I feel much better after eating salt

Options
Workout4Health
Workout4Health Posts: 447 Member
in Food and Nutrition
They say salt is bad, but when I don't have salt, I feel like I'm going to faint, especially when I'm doing lots of exercise. But when I put extra salt in anything I eat or eat something salty, I feel stronger and my head clears. Plus I'm always thirsty and this kinda goes against what people say but when I have something salty, thirst goes away and I seem to store LESS water than when I'm drinking 20 glasses a day and still feeling thirsty. So I guess I'll keep having my salt if it keeps me from feeling like I'm gonna faint.
«1

Replies

  • slindsey137
    slindsey137 Posts: 214 Member
    Options
    Salt itself isn't bad, in fact it's necessary. However, a diet high in sodium can lead to many problems.
  • bigsistruck
    bigsistruck Posts: 125 Member
    Options
    I agree with the above poster, you may have low blood pressure. I have always had extremely low blood pressure (so much so at a doctor's visit the nurse once asked me if I was dead). I LOVE and always crave salt. I just buy Morton's light salt (it is mixed with potassium) and use as much as I want, I've never had a problem. I don't think salt is as terrible as everyone says it is!
  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,082 Member
    Options
    If I felt like that I would be looking to my doctor for some medical answers and solutions.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    Options
    electrolytes matter peoples.

    Typically this is why if you were dehydrated and dying in the desert- they often gave you salt. not just water.
  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,070 Member
    Options
    You can't cut salt completely from your diet it's an essential mineral. Sodium helps regulate blood pressure. The dizziness you experienced would be caused by low blood pressure so that's why you felt better after having something salty.
  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,070 Member
    Options
    Double post :/
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    Options
    Salt isn't bad. Too much salt is bad. You need salt.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
    Options
    Electrolytes. If you are drinking a lot of water or very active you need to replace electrolytes.

    http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hyponatremia/basics/definition/con-20031445
  • msmaggs89
    msmaggs89 Posts: 17 Member
    Options
    I have wicked low blood pressure, so I find myself constantly craving salt, to the point of licking it off potato chips so I don't have to eat the whole thing (gross, I know.) I'm finding now that I'm trying to stay more hydrated, I'm craving salt less. Getting in those 8 cups of water a day really helps, but definitely those of us with low BP need some serious salt in our diets!
  • nicsflyingcircus
    nicsflyingcircus Posts: 2,491 Member
    Options
    My 14yo daughter has low blood pressure (enough so that standing up suddenly can nearly make her faint, and strenuous exercise can have the same effect) and one of the alternatives to medication was upping her dietary salts. This means she drinks about 12-20oz of gatorade daily and is allowed to add salt to her meals moreso than her siblings. She also has to drink more water.

    That being said, she is 5'9.5", 123 lbs and a non-menstruating teenage girl with resting BP of around 90/54 (with a small range to either side of those numbers) so none of that may apply to you.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    Options
    I have wicked low blood pressure, so I find myself constantly craving salt, to the point of licking it off potato chips so I don't have to eat the whole thing (gross, I know.) I'm finding now that I'm trying to stay more hydrated, I'm craving salt less. Getting in those 8 cups of water a day really helps, but definitely those of us with low BP need some serious salt in our diets!
    girl- I hear you.
    I will bite off little pieces of pretzles just to suck on them for teh salt- I usually eat the whole thing- but I have absolutely zero interest in the pretzel- but the salt nomnomnomnomnom
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,478 Member
    Options
    Workout4Health wrote: »
    They say salt is bad, but when I don't have salt, I feel like I'm going to faint, especially when I'm doing lots of exercise. But when I put extra salt in anything I eat or eat something salty, I feel stronger and my head clears. Plus I'm always thirsty and this kinda goes against what people say but when I have something salty, thirst goes away and I seem to store LESS water than when I'm drinking 20 glasses a day and still feeling thirsty. So I guess I'll keep having my salt if it keeps me from feeling like I'm gonna faint.

