Electrolyte Drinks

[bethanyh]

Thank you for this information, Batik. Based on your suggestions, I am not sure which route to take now. I do drink coconut water on occasion but need a daily drink that offers sodium in addition to electrolytes but without the added sugars/sweeteners. From what I have read on other websites and heard from other people the Nuun is controversial as well. I am very new to all of this and there are so many items to sift through. I would have never guessed that I would need to question what type of water to drink!

[Batik]

Could you explain more about Nuun being controversial? Is it likely to case any harm if you try it to see how you get on with it? I don't get on with larger doses of sweeteners, my gut was not at all happy when I took NOW digestive enzymes due to the sorbitol in there for instance, but I've never had any trouble with Nuun. Or are we talking allergic reactions?

Most coconut water is sweetened too, by the way, check the label, and I read the other day that the sodium and potassium levels may not be what they're claimed to be, someone tested a few brands. Did you ever try water with a bit of salt in it, by the way? It doesn't need to be fancy salt, the health claims for those are nonsense (the levels of any nutrient except sodium are far too low to have any benefit) and Himalayan pink salt is actually just road salt. Try stirring a pinch of salt into a glass of water as a start.

Sodium in addition to electrolytes - I'm wondering if you're having finding this confusing, and if so, can we help? Sodium is an electrolyte! It's the main one we need. After that comes potassium, which I personally get by putting some low-sodium salt in my water bottle. Low-sodium salt is a mix of potassium chloride and sodium chloride, which is very handy for us. The ratio isn't the best for us, though, which is why most of my mix is ordinary salt. Then you get calcium and such, but I'm not bothered about getting those in a drink. The amount you get is negligible, you need an awful lot of calcium, so I prefer to take my other minerals in my diet and in capsule or tablet form. Sodium and potassium are what I really want in an electrolyte drink. Sodium alone is fine for many people.

By the way, I forgot to mention that there are some natural electrolyte drinks out there. You'll have to take their calories and sugar into consideration, of course. Tomato juice is one, and some people add more salt to it. I found it too acidic for me to keep drinking, alas. I think milk is another. Broth or bouillon can work, though check for sugar and MSG. I like the Marigold bouillon powders, and have been known to add extra salt to them, though I couldn't drink them all day long. Miso soup is another, I think. That's high in histamine, which may be an issue if you have a mast cell disorder, and usually made from soya, which not everyone likes. I get beautiful fresh miso from my local Chinese supermarket, it should be a paste in the fridge, but again I wouldn't want to be drinking it all day long. But then I have a mast cell disorder and break out in a sweat after drinking miso soup. Mind you, it's not just that. I need to drink a lot, the cardiologist said three litres a day, and I don't want to be constantly drinking hot drinks and waiting for them to be the right temperature.

[Batik]

Also you can buy electrolyte tablets. I tried some and promptly had an ME crash. I'd taken quite a lot, but the dose per tablet was low. What have other people found with them? I might give them another try with more cautious dosage some time.

[Batik]

Sorry, I meant tablets that you swallow rather make into drinks.

After a bit of hunting around, and nothing so far to suggest that Nuun may be harmful, I've found that their U Natural Hydration range has far fewer ingredients, and uses stevia for the sweetener. Half the amount of sodium, so you'd need to use more, but that might be an option for you, if you can buy it in your country. They don't sell it in the UK, so I can't try it. I also found, to my astonishment, that not all Nuun is vegan! Thankfully the ones I use are.

[bethanyh]

Batik: What I heard about the Nuun was that it can cause unpleasant "side effects" such as diarrhea and in general, GI upset.
Being so new to this whole POTS situation, I have no idea and every person will be different. I have heard positive and negatives about NUUN and I guess the best thing to do is just get some and try it. I have gastroparesis and my stomach is incredibly sensitive so I want to be careful about drinking anything that has artificial sweeteners, sugars, or other unnecessary ingredients.
I am mainly curious about and looking for suggestions of what other people drink on a daily basis to help them.

[imapumpkin]

i have a pretty sensitive GI tract and some gastroparesis as well, and have had no issues with NUUN causing stomach upset. keep in mind that polyethelene glycol is the main active ingredient in Miralax...and therefore acts as a hypersomotic laxative. essentially it makes the intestines hold more water and helps to move things along, so to speak. that said, yes NUUN tends to make me more "regular" but hasn't caused any problems, but everyone is different.

