POTS Treatment / Salt Tabs & Electrolyte Powder

[Dakota15]

Hey PR - I just had a quick question.

My CFS/ME Specialist advised me to take Metoprolol for POTS and also suggested to increase my salt intake to 2-4 grams a day with increased fluids. Specifically she suggested for me to add in electrolyte powder or to add in salt tablets.

Does anyone have any experience with using electrolyte powder or salt tablets? Just looking for any recommended brands or such.

Thanks so much for any help!

Best,

Dakota

 

[robinhood12345]

Sodium, and potassium exist in balance so if one is taking in more sodium taking in more potassium is a good idea also. Potassium chloride is sold at shops or online. For POTS there is studies showing choline helps.

 

[AdamS]

I’ve found Nuun tablets to be the best for my needs, they dissolve in water and were reccommended by my POTS consultant who said some of his other patients rated them. Hope this helps!

 

[manasi12]

I use electral powder. I found it better than salt alone as glucose helps in absorption of sodium. Plus you get potassium also.

 

[Sushi]

My CFS/ME Specialist advised me to take Metoprolol for POTS and also suggested to increase my salt intake to 2-4 grams a day with increased fluids. Specifically she suggested for me to add in electrolyte powder or to add in salt tablets.

Does anyone have any experience with using electrolyte powder or salt tablets? Just looking for any recommended brands or such.

Most doctors who treat POTS recommend added salt, fluids and electrolytes. I didn't tolerate salt tablets but I do tolerate sprinkling a high quality sea salt on food generously. I use ElectroMix electrolyte powder though there are other good ones too.

 

[datadragon]

For pots which needs a lot of sodium: 500 sodium from 1270 sodium chloride/100 potassium citrate per 2 caps but is buffered also.
https://www.amazon.com/SaltStick-Vitassium-Buffered-Electrolyte-Supplement/dp/B01MQWGTUO/

Adrenal Cocktail: 2-3 times a day... 3 oz Orange Juice, 3 oz Coconut Water, 1/4 tsp Himala Salt (Himalayan Sea Salt), 1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar (Potassium).. About 550mg sodium per 1/4 tsp, 500 mg potassium, plus several electrolytes in the coconut water, and whole vitamin c for the adrenals. You can adjust the sodium as well for pots.

Plantation Blackstrap Molasses - 1 tbsp has 600mg potassium, has calcium,mag and others....

Dr Berg Electrolyte Powder: 1 scoop in 16oz water has 1,000mg Potassium Citrate plus trace minerals and some other electrolytes. This form will digest well even with low stomach acid. Many use potassium bicarbonate which is 45% potassium of the amt it has, plus doesnt digest well without stomach acid. RDA is 4,700

Potassium wont enter cell without mag... Bioschwartz Magnesium Bisglycinate has 200mg per tiny capsule and very absorbable even with low stomach acid. Magnesium Chloride Oil (topical) will get mag into you when gut is poor. If your really low, Boiron Magnesia Phosphorica 30c starts working in minutes on symptoms and helps kickstart your system. I needed it after exhaustion to restart things with mag.

Betaine HCL to help digest meals and increase stomach acid to help absorption.
Boron 6mg - Boron is needed to prevent mag wasting, and its also a needed cofactor for ceruloplasmin for copper.

 

[keenly]

What is causing the POTS in the first place?

 

[datadragon]

What is causing the POTS in the first place?

Santa Claus didnt like that I was making so many of the NICE girls end up on the naughty list so much after my divorce and it threw the ratios out of whack. He needed to put me out of action for a bit to restore them. Just my theory lol.

One good overview of some of it:
https://mybiohack.com/blog/postural-orthostatic-tachycardia-syndrome-pots-intolerance
My Nitric Oxide booster is: L-Arginine 1.7-3g + Vitacost pine bark extract or pycnogenol 100.

The root cause to me seems to all be related to adrenal function and the magnesium, sodium, potassium, calcium that regulate that. Stressors on the body ongoing will throw all of that out of whack, as would mercury or excess copper which inhibits NO and also metals can accumulate from the stressors. Sodium and Potassium for example need Mag to activate the atp pumps.

 

[JES]

What is causing the POTS in the first place?

A significant part of POTS patients are suspected to have autoimmunity (source). Autonomic neuropathy is also very common in POTS, which may directly cause many of the symptoms. Nitric oxide boosters never gave any permanent improvement for me, they were of mild help for a couple of days and then stopped working.

 

[Hip]

The root cause to me seems to all be related to adrenal function and the magnesium, sodium, potassium, calcium that regulate that.

Are you going post these risible theories that every medical condition is caused mineral deficiencies all over this forum? The idea that you can explain all medical conditions in terms of mineral deficiency theories is quackery.

 

[robinhood12345]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24366986

Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
Vitamin B12 is involved in the production of adrenaline from noradrenaline. It is the cofactor involved in catecholamine degradation and plays a role in myelin synthesis. The current study aimed to investigate the association between vitamin B12 levels and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) during adolescence when accelerated myelin synthesis increases the vitamin B12 need.

METHODS:
One hundred twenty-five patients (mean age 11.1 ± 2.3 years; 60% female) reporting short-term loss of consciousness and diagnosed with vasovagal syncope based on anamnesis with a normal distribution and 50 control subjects (mean age 10.94 ± 2.5 years, 62% female) were included in this study. Serum vitamin B12, folic acid, and ferritin levels were measured prospectively in addition to other tests. We defined vitamin B12 deficiency as a serum level <300 pg/mL.(1-4) RESULTS: Vitamin B12 levels were significantly lower in the patient group compared with the control group (47.2% vs 18%, P < .001). In the patient group, children with the POTS pattern had significantly lower vitamin B12 levels compared with children without the POTS response (P = .03).

