Salt tabs: Favorite brands? Dosage?

Rebeccare

Rebeccare

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It turns out that, after a lifetime of trying to minimize salt, it's really hard to take in enough sodium just through my diet! It's too bad that I find V8 rather nauseating. My doctor suggested salt tabs. When I asked about brands and dosage he just shrugged and said: "Just take whatever they have in the stores, you can take 1-2 grams per day."

This is why I'm coming to you, because I know that you guys probably have better advice! I don't have much of a brain for science, unfortunately, but I know I've seen you all write knowledgeably about minerals and electrolytes. So I'd appreciate any guidance you can offer!
 
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Jyoti

Jyoti

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My cardiologist said:
Rebeccare said:
"Just take whatever they have in the stores, you can take 1-2 grams per day."
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I found this disconcerting. Looking at the cheaper brands I had no inclination to take them at all! I bought some good quality Himalayan salt and started taking that but then worried about potassium loss with all the water I have added in to combat OI symptoms.

I am very interested in others' experience and advice on this as well!

Yesterday, I saw a neurologist who specializes in dysautonomia, and he suggested Normalyte (https://normalyte.com/products/normalyte-pure?_pos=1&_sid=a787aa3d8&_ss=r ), which he claimed has been shown to be as effective as IV saline. Dysautonomia International says they helped develop the Noramlyte Pure option, which has no flavors or sugars and Normalyte supports DI with a percentage of their sales of this. He told me to take 4-6 of these a day. It is expensive, though, at $9 a day if I take the maximum dosage.

He also gave me a sample of Saltstick, which are capsules containing sodium and potassium. He told me take 2-12 caps a day if I opt for them. Each cap has 500 mg sodium (as 1270 mgsodium chloride) and 100 mg potassium (as potassium citrate).

I haven't decided what to try next, so would be excited to hear from those whose explorations precede mine.
 
Jyoti

Jyoti

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And then there is my personal favorite because it includes a nice dose of potassium (no other reason...of course!):

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D

dave11

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I tried Himalayan salt. When dissolved in water, there were little grains of sand on the bottom of the glass. No way I would use it.

What I do use is sea salt. For sale at Walmart and most grocery stores. It has nature's own blend of sea minerals. What it does not have is a lot of iodine like table salt. Besides providing sodium at a cheap price, when a pinch of sea salt is put in the mouth, it is good for dental hygiene.

For iodine, I use an iodine supplement. Potassium tastes good in chips, potatoes, and bananas.

The way I can tell if I am low in salt is whether I feel cold at a normal room temperature. Not sure if this works for many other people, but it does for some as temperature dysregulation is a possible symptom of low salt.

For general information on salt intake, there is a book available on Amazon called "Adrenal Fatigue, The 21st Century Stress Syndrome" by Dr. James Wilson. I found it very informative.
 
wabi-sabi

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Rebeccare said:
When I asked about brands and dosage he just shrugged and said: "Just take whatever they have in the stores, you can take 1-2 grams per day."
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Oh dear- this sounds very bad. My cardio knows zero about ME/CFS, but he luckily understands OI and hearts. He recommended a product called vitassium as a salt supplement and that I take up to 6gm of sodium a day. While taking extra salt, I need to drink at least 64 oz a day. It is difficult to get 6gm of sodium through diet alone, so I take a vitassium supplement to help. I also monitor my BP at home to know how I am doing.

Now I don't know your situation and if you have any other heart, BP, or kidney issues that would make my recommendations not apply to you. If you have issues with high blood pressure as well as the OI of ME/CFS then you're really going to need the help of a heart person to balance this out!
 
YippeeKi YOW !!

YippeeKi YOW !!

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dave11 said:
I tried Himalayan salt. When dissolved in water, there were little grains of sand on the bottom of the glass. No way I would use it.
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Im working my way slowly thru a 1 lb bag of Himalayan Sea Salt, and like you, have founf that it takes forever for it to fully dissolve.

Irritated, I did a little google dive, and it turns out that most unprocessed salt contains a certain amount of silica, which won;t dissolve easily, and is essential for everything from the brain to hair and nails to bones and teeth.

Other minerals that I find don't really dissolve well are mag oxide, some forms of potassium, and a few other trace minerals I can;t recall right now.

