Not enough sodium. WHAT??!!!

diadojikohei
diadojikohei Posts: 732 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have high blood pressure and I've been getting a lot of heart palpitations recently, so I went to the doctor with my food diary to see what's going on. She listened to my heart, looked at my diary and said I am not having enough sodium to keep my heart functioning properly, hence the irregular heart beat.

She said i need 1600mg of sodium in my diet a day. Some days I only have 100mg.

I am in the strange position of having to increase my salt intake after dropping it!

Has anyone else had this happen to them?

I'll open my diary if anyone wants to look how to reduce their intake!

(Please note I wasn't well yesterday so that's why cals are so low for that day!)

Replies

  • kaylalryan
    kaylalryan Posts: 136 Member
    I had the exact same problem and was told the same thing once! I think that it's true. I increased my sodium (i sit around 1500-2000 a day now) and I have not had the symptoms anymore. Sodium and potassium (and the combination of the two, at the correct ratio) is actually crucial to proper bodily functions :)
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    A friend of mine has that problem - she kept fainting. She now eats huge amounts and is fine. I ran into a doctor who studies this phenomenon.

    My husband has the opposite problem - his blood pressure is very sensitive to sodium. He also has a very low sodium diet. I make all my own bread do get rid of the salt (bread has a LOT of sodium). I substitute whipped egg whites for baking soda and powder. We're very careful on tomatoes (naturally high sodium).

    Swiss cheese has the very lowest salt (low sodium swiss especially), no salt butter, no salt chips. Interestingly, at Trader Joe's, they have some awesome turkey sausages. One type has lower (not low) sodium but high calories. The others have lower calories and high sodium. Salt or fat or both is a great way to enhance flavor.
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
    cannot imagine how you could keep sodium at 100 a day
  • diadojikohei
    diadojikohei Posts: 732 Member
    cannot imagine how you could keep sodium at 100 a day

    By eating food which is low in sodium! lol! 100mg is extreme, it is usually 500mg ish. I also drink a lot of water, so much I never bother to log it. I'm always thirsty, tests for diabetes are always negative!

    See I am a snowflake! lol!
  • sgwhit
    sgwhit Posts: 119 Member
    hey just wondered but how can you have Mackerel Fillets In Brine and have no sodium.. I thought brine was salt water.. Don't see how it could all be rinse off.. Just wondering.. but it amazing how you get your sodium so low..
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,222 Member
    Yeah, the exuberance of eliminating salt from the diet is one of those weird and wacky dietary missteps that seems to never die.
  • Shua89
    Shua89 Posts: 144 Member
    A lack of sodium can cause a whole list of medical issues that are just as bad as too much sodium. Our bodies need it to function properly. I try to keep mine well under the 2500 mfp allows me but on my low days I'm still over 1000.

    I can't imagine keeping it to 100 per day unless the only thing you are eating is fruits and veggies. It seems EVERYTHING has sodium in it. Managing my sodium is harder for me than managing my calories.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
    I was told the required amount daily is about 500 mg. It's pretty hard not to get that.
    I've been 3 months between 500-1500mg with no problems, heart or BP wise. I was originally 180/115. Now <120/80.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    Keep in mind that sodium is an electrolyte (along with potassium and magnesium) which your body needs. My wife has a heart condition and she has to eat a lot of salt. Salt isn't all that bad for you, people on this board over exaggerates the bad effects of it. If anything, you just retain a bit of water weight with it. But too little is bad for you too.
  • NaomiJFoster
    NaomiJFoster Posts: 1,450 Member
    You absolutely need sodium and potassium to keep the heart functioning. They are the electrolytes. Since the heart is an electrical system, it needs electrolytes.

    Personal anecdote. My mother has a heart condition and is under a lot of treatement for it. About a year ago, her cardiologist prescribed her a diarhetic to eleminate some water retention. On New Years Eve of last year, she fainted and was taken to the hospital (because my dad thought it was a cardiac episode). The ER doctors found that she was almost completely depleted of sodium. She was in the hospital for 3 days on an IV sodium drip while they tried to get her levels back up. It really was >thisclose< to being a heart attack.