@batik: as far as NUUN being "controversial" i guess it is the PEG in it. the reason PEG is controversial is that there is unclear evidence and data about it's toxicity. obviously if it was immediately harmful to one's health it would never get past the USDA and the FDA because PEG is generally accepted to be safe, that's why it's found in things like Miralax. Essentially it's like any other concerning substance...BPA in canned goods, dyes used for food coloring...we don't know the long term affects of taking it and it may or may not have some toxicity. it's just one of those things you have to weigh the benefits and risks over. for me personally, NUUN makes enough difference in how i feel and my ability to function that i drink it anyway. it was recommended to me by my neurologist and i told my integrative medicine doctor about it. he said he wished it didnt have PEG in it but i believe if he was really concerned about me taking it he would advise me to try something else; he acknowledges that most things in the health realm, treatments and meds are not without risks and it's a risk/benefit analysis.

in regards to the artificial sweeteners in NUUN, i don't know anything about which one(s?) it contains, i just know it doesn't have aspartame, which i choose not to consume. so choosing not to take it because of sweeteners and PEG is a legit choice, but so is taking it if it helps.

[BeforeTheMorning]

I just found this which looks great: http://propelwater.com/

It's an electrolyte drink which seems to only include, water, sodium potassium and magnesium! The electrolyte levels aren't incredibly high but they claim to be as high as gatorade I think. I know someone earlier in the thread mentioned propel, but I think they may have been talking about the other propel drinks that have sweeteners in? Anyway, I would love to get some of this to try, the only thing is I can't seem to find out where you can buy it. Can anyone else?

[Batik]

I can't find the ingredients for that Propel electrolyte water, but I really doubt that it's just sodium and other electrolytes in water. That means it would just taste like salty water, and practically no one would buy it. The lack of ingredients is a big red flag for me, especially since their Propel Fitness Water claims to be "calorie free" but actually has a lot of sugar, and therefore calories, in each serving. (US legislation has definitions for "low calorie" and "no calorie" but apparently it doesn't cover "calorie free".)

If PEG is a standard ingredient in many meds, surely that means it's been rigorously tested for safety? Also it doesn't mean that it's always a laxative no matter what the dose! Sorbitol is a laxative if you eat too much as well, and that's a very common sweetener. Generally if people have problems with sorbitol in sweets, it's because they ate the whole packet. Plenty of foods have laxative properties at a sufficient dose, and I don't see anyone saying you should avoid bread which has a few linseeds on it just because a high dose of linseeds works as a laxative. Similarly, many electrolyte drinks use forms of certain minerals which are also laxatives, such as magnesium oxide or sodium bicarbonate.

Anyway, I don't know what number of Nuun tablets you have to consume before the sweeteners cause problems. I am presumably quite sensitive to sorbitol, as I could tolerate those NOW capsules, but I'm fine with Nuun, so I don't think it's much. What's the harm in trying half a tablet to begin with, then slowly increasing that if you get on with it? Because to be honest, you sound like you're looking for an electrolyte drink that doesn't exist. Either you drink salty water (have you tried it?) or you have to choose between sugar or sweetener, usually with flavouring and colouring too. As risks go, they're a lot less than the side effects most meds have. Nuun U Natural Hydration may be more acceptable to you, have you looked into it?

[BeforeTheMorning]

@Batik I know it seems strange that it shouldn't have any flavour or sweetness to it, but if you click on the Nutritional Info link at the bottom of the description on the page it tells you the ingredients: PURIFIED WATER (PURIFIED BY REVERSE OSMOSIS), SODIUM BICARBONATE, MAGNESIUM SULFATE, POTASSIUM BICARBONATE

[Batik]

I can't get to that part, I'm reading on a tablet and it won't show that bit. I'll try a different browser. Aha, there it is. Are you sure that's the full ingredients? It doesn't say "ingredients", it says "nutrition facts", and after their nasty trick with "calorie free" meaning "two spoonfuls of sugar per tiny portion", I would be very wary. And I thought you were worried about laxatives? Anyway, why don't you just try a few different ones and see how they make you feel? Life's too short to stay away from treatments which are almost certainly going to be harmless because you heard a few people had a mild reaction! It's not a lifetime commitment to try them.

One thing I will say is that tablets are easier to store in bulk if that's what you're drinking all day. How much are you meant to be drinking? My cardiologist has me on 3l,but I'm pretty tiny, I think it'd be 4l for average sized people. So that's worth thinking about. One nice thing about salty water is that you can put it together pretty much anywhere. Tablets are useful to carry with you for when you're out, so I definitely recommend finding a brand of tablets you like for emergencies, whether they have sugar or not. For home use you get more choices.

Have you tried salty water yet? Bicarb of soda in water is another option, but I don't think you can put as much in, between the taste and the laxative effect.

[bethanyh]

Before the Morning and Batik: I tried some of the new Propel electrolyte water...it tastes like straight saline but I guess with the ingredient list that makes sense. I thought I would try adding something natural like strawberries or other fruit to cut the saline taste. This way it would have a better flavor without adding artificial sweeteners or too much acid.