CONCLUSIONS:
Vitamin B12 deficiency in patients with POTS may lead to sympathetic nervous system baroreceptor dysfunction.

 

[Sushi]

Does anyone have any experience with using electrolyte powder or salt tablets? Just looking for any recommended brands or such.

Quote from the opening post which "defines" the subject of the thread.

CONCLUSIONS:
Vitamin B12 deficiency in patients with POTS may lead to sympathetic nervous system baroreceptor dysfunction.

What does this have to do with using electrolyte powder and salt in POTS patients?

 

[Sushi]

Would you say that Salt alone is enough for OI, or is supplementation necessary (like florinef or midodrine), and what would you say is the best way to manage Immune System support? Please reply.

Hi, I am replying in a different thread because this one is more on the topic you are asking about. I'd say that salt alone is not enough. Most of us with OI work with many things including salt, electrolytes, compression garments and often one or more prescriptions like florinef or midodrine. There are other medications too but all the medications for OI work for some and not others so there is usually a fairly long experimentation period.

 

[Gingergrrl]

I have not read this entire thread but I was wondering if anyone has ever tried an electrolyte drink called "NormaLyte" which seems to be free of artificial color, flavor, and preservatives. I have no idea what it tastes like!

 

[Judee]

This is my review from amazon in regards to @Gingergrrl's question (for some reason Multiquote is not working for me right now):

"Has a very strong taste of aluminum and gave me a toxic-type bad headache within 5-10 minutes. I will go back to my homemade formula which also makes the water taste strange but not like aluminum."

When I went to find that review again, I noticed that someone had asked me for my formula so I'm including it here in case someone is interested:
3 parts sugar,
1 part sea salt,
1 part table salt, and
1/2 part lite salt.
(Some will balk about the table salt but I find I feel better when I include it. Also the lite salt has dextrose in it.) I mix all these in a blender or coffee grinder to get a fine powder (mostly because I use a large crystal organic turbinado sugar and the sugar settles to the bottom of the mix if I don't) and then I keep a container of it on my countertop and mix 1/2 to 1 tsp into my first glass of water for the day and then repeat as necessary through the day. If you label the top of the contain with the ratios you will always have them handy. Hope this helps.

(I make a slightly different formula for my mom because I notice she reacts to the corn in the dextrose. Plus, I add some tapioca type vitamin c to hers.)

 

[Judee]

if one is taking in more sodium taking in more potassium is a good idea also.

I have to be careful with potassium though. I definitely need it because my heart starts hurting if I'm low but if I use even just a little over my limit, my blood pressure drops even more (and quickly) and I feel worse.

 

[sufferingwithme]

Hi, I am replying in a different thread because this one is more on the topic you are asking about. I'd say that salt alone is not enough. Most of us with OI work with many things including salt, electrolytes, compression garments and often one or more prescriptions like florinef or midodrine. There are other medications too but all the medications for OI work for some and not others so there is usually a fairly long experimentation period.

Thank you so much for this answer!! OI has been one of my worst symptoms: standing has become very hard, painful, and it makes all symptoms worse, it’s the worst thing ever for me Aches, fatigue, exaustion, really bad stuff.
If you don’t mind me asking, how do I find out more information about what people are doing...when you say “most of us”, like how do I join the community, so I can, too, learn about what people are doing how do I find out this information, too?? I need to very badly. I’m suffering with a very severe case of CFS, I’ve lost my life to this, really. I’m bed bound, lots of cognitive issues, can’t leave the home, horrible PEM, and need lots of help, but my cognitive difficulties resulting from the disease make it so difficult to read stuff, I mostly just listen to music or sleep. I really don’t have the energy to be looking stuff up. It’s not selfishness, I just can’t. so I’m stuck in a horrible trap, getting worse, but struggling to do anything about it, and every day gets worse, and worse, so it’s like a trap and a horrible horrible cycle of desperation!! I just need info on where to look so I can be part of the community better, because I want to get better so bad but it’s hard to know where to look, but for me especially it’s become hard to even have the energy to do anything at all that’s not sleeping/being tired. I don’t wanna be stuck in this cycle!! I want to know what to do, I just have all Classic symptoms of ME. The whole only 10% of energy thing is totally true. I know it wasn’t Viral, and I’ve already somehow learned about OI. But how do I get informed on all of this, where do I look first?? Please guide me??

 

[Sushi]

If you don’t mind me asking, how do I find out more information about what people are doing...when you say “most of us”, like how do I join the community, so I can, too, learn about what people are doing how do I find out this information, too??

You can browse through the threads in this sub-forum (https://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?forums/problems-standing-orthostatic-intolerance-pots.7/), You can also use the search engine to search for POTS (OI is too short a search term). Try your search with both the forum search engine and the other option, Google Site Search.

 

[Sushi]

Thank you so much for this answer!! OI has been one of my worst symptoms: standing has become very hard, painful, and it makes all symptoms worse, it’s the worst thing ever for me Aches, fatigue, exaustion, really bad stuff.

Here is another resource: https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2...erance-implications-chronic-fatigue-syndrome/

 

[sufferingwithme]

Here is another resource: https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2...erance-implications-chronic-fatigue-syndrome/

Thank you so much!!! You don’t happen to have a resource on how to fix the lack of Energy/ what this lack of energy is connected to, in CFS? Any info in that? Like, what causes us to not produce enough energy, any info on that would be so amazing. Just energy production/storage in cfs, like what’s being “blocked” from producing the right amount of energy??