    Obviously, don't go overboard. But you do need some sodium intake in order to be healthy.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
    You absolutely need sodium and potassium to keep the heart functioning. They are the electrolytes. Since the heart is an electrical system, it needs electrolytes.

    Personal anecdote. My mother has a heart condition and is under a lot of treatement for it. About a year ago, her cardiologist prescribed her a diarhetic to eleminate some water retention. On New Years Eve of last year, she fainted and was taken to the hospital (because my dad thought it was a cardiac episode). The ER doctors found that she was almost completely depleted of sodium. She was in the hospital for 3 days on an IV sodium drip while they tried to get her levels back up. It really was >thisclose< to being a heart attack.

    Obviously, don't go overboard. But you do need some sodium intake in order to be healthy.
    Right. So how much? The only amount I could find in research stated 500mg/day with at least twice as much potassium.
    I'd like to see some confirmation.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,222 Member
    You absolutely need sodium and potassium to keep the heart functioning. They are the electrolytes. Since the heart is an electrical system, it needs electrolytes.

    Personal anecdote. My mother has a heart condition and is under a lot of treatement for it. About a year ago, her cardiologist prescribed her a diarhetic to eleminate some water retention. On New Years Eve of last year, she fainted and was taken to the hospital (because my dad thought it was a cardiac episode). The ER doctors found that she was almost completely depleted of sodium. She was in the hospital for 3 days on an IV sodium drip while they tried to get her levels back up. It really was >thisclose< to being a heart attack.

    Obviously, don't go overboard. But you do need some sodium intake in order to be healthy.
    Right. So how much? The only amount I could find in research stated 500mg/day with at least twice as much potassium.
    I'd like to see some confirmation.
    There isn't an exact number.....a marathoner is going to need more that a sedentary person and someone that weighs 200lbs will need more than someone 100lbs. I think 1600 is the RDA and that's for sedentary people consuming a 2000 calorie diet.
  • Ge0rgiana
    Ge0rgiana Posts: 1,649 Member
    You are not properly logging your sodium intake. I see several items on your diary for today that list 0 sodium that I can guarantee you have sodium in them.

    ETA: Milk, anything that says "brine", and mozzarella all contain salt. You are probably consuming much more than you think you are.
  • Charlie003
    Charlie003 Posts: 1,333 Member
    Salt is to only be used to make bad food taste good.
  • Espressocycle
    Espressocycle Posts: 2,245 Member
    Um, yeah. You need salt to live.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    At a very minimum just for survival, you need at least 500 mg a day!

    People demonize sodium, but it is an essential thing to have in your diet (just not in excess).

    Try adding some cheese to your diet. I'm pretty low on sodium (though still in the healthy range) by eating healthy, whole foods. I have no idea how you manage to eat ANYTHING and be at 100 mg a day.
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
    Salt is to only be used to make bad food taste good.

    nope

    salt is called the spice of life

    it can make great food taste even better
  • Katbody10
    Katbody10 Posts: 369 Member
    There are cases where people actually need more sodium in their diets. When I was growing up .. I was in church one morning and a lady went into a "frozen seizure" .. she just let out this little short, sharp yelp .. "ooo" .. and then froze up in a pinched way.. I was sitting next to her and it freaked me out. The men came and pulled her out of the sanctuary and called the medics ..

    Later it was revealed that she had something (I don't remember what they called her episode) .. but she needed to significantly increase her salt/sodium intake..

    I remember her chuckling later on saying ... "And to think .. all this time .. I was making sure I stayed away from any and all salt"


    So yes.. it's possible. You need salt .. we all do .. it just depends on how much .. too much is no good .. as is too little ..
  • Katbody10
    Katbody10 Posts: 369 Member
    Salt is to only be used to make bad food taste good.