So it may not be sand in your Himalayan salt, it could just be stubborn minerals who aren't good solutes.
 
Rebeccare

Rebeccare

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wabi-sabi said:
Now I don't know your situation and if you have any other heart, BP, or kidney issues that would make my recommendations not apply to you.
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Oh dear, this is a good point! My BP is in the basement, so that's not an issue, but I do have a family history of kidney stones that I didn't think to share with the cardiologist. That's an issue I haven't had yet myself, but would prefer not to! I wonder if there's a way to increase sodium without increasing the risk of kidney stones?
 
wabi-sabi

wabi-sabi

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Rebeccare said:
Oh dear, this is a good point! My BP is in the basement
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I have to get serious amounts of sodium into me before my blood pressure will go up even a little. this makes me think 2gm sodium wouldn't be enough to help, but really I don't know about your situation. Luckily no kidney issues for me! The other thing you can try is compression garments. I use both compression and sodium and I really need both to keep the blood moving uphill into my brain.
 
Zebra

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Just a little "thank you" for all the truly valuable contributions to this thread.

Naturally, the Kettle Chips idea is my favorite, but I am going to read up on Normalyte and likely give it a try.

For me, just increasing my salt intake for hypotension seems to always worsen my tachycardia, which my dysautonomia doctor dismisses as a benign condition, but according to my cardiologist, excessive periods of tachycardia take a toll on your heart.
 
Aspen

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Thanks for starting this thread! I’ve also been on the hunt for a good sodium solution, since I’ve been going broke from the expense of store-bought ORH solutions. Plus many of them have corn in them too, which is a no-no for me. Turns out I need between 6-8g of sodium a day to control my blood pressure (plus compression stockings if I want to be upright in any way)... there’s no way I can get that much sodium through food alone, especially since I have copious food intolerances (no potato chips :confused:). And I instantly get the runs if I add salt to plain water. I tried that a few weeks ago and I got terribly dehydrated and a magnesium deficiency to boot, not fun at all. I have no idea why I react that way, but oh well.

So here’s what I’m doing now: 1L of water with 1/8-1/4 cup maple syrup, 1/2-3/4 tsp of Himalayan rock salt, plus 1/8 tsp of No Salt (for potassium). I drink at least 3L/day of this - been doing it for about 10 days and it’s working extremely well. I also add salt to my food, and this seems to be enough for me.

I found a basic recipe similar to this somewhere on the web - I’ll link it here if I find it again. I did have to substitute the glucose source due to my corn intolerance. I read somewhere that Himalayan salt has less pollutants in it than sea salt, and I find that the taste isn’t as strong as table salt, which is nice. The maple syrup is the glucose source - from what I can figure out, it has a higher ratio of glucose to fructose than many other sweeteners so I figured I’d give it a go. This seems to be the missing ingredient that my body needs to be able to metabolize the sodium instead of having it run straight through me. Most store-bought solutions use dextrose as the glucose source, which is a corn product that makes me sick.

Can’t wait to see what other pearls of sodium wisdom get dropped here. Warm thoughts to you all!
 
Pyrrhus

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There's also Vitalyte (previously known as Gookinaid).

This was recommended by Dr. Cheney years ago and the manufacturer ran a pilot trial in ME patients that reported positive results.
https://vitalyte.com/collections/shop-vitalyte

The concentration of electrolytes in Vitalyte is identical to the concentration of electrolytes in the blood. This helps the fluid to be absorbed by the body more efficiently than plain water, thereby increasing blood volume without altering blood electrolyte concentrations. It also contains the same concentration of glucose as is found in the blood.

It has a salty, metallic taste.
 
Aspen

Aspen

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wabi-sabi said:
The recipe for Dr. Cheney's home brew is available on healthrising.

Link here: https://www.healthrising.org/forums/resources/dr-cheneys-home-brew-to-increase-blood-volume.444/

It tastes absolutely disgusting, but it's cheaper mixing your own than buying a premade ORS.
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Oo, thanks for this! Maybe it’s the potassium in my mix that helps my body metabolize it, not the glucose like I originally thought. Not sure what the purpose of glucose is in my recipe then, I will try mine with less maple syrup (I don’t like it sweet anyways).
 
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