Salt tabs: Favorite brands? Dosage?

[wabi-sabi]

@Aspen
Oral rehydration solutions contain glucose to help the intestine absorb the sodium better. There's something called a sodium-glucose linked transporter on your intestinal cells that does this. Since these solutions are often used for children with scary amounts of diarrhea, they children don't have enough glucose in their intestine to absorb the fluid and sodium. In a healthy adult, I'm guessing there is enough food in your intestine to help the salt and fluid absorb so you probably don't need all that maple syrup.

I'm also guessing that some of your previous experiences with salt solutions and diarrhea were from too high a salt concentration, since drinking lots of sea water will give you diarrhea whether there's sugar in there or not. My doc recommended drinking both water AND an salt solution for best hydration, not just one. I try to alternate glasses of each throughout the day. Salt solutions are things like the commercially prepared hyrdalyte, pedialtye, or normalyte or home made stuff like Dr. Cheney's homebrew or your mix.

 

[Aspen]

@Aspen
Oral rehydration solutions contain glucose to help the intestine absorb the sodium better. There's something called a sodium-glucose linked transporter on your intestinal cells that does this. Since these solutions are often used for children with scary amounts of diarrhea, they children don't have enough glucose in their intestine to absorb the fluid and sodium. In a healthy adult, I'm guessing there is enough food in your intestine to help the salt and fluid absorb so you probably don't need all that maple syrup.

I'm also guessing that some of your previous experiences with salt solutions and diarrhea were from too high a salt concentration, since drinking lots of sea water will give you diarrhea whether there's sugar in there or not. My doc recommended drinking both water AND an salt solution for best hydration, not just one. I try to alternate glasses of each throughout the day. Salt solutions are things like the commercially prepared hyrdalyte, pedialtye, or normalyte or home made stuff like Dr. Cheney's homebrew or your mix.

Helpful explanation about glucose, thank you, makes a lot of sense. I tried Dr. Cheney’s homebrew yesterday with just a splash of maple syrup for flavour and got diarrhea within a few minutes, but when I added more syrup to the same mix it works well. The recipe I was following says 1/4 cup syrup per litre, but I can use around 1/5 or maybe a bit less without getting a bad reaction.

I wonder what it says about my gut - I have celiac disease so I have quite a bit of intestinal scarring, maybe a complicating factor. I also really struggle getting enough calories into my body since digesting tends to make me crash, so maybe I’m just that much underfed. I try to eat as much as I can when I‘m wearing compression stockings, they really help reduce that symptom. I often feel ravenously hungry when I eat with them on, my body feels so relieved to be able to handle food better. I’ve also tried alternating ORS with water, but I’ve found I couldn’t keep the POTS under control that way. I do miss a nice fresh glass of water. But this thread helped me clear up a few big ORS questions I had, so nice to feel more confident in my options!

 

[wabi-sabi]

I wonder what it says about my gut - I have celiac disease so I have quite a bit of intestinal scarring, maybe a complicating factor. I also really struggle getting enough calories into my body since digesting tends to make me crash, so maybe I’m just that much underfed.

Wow, you are dealing with a lot. This is such a hard situation with so many competing needs to balance, isn't it? I hope you find something that works.

 

[Aspen]

Wow, you are dealing with a lot. This is such a hard situation with so many competing needs to balance, isn't it? I hope you find something that works.

Thank you.

 

[wingate]

I used the nutrition facts from a brand name mix as my guide for a cheaper homemade version.

I mix 16g table sugar, 2.5g table salt, and 1.5 g salt substitute (potassium chloride) with 32 oz of water.

Like others say, the taste is somewhat acquired, so I tend to mix in flavored seltzer water or a squeezed lemon or lime to give it a better taste.

 

[L'engle]

I used to put non-iodized sea salt into capsules and swallow them. I found after some time this was inflaming the lining of my stomach. Around that time I started b12 and then the lithium orotate experiment happened and since then my electrolytes have been weird so I haven't been salt loading. Making a really salty soup broth can work though it can taste pretty gross once there is more than a normal amount of salt in it. Strangely it is actually glutamates (such as msg) that provide the 'good' flavour associated with salt, whereas heavy sodium just tastes kind of strong and sharp.

I've absorbed potassium and magnesium through foot baths, but I haven't tried that with sodium. It might be worth trying as transdermal absorption can be pretty good for some things. This can be a good way of not placing the extra strain of minerals on your stomach if you are loading them long term, as many of us are.

 

[wabi-sabi]

You cannot absorb minerals like potassium, magnesium, or sodium through your skin.

Article here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5579607/

 

[Jyoti]

I have landed on Vitassium by Salt Stick. You can join a 'club' at Salt Stick to get your Vitassium at slightly reduced prices if you have dysautonomia. They work best for me--I tried Dr. Cheney's home brew (made me noticeably ill), I tried measuring and salting food to get enough that way (could not manage to eat it all), I tried Normalyte (made me very ill), and finally got my Vitassium in the mail. I take 4 caps a day, split. This comes to a total of 1000 mg sodium and 200 mg of potassium.

 

[Rebeccare]

I have landed on Vitassium by Salt Stick

That's what I eventually got as well!

They seem like a nice brand that cares about people with dysautonomia

 

[Judee]

I posted this website on another thread but wanted to share it here too: https://www.idealnutrition.com.au/glycerol-supplement-guide/

It talks about how athletes use glycerol (also called glycerine) and sodium to increase their fluid retention during events. The article calls them "hyperhydration strategies."

Anyway, I thought it was interesting. I included more info in that other thread as well, here: https://forums.phoenixrising.me/thr...s-unable-to-hydrate.79695/page-2#post-2413363

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

It talks about how athletes use glycerol (also called glycerine) and sodium to increase their fluid retention during events. The article calls them "hyperhydration strategies."

Really interesting info that's, like, totally news to me (not that that's unusual)!!!! Glycerin and salt for hyper hydration???? I love learning new stuff, and thank you for posting this, it's going to help a lot of new members, as well as a lot of more seasoned ones !!! Oh crap ..... pun totally accidental, and I apologize for it .....