    No .. and salt was used to preserve food .. waaaaay back in the day .. like in ancient times .. there was no such thing as refrigeration .. especially in the warmer climates of the world .. Africa/Mediterranean .. etc. They would dry cure their foods .. meats, vegetables ..

    Also .. Salts were used to mummify .. Had nothing to do with making food taste better .. although they discovered it added a nice flavor to things :wink: :flowerforyou:
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,228 Member
    Sodium is an electrolyte. It has to be properly balanced with other electrolytes. Throwing that balance out of whack causes water retention as well as a myriad of other problems.

    It sounds like you were told, at some point, to cut back on your sodium and you took it to an extreme. Nutritional science is all about finding a balance... not extremes. Hope you can get your diet balanced better before you cause yourself some other problems. Best of luck!
  • Alierob
    Alierob Posts: 10 Member
    Hi ... I hope you don't mind me asking what foods do you eat to keep your sodium low? I am still eating a bit too much. Thanks!
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
    Normal-sodium diet outperforms low-sodium diet in congestive heart failure patients

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17688420
  • tsh0ck
    tsh0ck Posts: 1,970 Member
    Sodium is an electrolyte. It has to be properly balanced with other electrolytes. Throwing that balance out of whack causes water retention as well as a myriad of other problems.

    It sounds like you were told, at some point, to cut back on your sodium and you took it to an extreme. Nutritional science is all about finding a balance... not extremes. Hope you can get your diet balanced better before you cause yourself some other problems. Best of luck!

    that's a bingo!

    plus ... salt tastes good! :)

    just keep your potassium to sodium ratio as close to 1:1 as possible, drink lots of water and work out. then you can just about ignore tracking sodium all together.
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
    There are cases where people actually need more sodium in their diets. When I was growing up .. I was in church one morning and a lady went into a "frozen seizure" .. she just let out this little short, sharp yelp .. "ooo" .. and then froze up in a pinched way.. I was sitting next to her and it freaked me out. The men came and pulled her out of the sanctuary and called the medics ..

    You should visit a black church:flowerforyou:
  • That_Girl
    That_Girl Posts: 1,324 Member
    You NEED sodium. You just don't need 4000 mg a day like most typical people eat in America.

    I keep mine below 2000, but when I am lower than 1400 for a few days, I feel like dog poop.
  • nas061
    nas061 Posts: 256 Member
    A lot of food entries have no entry for sodium even though they contain sodium, or the value is wrong (often by a factor of 1000 because people often enter sodium from food packaging which states 1g as 1mg instead of 1000mg)
    In addition many entries have the salt value instead of the sodium value (1g salt = 400mg sodium)
  • drmerc
    drmerc Posts: 2,603 Member
    A lot of food entries have no entry for sodium even though they contain sodium, or the value is wrong (often by a factor of 1000 because people often enter sodium from food packaging which states 1g as 1mg instead of 1000mg)
    In addition many entries have the salt value instead of the sodium value (1g salt = 400mg sodium)

    What? do you have examples?
  • Katbody10
    Katbody10 Posts: 369 Member
    There are cases where people actually need more sodium in their diets. When I was growing up .. I was in church one morning and a lady went into a "frozen seizure" .. she just let out this little short, sharp yelp .. "ooo" .. and then froze up in a pinched way.. I was sitting next to her and it freaked me out. The men came and pulled her out of the sanctuary and called the medics ..

    You should visit a black church:flowerforyou:

    haha .. I've been to many! :flowerforyou: But she was having a medical episode .. her yelp didn't surprise me .. it was seeing her frozen .. erect (straight) but in the seat next to me .. eyes closed and her hands/arms sort if in a fetal position, pinched and frozen.. she was completely immobile. The men carried her out and she remained in that position. Church continued and I did not see what the ambulance folks did .. but they apparently administered some kind of muscle relaxer intravenously to get her out of that position .. it was like rigor mortise set in.. really odd ..

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