bertiedog
Senior Member
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- South East England, UK
Here is a link to a fascinating video about how the sodium/potassium pump works and shows the importance of the balance of sodium and potassium needed for cells to function properly. Also ATP is mentioned.
This is pertinent for me at the moment as I have just got results of blood work done this week showing my sodium is the lowest its been for me since 2004 whilst potassium is the highest it has ever been. Both are within the range btw but it doesn't mean that we cannot still have symptoms when we go either towards the bottom or towards the top of ranges because it might well not be right for us as an individual. With this sort of thing I find it is never picked up my GP.
This finding explains why I have been so exhausted this year with my ability to be upright for periods of time vastly diminished and more recently with episodes of severe sweating and hypoglycaemia plus bad dizziness. I think it has crept up on me and the situation wasn't helped with the long hot summer here in south-east England plus many G I issues and a UTI for 3 weeks. Actually I think the low sodium could be the reason why my gut has been so bad this year but time will tell. My split nails would also be another indication of poor absorption as a result of the low sodium.
I am steroid dependent so I am more likely to be affected but I never really know if its a primary or secondary issue because if its secondary then one isn't supposed to need extra salt. However to complicate matters further I am a carrier of 17 Hydroxylase enzyme which is the salt wasting form so probably its more likely to be due to that I guess but my GP doesn't know anything about this!
If one has under-functioning adrenals then definitely getting the right sodium potassium balance can be difficult but also it makes a massive difference to one's muscles and ability to be mobile. My understanding is that poor adrenal function is a consistent finding in ME.
http://highered.mheducation.com/sit...ion__how_the_sodium_potassium_pump_works.html
Pam
This is pertinent for me at the moment as I have just got results of blood work done this week showing my sodium is the lowest its been for me since 2004 whilst potassium is the highest it has ever been. Both are within the range btw but it doesn't mean that we cannot still have symptoms when we go either towards the bottom or towards the top of ranges because it might well not be right for us as an individual. With this sort of thing I find it is never picked up my GP.
This finding explains why I have been so exhausted this year with my ability to be upright for periods of time vastly diminished and more recently with episodes of severe sweating and hypoglycaemia plus bad dizziness. I think it has crept up on me and the situation wasn't helped with the long hot summer here in south-east England plus many G I issues and a UTI for 3 weeks. Actually I think the low sodium could be the reason why my gut has been so bad this year but time will tell. My split nails would also be another indication of poor absorption as a result of the low sodium.
I am steroid dependent so I am more likely to be affected but I never really know if its a primary or secondary issue because if its secondary then one isn't supposed to need extra salt. However to complicate matters further I am a carrier of 17 Hydroxylase enzyme which is the salt wasting form so probably its more likely to be due to that I guess but my GP doesn't know anything about this!
If one has under-functioning adrenals then definitely getting the right sodium potassium balance can be difficult but also it makes a massive difference to one's muscles and ability to be mobile. My understanding is that poor adrenal function is a consistent finding in ME.
http://highered.mheducation.com/sit...ion__how_the_sodium_potassium_pump_works.html
Pam