    OMG, the TO in this old thread is describing me! I don't have very low blood pressure but have all my life felt faint and weak when walking up stairs and mountains. I could never do a sprint or run like other kids because I'd run out of air. And for three years I've been having episodes of shortness of breath (and excessive peeing). And guess what: all this improves when I stick my finger into a salt pot ever now and then throughout the day. Yes, I'm trying to convince my GP to finally run more tests. But I'm just so annoyed that the specialists I saw before (heart, lungs) said I'm probably hyperventilating and it's all in my head. It will be difficult to convince my GP to run more tests and to refer me to an endocrinologist or kidney specialist.
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    Options
    I have never monitored my salt intake. I sweat an awful lot when I train, as in face dripping within 11 minutes and clothing and hair soaked by the end so I am quite liberal when adding salt to my evening meal and it has never caused me any issue. I have normal blood pressure, however, and always have done and my evening meal tends to be fairly bland - ie, roast chicken breast, new potatoes and vegetables.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,478 Member
    Options
    Hey, I noticed it's an old thread and still replied because it's relevant to me, even though the original TO might be long gone.
  • shaumom
    shaumom Posts: 1,003 Member
    edited October 2017
    Options
    yirara wrote: »
    OMG, the TO in this old thread is describing me...

    @yirara - if you are having your doctor test you, you might want to see if he will refer you for testing to Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS for short). A knowledgeable cardiologist can do this, but sadly, many doctors are rather ignorant about this syndrome so don't recognize it, or think that it must have certain symptoms that it actually doesn't (like actual fainting, rather than a feeling of faintness - and fainting is not required if you have this). It is also a bit more known now than it was a even a few years back, so if you were tested when you were younger, that might have been the issue.

    Doctors don't know a lot about the causes, and it's rare (although some doctors think it is a bit less rare and a bit more 'rarely diagnosed.'). But it tends to trigger sometime in puberty or later (although not always), and it involves the body not getting blood to where it needs to go, WHEN it needs to go there.

    This tends to result in feeling faint and weak when doing anything that would usually require blood to be pumping well (like exercise, or even standing up). Sometimes eating too big a meal can even trigger it, with the blood flow needed to digest. Frequent urination is also a possible symptom.

    Often, the heart rate will rise more than it should during these times. The blood pressure drops when you are doing these things, but both heart and blood pressure MAY BE NORMAL WHEN YOU ARE NOT DOING THESE THINGS. Or only a little on the low side. So the testing for this actually involves testing WHEN your body would need to shunt extra blood around, which is not usually done. This specificity of WHEN the test needs to be done often results in the doctor not seeing anything abnormal, because when they test your blood pressure and heart, you usually aren't doing the activity that triggers the abnormality, you know?

    For testing, it's a tilt table test, where you get strapped onto a special table and they take your blood pressure as the table is moved around and puts your head in different positions (reclining, nearly upright, etc...)

    And one last quirky thing: salt impacts blood pressure, typically, so eating significantly more salt is actually recommended as one of the ways to help with symptoms of POTS, since low blood pressure is an issue.

    Hope you and your doc can figure out what's going on so you feel better!


  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,478 Member
    Options
    shaumom wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    OMG, the TO in this old thread is describing me...

    @yirara - if you are having your doctor test you, you might want to see if he will refer you for testing to Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS for short). A knowledgeable cardiologist can do this, but sadly, many doctors are rather ignorant about this syndrome so don't recognize it, or think that it must have certain symptoms that it actually doesn't (like actual fainting, rather than a feeling of faintness - and fainting is not required if you have this). It is also a bit more known now than it was a even a few years back, so if you were tested when you were younger, that might have been the issue.

    Doctors don't know a lot about the causes, and it's rare (although some doctors think it is a bit less rare and a bit more 'rarely diagnosed.'). But it tends to trigger sometime in puberty or later (although not always), and it involves the body not getting blood to where it needs to go, WHEN it needs to go there.

