hours ran out by the time I got blood test done and got a vaccum I needed in the other town where my blood tests had to be done (no shops for vaccums in my area so hence why I did that today when out in other town). So now I have no shopping and no milk or soda water to drink (as I just finished off the last 3 bottles I had today) and its sooo hot so Im thirsty as anything (sweating a lot today... thou usually I often dont sweat well)..

i need to make up something I can drink and drink a lot of which wont make me sick in the quantities I drink.. Help please. (im about to start sculling plain water as I dont know how to make up what one should do in this situation). Im going to start going downhill fast in this heat if I dont find out what I should be drinking as I cant drink water to the amount I need to do easy (without making myself start to get sick).
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
Im in a fix right now. I usually during the day drink HEAPS (several litres sometimes more) of soda water. Soda water contains potassium and I find I can drink it in large quantities without it making me sick. Today .. my support hours ran out by the time I got blood test done and got a vaccum I needed in the other town where my blood tests had to be done (no shops for vaccums in my area so hence why I did that today when out in other town). So now I have no shopping and no milk or soda water to drink and its sooo hot so Im thirsty as anything.

i need to make up something I can drink and drink a lot of which wont make me sick in the quantities I drink.. Help please. (im about to start sculling plain water as I dont know how to make up what one should do in this situation).

Tania, a number of people here have shared their recipes--you could use google adding Phoenix Rising to the search criteria and probably find their recipes easily. Also, powdered electrolytes ( without sugar) are available. If you can't do anything else, open a potassium capsule, a magnesium capsule and dump in the contents with a good measure of salt.

Please do not drink plain water in quantities over 3 liters.

Sushi
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
ok.. I'll look on the search (ive lost faith in this sites search engine as most of the time what u are looking for dont come up when I search).. you've helped.. I couldnt think how to spell electrolytes properly so at least now i know the right word to put in.

As I have no way to get to shops to get soda water.. I also have no way to get to the shops to get their electrolyte solutions (if I could get to the shops i'd just get what I usually drink).

I dont have any potassium anywhere.. but of cause I have salt and I have magnesium capsules. I'll try to search to find out how much magnesium to use to how much water (and is it okay without the potassium?)

If anyone else replies.. note I cant have sugar due to insulin issue. (i forgot to mention that)
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
Im so heat affected yhsy eiyhin the last half an hour my sight was been affected and Im now struggling to see words properly and read.. also dazing out anddizzy. I just checked my pulse and Im not doing well as are now in tachycardia thou ive ben sitting with my legs up. I tried to find info by a search. 14 things came up but none of them were titled with what im after so ive hard to start going throu the posts (while finding it hard to read).

i see tha t someone suggest s half a tsp salt for 8-10 ozes (that would be the size of my cups) but at that rate I would end up having 15g salt in the first 3 Litress I drink. Im feinding it too hard to htink so going to lay down now and worry about it later. Im trying to keep my fluid down and only have druink 20 ozes in last half hour but im thirsty as heck. Im getting close to having an unconcious colapse cause of the POTS and hte heat
 

SOC

Senior Member
Messages
7,849
Drinking large amounts of water without potassium supplementation can cause you tremendous problems. Suggest -- at the very least --you find a way to get some potassium tablets, whatever it takes.
 

ahimsa

ahimsa_pdx on twitter
Messages
1,921
Here's one recipe that I found online that uses lemon juice for potassium. If you have some lemons in the house then maybe this would work?

How to Make Low-Carb Sports Drink

It turns out that two tablespoons of lemon juice contain almost exactly the amount of potassium in 8 oz of a typical sports drink. So, if you want to make your own low-carb sports drink, it's quite easy. Just mix together:

* 1 cup (8 oz) water (not carbonated)
* 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
* small pinch of salt
* Flavoring and sweetener to taste

Flavoring Ideas:

* Crystal Light Drink Mix
* Unsweetened Kool Aid (with sugar substitute to taste)
* Sugar-Free Flavored Syrups such as Da Vinci or Torino
 

SOC

Senior Member
Messages
7,849
Here's one recipe that I found online that uses lemon juice for potassium. If you have some lemons in the house then maybe this would work?

Thanks for that, ahimsa. It's helpful to have an easy back-up when the usual electrolyte mix isn't available. :thumbsup:
 

adreno

PR activist
Messages
4,841
Here's my recipe:

Per Liter of water:

1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon calcium citrate
1/4 teaspoon magnesium citrate
1/4 teaspoon potassium citrate
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
taniaaust1

You really need the potassium! As SOC said, whatever it takes. Mineral balance is not something to mess with and soda water is not a good choice here.

Seems like you probably have diabetes insipidus or else your pre-diabetes is affecting things. What does your ME/CFS doc say?

Sushi
 

anne_likes_red

Senior Member
Messages
1,103
Hi Tania - I hope you found something to help?
I feel for you in the heat!
We've had summer temps hit here too (in NZ) and I was suffering yesterday with the change.
I keep dehydrated coconut water in our.emergency supplies....I don't know if you can get that where you are? It does have some carbohydrate content but I have a low carbohydrate tolerance and I seem to do OK with coconut water.
..Just a suggestion in case you're looking for something with a decent shelf life that you can use when you can't get out for supplies. You can also get potassium citrate or chloride powders from iherb relatively cheaply. Maybe good to have on hand as extra insurance.
Hope you're feeling better anyway.
Anne.
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
taniaaust1

You really need the potassium! As SOC said, whatever it takes. Mineral balance is not something to mess with and soda water is not a good choice here.

