Saline Vs. Drinking Salt Water.

[jangle]

I haven't yet tried a saline infusion, but I see a lot of people seem to improve with ~2 liters of Saline given over a 2 hour period.

Doing some quick math I see that 2 liters of saline would approximately be equal to 9 glasses of salt water.

I'm thinking about just trying to down 9 glasses of relatively same concentration salt water over a 2 hour period and seeing if that can produce the same effects.

Has anyone tried this amount and had success with it?

[sue1234]

Maybe try half that amount first and see what the reaction is?

[Christy_D]

My son didn't see improvement until the third day of IV Saline. So one day might not be enough.

[foggy_brain]

Jangle, if by salt water you mean isotonic NaCl solution, then I'm with sue1234: go easy and drink it little at time, over a couple of hours, just as how an IV drip would work. You'll get a very unpleasant rise in blood pressure if you swallow this stuff too fast.

I'm using the following recipe: at the warehouse, I get a 3/4 gallon orange juice container, non-refrigerated. That's almost 3 liters. I spike it with close to 15ml (3 teaspoons) sodium chloride and shake it. That gives me a solution that's roughly isotonic as far as salt goes. And moreover, the orange juice already contains potassium and lots of sugars, bumping up the molarity and that will help the concoction stay in the blood longer. Even better still, these ingredients also make the potion somewhat palatable. I don't bother putting it in the fridge, it'll stay fresh for a couple of days. I'm NOT recommending drinking this much over one day, it's meant for several days of use.

Be careful, the sugars may overpower the salt and make you drink this stuff too fast. With all these salt experiments, you will be getting WAY, WAY over the recommend sodium intake and you can see that this is risky: http://www.cdc.gov/features/dssodium/. In fact, the 15ml salt I'm using is about 30 grams or some twenty times the recommended daily max sodium intake for many kinds of folks. Check with your doctor. The way, I go about it is to gulp down own cup and sip over a couple of hours for a total of may three to five cups. That's all I do in day, a liter max.

Also, I've had IV saline several times. Same good stuff -- it works every time, within 20 min to 60 min depending on fast I'm started,

For me, the downside of this therapy is that the benefits are short lived. What happens is that once the peeing starts it seems difficult to keep the added blood volume at the maximum, it'll drop somewhat perhaps to a level not too different from baseline. Also, blood pressure goes up and that's just not desirable even if it is low normal to start with. So for me, this hydration therapy is no miracle, but still helpful.

[jangle]

FB, back in January I tried hydration therapy and I also noticed that I would urinate out the excess usually within minutes of taking it down.

One thing I've noticed though is that my exercise program has made it so I can keep down larger volumes of liquid + salt.

I am noticing symptom improvement after about 4-5 glasses of salt water.

[yogini]

I haven't tried drinking that much salt water, don't think I could stomach it, ut I do drink organic chicken broth followed by lots of water. It is quite effective.

[Clairefmartin]

I have found if I get a slower drip rate it "stays in longer" so I am now getting 1.5 L at home at a 100-150/hour rate. I feel horrible during the infusion, but much better a few hours after or the next day, and it has allowed me to regain some function. Its just not convenient to be hooked up to an IV for 10 hours, but they have a neat little backpack thing with the pump, and its not like I'm very mobile yet, so for now it works. I have talked with others and my new awesome nephrologist about why IVs work so much better, and the GI absorption in POTS/Dysautonomia seems to be bad in general (would love to see a study about that!), and bypassing the GI tract allow direct access (almost) to the kidneys in terms of the saline.

Anyways, good luck with your experiment, and be careful! I'm interested to know what happens.

[Loulou]

CFMartin78,

I just started IV therapy with a script of 2 liters, over 2-3 hours, 3 times per week as needed. I never feel good, so i'm not sure when to go. How do you decide when you need it?

thanks

Lisa

[spinner]

Havnt tried the saline IV, but when i add sea salt to a glass of water its probably half a teaspoon. I probably drink it down too fast instead of sipping, but

i have limited time, and its usually when im hydrating before doing my excercise period at late afternoon.

[Batik]

I've been doing low-sodium salt (equal mix of sodium and potassium) in herbal tea (the ones with a bit of licorice work best), but I'm crap at making it up often enough. I'm going to try the orange juice method, and since that sounds potentially vile, I'm planning to try tomato juice as well. Smidgen more potassium in it, and I suspect will work better with salt. Should I be adding a wee bit of sugar to the tomato juice, and if so, is molasses a good option? Plenty of minerals in that as well. Also tomato juice is already quite high in sodium, should I adjust accordingly? Perhaps by adding the same amount of salt (maybe partly low-sodium salt), but only having half the amount of tomato juice as you'd have of orange juice? I'm too broke right now to go through a litre of tomato juice a day.

[Batik]

I bought a carton each of tomato juice and orange juice, and decided to start with the tomato juice. If nothing else, the naturally higher concentration of sodium and potassium means I will need half as much to get the same effect, so it works out cheaper. Thankfully it's quite tasty, and it works well to have half a cup at a time, diluted with another half-cup of water. Here's what I've slung together for two days' worth, do the proportions look right? I'm not entirely sure how much sugar you need in there.

1 litre (4 cups) tomato juice

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp low-sodium salt (half sodium chloride, half potassium chloride)

1 tbsp molasses

According to my dieting software, 2 cups of that per day would give me 127 calories, 2,650mg sodium, 1,625mg potassium, 26g sugar, 90mg Vitamin C, and substantial quantities of Vit A, Vit E, B vitamins and minerals.

[Batik]

I just spotted the snag with this whole idea of using fruit juice (incl. tomato) as a basis for an electrolyte drink. Watch out if you have any medical condition which won't be keen on the acidity. In my case, the Interstitial Cystitis was Not Impressed At All. Ow ow ow.

[Kor1212]

So, I recently had a trip to Mayo Clinic,AZ. The Neuro doc there says 10 gms salt and 3 liters fluid per day. 1tsp salt is about 2gms, so that is 5 tsps per day! I figure my diet gives me 2-4 gms of salt ( I salt everything). I drink a cup of broth with 2 bullion cubes( each cube= 1 gm salt) every AM, followed by water, then 8oz tomato juice with 1/4 tsp salt ( this is about 1gm salt) as a mid morning snack. Then I eat pickles, pretzels, nuts etc, throughout day. The broth is the easiest way to get salt in in large quantities that I have found.

[surfgirl14]

I am on 2 liters of lactated ringers over a 2-3 hour period.. it really works for me i go twice a week. I knw when I need it becuz I get very tachy, tired, and weak. But I go twice a week no matter what my cardio perscribed it tht way. Some ppl it doesnt work for it just depends each person is different.