Salt Tablets Vs Increasing Salt On Your Own?

[jem15]

I've never had any improvement in symptoms when increasing my salt intake, and recently I've tried bumping it up even more by adding more salty snacks and adding it to foods I usually wouldnt add it to like peanut butter or cheese. I also cant cook so I have to eat a lot more processed/frozen foods, (though I try the more "natural" or "organic" kind), but basically, I would think my diet would have enough salt to feel a difference, and I never have. The doctor I'm seeing for the POTS wants me to try salt tablets, just starting with 2g a day and see what happens. Has anyone ever not had any luck just increasing their salt on their own, but noticed a difference when put on a pill? Also, any side effects or things I have to watch for when taking it in that form?

[Ashelton80]

The only time I could tolerate the tablets are when I ate a really heavy meal like a cheeseburger. Otherwise, I would be really nauseous for about 45 minutes after and would never want to touch what I had just eaten prior ever again. I ended up stopping the tablets and just trying to get the salt in my diet, I drink 2 can's of Campbell's soup a day and add sea salt to that. I strain the noodles and chicken out and just drink the broth. We get funny looks from the ladies at Kroger. That gives me about 3 grams. I also eat a lot of other soup and try to salt my eggs, veggies, etc from other meals. I figure at the end of the day I've eaten around 5 grams of salt during the day. Surely that is enough. Good luck!

[yogini]

Salt pills make me nauseous, and I find that I can never get enough sodium from eating salty food alone. I drink 2 cups of chicken broth a day which gives me about 1.5 extra grams of sodium which helps with my symptoms and energy.

[Lenna]

Initially my son couldn't take them because they made him feel nauseous. Now he takes 2 with lunch and 2 with dinner. The trick for him was to start out slowly. He took one per day for a week, then one per meal for a week, and so on. Unfortunately, he doesn't really feel the benefit, but it makes his doctor happy.

[runningshoe]

Trader Joe's chicken or veg broth - no additives and tastes okay - is what I recommend. It is gentler on the system then the pills.

[jem15]

Does it help taking the pills with food or not really? They wanted me to take 2g at once, but it comes in 1g pills, so maybe now hearing your replies, I'll just start with one and see. If it doesnt work, i cant try the broth thing. I forgot about the chicken broths being high in sodium. I have and old bottle of those chicken bouillon cubes, but they are probably loaded with additives.. Trader Joes might be the way to go if the pills dont work out.

thanks everyone

[issie]

Have you read my out of the box thinking topic on salt? Why not try the Himalayan or Celtic Sea Salt? It might work better. Plus, it would be gentler on your body. (Just a suggestion.)

[jem15]

No, I never heard of Himalayan salt, or "Celtic" sea salt, is that different than regular sea salt? Sea salt is what I've been using to add to things.. but ha, dont know if it's celtic or not. Where do they sell the Himalayan or Celtic, a Whole Foods type place?

[issie]

No, I never heard of Himalayan salt, or "Celtic" sea salt, is that different than regular sea salt? Sea salt is what I've been using to add to things.. but ha, dont know if it's celtic or not. Where do they sell the Himalayan or Celtic, a Whole Foods type place?

Yes, like a natural foods store, for the Celtic (it is a grey color and not processed). I'm not sure about the Himalayan (this one is a pink colorand unprocessed) - where I read about it was on Dr. Mercola's web site. I plan to order it from him. It's really not that expensive. You might read my two threads - Out of the Box Thinking and More on Aldestorne and Renin. I put alot of time into the research. I think I'm on to something - it would be nice to see if my theories are correct.

[skyblu]

Does it help taking the pills with food or not really? They wanted me to take 2g at once, but it comes in 1g pills, so maybe now hearing your replies, I'll just start with one and see. If it doesnt work, i cant try the broth thing. I forgot about the chicken broths being high in sodium. I have and old bottle of those chicken bouillon cubes, but they are probably loaded with additives.. Trader Joes might be the way to go if the pills dont work out.

thanks everyone

I was told at Mayo to always take salt with your food and the best way to do it is is put a lot of salt on your food. You don't need salt tabs. Before I went to Mayo I was doing salt drinks which a doc in Denver recommended. The docs at Mayo said the salt drinks were useless, that salt won't be absorbed properly unless it's taken with food.

[Noreen]

No, I never heard of Himalayan salt, or "Celtic" sea salt, is that different than regular sea salt? Sea salt is what I've been using to add to things.. but ha, dont know if it's celtic or not. Where do they sell the Himalayan or Celtic, a Whole Foods type place?

I got my Himalyan salt online from Swanson vitamins. I have found their quality and prices great - I have been getting stuff from them off and on for 10 years or so.

[tinkerbella]

I take the THERMOTABS, SALT SUPPLEMENT BUFFERED and it says to take with a full glass of water. My doc told me to TANK UP. They don't bother me at all. I need to buy them online next time as the drug store had to special order them 100 for 9.99.

[green]

I eat a lot of canned refried beans. They are already loaded with sodium. When I say "a lot" I mean over 31 oz a day.

what about increasing potassium chloride on your own? Anyone tried that? I take florinef, but I forgot to tell me GP that I'm supposed to take Klor-Con (sp?) with it. So, he didn't write a prescription for potassium chloride when he took over maanging my florinef. Instead of telling him I should be taking Klor-Con, I've been pouring NuSalt (potassium chloride plus some other things) on my beans.

I also use a lot of soy sauce.

[Noreen]

I eat a lot of canned refried beans. They are already loaded with sodium. When I say "a lot" I mean over 31 oz a day.

How do you eat them? Any recipes or tips greatly appreciated.

[jem15]

Thanks for the suggestions. The pharmacy had to order the salt pills, they don't say Thermotabs, just Sodium Chloride tablets, 1g each, and I'm supposed to do 2g. It didnt say how to take them, but I figured I'd take them with food due to the stomach upset others mentioned, and now hearing what skyblu said, I guess I'll continue that and with water. So far I havent noticed any effects, bad or good. So we'll see. I do wonder how I know if it's too much salt, and when/if that becomes damaging for us. Since there will also be all the regular salt in my diet, but I figure I'll try it for a month and see if there's any difference, and just monitor my blood pressure. I guess if there's no change in symptoms, there's no point in staying on the pills. I'm assuming if salt is going to make a difference, you'd feel that within the first week or so?

[green]

How do you eat them? Any recipes or tips greatly appreciated.

Refried Bean Bowl.

Ingredients:

15-20 oz of canned refried beans (I prefer the Taco Bell brand because it does not have added lard)

1 teaspoon of tumeric

1 teaspoon of sage

1 teaspoon of rosemary (you may wish to exclude this)

.5 - 1 tablespoon of coconut oil (to absorb the tumeric and make it more bioavailable)

1 teaspoon of hot sauce

1-4 corn tortillas (highly optional)

Process:

Coconut oil is solid at room temperature, so I usually put that into a bowl first, microwave it until it liquefies and then add the spices and stir the spices into the oil. You can also put the oil and spices on top of the beans to prevent spices from caking along the side of the bowl. Next add the refried beans, place corn tortillas on top of the beans to insulate them, then microwave for 2 minutes, then add hot sauce, then stir again and eat. The tortillas can be used to make soft tacos.

This is what I eat 10-14 / 21 meals a week.