Seems like you probably have diabetes insipidus or else your pre-diabetes is affecting things. What does your ME/CFS doc say?

Sushi

I wouldnt be surprised if I have diabetes insipidus too as no one at all has considered that!! I havent found a doctor who's heard of that. A stupid CFS specialist put my need to drink a lot down to "possibly psychologically induced?"

My other CFS specialist (dont even recognise that POTS exists and wont even look into it) but he's planning to put me onto some drug after xmas if his special diet fails (which IT WILL as its nearly identical to what another doctor had me on for 2 years and I only actually got worst on my test results with it) for my prediabetes issue with the hyperinsulinemia 3 times higher then the normal range (and the raising blood sugar too which now is between normal range and diabetic range). At least I nowdays have one doctor who is POTS aware some.

thanks all for the posts here.. felt good enough today to come back to this thread and go throu what Im going to do next about this issue (head work for me). Im going to buy some potassium when Im next able to get to the shops (havent had any for a long while.. my doctor does monitor my potassium more then normal thou as Im on Florinef and no issues with potassium have been noticed thou I havent supplemented it in past few years.. just issues with out of normal range low sodium and out of normal range low calicum have appeared on my blood tests in the past).

Im not sure what to do with the ideas here.. I cant do the lemon juice thing as I arent allowed to be taking concentrated fruit juices due to my insulin issue 3 Tble spoons of lemon juice is equal to quarter of a cup which is 4g carbs. The lower my carbs the better I do (I stick to under 30g carb per 24 hrs .. I was doing 15g per day or less there for a while (try to keep even most my meals under 10g so having that juice per day would throw what I can have in food off and make my diet even harder). I arent allowed coconut at all on my low carb diet as its too high in carbs for me. (Due to my very high insulin and the extreme reactions to it when it spikes.. my diet is far stricter in carbs then a diabetic diet).

My diet due to the carb issue needs to contain very limited fruit (no dried fruits) .. fruits can have a lot of fructose carb and my specialist had me on one small piece of fruit per day (i got to check out the new diet im on to see if it allows more fruit then what I previously was on). Bananas which I know have a good amount of potassium.. are high carb fruits which im not supposed to eat (thou I do breach my diet there and sometimes for my small piece of daily fruit allowance will have half a banana which I then use sometimes to make my food taste better by adding to my yogurt as Im not meant to buy the flavoured ones due to the carbs.

I could do adrenos formula but that salt could be dangerous if i did in that amount as Id be up to having 10g salt in the 4th litre I drink that day and then may end up having way over 10g salt in the day if my POTS is being quite bad and Im drinking more then 4L. (I dont know what the max amounts of those other things are if I was needing to drink a lot that day?? are they safe in 5 times the amounts of ( I rarely go above 5 L.. just occassionally)

Per Liter of water:

1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon calcium citrate
1/4 teaspoon magnesium citrate
1/4 teaspoon potassium citrate 1/4 teaspoon potassium citrate per day?

That times 5 would it be safe?? how much could I drink before its unsafe at that??? Unless I follow that for first 4 L (which covers me most days.. so that's 4 times those ingredient amount eg 10g salt per day.. is that okay?? I have other conditions which put me at a higher risk of heart disease.. but of cause need the salt due to the POTS and having low sodium on test results in past). Then after that 4 Ls of this..go to drinking just plan water?????? (for up to 3 more L at the most? Ive never gone above drinking the 7 Litres in a day).

The need to be drinking crazy water amounts only comes on if its very hot or if Im having to be more on my feet (it keeps me on my feet, holding back collapses some), so isnt a daily thing just some day thing like the other day (I ended up in an near collapsed state for hours the other day.. unable to do a thing except laying and so close to pass out). Some days my body seems to be holding its fluids better then other days too (it seems variable some).
 

Asklipia

Senior Member
Messages
999
Whatever you do, don't do that :
* Flavoring and sweetener to taste

Flavoring Ideas:

* Crystal Light Drink Mix
* Unsweetened Kool Aid (with sugar substitute to taste)
* Sugar-Free Flavored Syrups such as Da Vinci or Torino
 

adreno

PR activist
Messages
4,841
@taniaaust1

I think you only crave so much water because your electrolytes are off. Anyway it's the ratio of electrolytes to water that's important, not the total amount. I believe it is far more dangerous to drink 5L without electrolytes than it is to add them.

Remember also that sea salt contains far less sodium than table salt. You can't compare the two. High blood pressure could be a sign you're getting too much sodium, but other than that I see no danger in taking a little extra (sea) salt.
 

ahimsa

ahimsa_pdx on twitter
Messages
1,921
Whatever you do, don't do that
(e.g., add Kool-Aid and other flavorings)
RE: the recipe with "flavorings" at the end, I just did a cut/paste from the web. I don't recommend those flavorings myself, or sugar substitutes in general. However, I've seen that people on this forum seem to be all over the map with what they can tolerate. So I decided to copy the whole recipe and let others decide what works for them.

But I hear you. It's good to warn people that those flavorings and sugar substitutes might be bad news.