    This tends to result in feeling faint and weak when doing anything that would usually require blood to be pumping well (like exercise, or even standing up). Sometimes eating too big a meal can even trigger it, with the blood flow needed to digest. Frequent urination is also a possible symptom.

    Often, the heart rate will rise more than it should during these times. The blood pressure drops when you are doing these things, but both heart and blood pressure MAY BE NORMAL WHEN YOU ARE NOT DOING THESE THINGS. Or only a little on the low side. So the testing for this actually involves testing WHEN your body would need to shunt extra blood around, which is not usually done. This specificity of WHEN the test needs to be done often results in the doctor not seeing anything abnormal, because when they test your blood pressure and heart, you usually aren't doing the activity that triggers the abnormality, you know?

    For testing, it's a tilt table test, where you get strapped onto a special table and they take your blood pressure as the table is moved around and puts your head in different positions (reclining, nearly upright, etc...)

    And one last quirky thing: salt impacts blood pressure, typically, so eating significantly more salt is actually recommended as one of the ways to help with symptoms of POTS, since low blood pressure is an issue.

    Hope you and your doc can figure out what's going on so you feel better!


    Wow, I didn't even know this is a thing! And of course if you heart beats faster you need to breath faster and the oxygen is 'used up' faster. Phew, a respiratory specialist told me this week I was hyperventilating and I need to see a therapist for that :s I'm not sure though whether it's really pots as my heart rate doesn't quite go so high as in the examples I've found on youtube. Probably just orthostatic hypotension, to which my heartrate reacts a bit. Think of high 120s to low 140s (with a max of 205). But yes, I started experimenting with salt because I thought this problem might be related to low blood pressure, because I suddenly realised my life-long crisp craving might actually be a salt craving and because I've been on and off deficient in pretty much every electroly. Thus no idea why I never thought of salt.
  • donnapal79
    donnapal79 Posts: 30 Member
    Options
    shaumom wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    OMG, the TO in this old thread is describing me...

    @yirara - if you are having your doctor test you, you might want to see if he will refer you for testing to Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS for short). A knowledgeable cardiologist can do this, but sadly, many doctors are rather ignorant about this syndrome so don't recognize it, or think that it must have certain symptoms that it actually doesn't (like actual fainting, rather than a feeling of faintness - and fainting is not required if you have this). It is also a bit more known now than it was a even a few years back, so if you were tested when you were younger, that might have been the issue.

    Doctors don't know a lot about the causes, and it's rare (although some doctors think it is a bit less rare and a bit more 'rarely diagnosed.'). But it tends to trigger sometime in puberty or later (although not always), and it involves the body not getting blood to where it needs to go, WHEN it needs to go there.

    This tends to result in feeling faint and weak when doing anything that would usually require blood to be pumping well (like exercise, or even standing up). Sometimes eating too big a meal can even trigger it, with the blood flow needed to digest. Frequent urination is also a possible symptom.

    Often, the heart rate will rise more than it should during these times. The blood pressure drops when you are doing these things, but both heart and blood pressure MAY BE NORMAL WHEN YOU ARE NOT DOING THESE THINGS. Or only a little on the low side. So the testing for this actually involves testing WHEN your body would need to shunt extra blood around, which is not usually done. This specificity of WHEN the test needs to be done often results in the doctor not seeing anything abnormal, because when they test your blood pressure and heart, you usually aren't doing the activity that triggers the abnormality, you know?

    For testing, it's a tilt table test, where you get strapped onto a special table and they take your blood pressure as the table is moved around and puts your head in different positions (reclining, nearly upright, etc...)

    And one last quirky thing: salt impacts blood pressure, typically, so eating significantly more salt is actually recommended as one of the ways to help with symptoms of POTS, since low blood pressure is an issue.

    Hope you and your doc can figure out what's going on so you feel better!


    I have this. Was diagnosed at 16. It's pretty easy to manage if you pay attention to your symptoms. That tilt table test sucks, though.

Categories