Symptoms of salt deficiency

Salt deficiency or medically called hyponatremia is a condition where a person has less than 130 mM of sodium in their blood. If sodium level falls below 125 mM or less one can experience seizures or even coma.

Salt deficiency consequences - seizures or coma

The common forms of salts are sodium chloride, sodium phosphate and sodium bicarbonate. Human beings have about 40% of sodium in their bones, 2-5% inside their organs and cells and 55% in blood and other body fluids. The body itself balances the levels of sodium. Normally intestines are the ones that absorb sodium and kidneys eliminate it through urine. If a low sodium diet is followed, intestines increase absorption of sodium and kidneys decrease elimination of it. Blood pressure depends a lot on the concentration of water and sodium in the body. There are mechanisms that regulate the concentration of water and sodium in blood plasma. If a body lacks sodium there are many illnesses that can occur. Some of them harm kidneys but can also affect pituitary gland and hypothalamus. There are two main causes of hyponatremia. Improper diet is the first one and the second one is an illness that harms the body mechanisms of regulating sodium levels.

Salt deficiency can affect patients who consume low sodium diet and at the same time take diuretic drugs such as furosemide, bumetanide and thiazides. People should know that diuretic drugs eliminate sodium in order to regulate blood pressure. If such people are also elderly and drink too much water, they are in real danger of hyponatremia.Another common cause of salt deficiency is diarrhea especially if it lasts long and is recurrent. Diarrhea eliminates water, sodium and nutrients from a large intestine.Even though this cause is not that common it can still cause salt deficiency and it is known to exist among psychotic patients who habitually drink more than 20l of water per day. Water dissolves sodium and thus drinking too much of it can cause deficiency of salt. If one drinks too much beer and consumes poor diet the result can also be salt deficiency.Marathon running causes sweating a lot and if you drink only water during the race you can get hyponatremia. In extreme cases marathon runners in this situation can experience neurological disorders and can end up in hospital. If adrenal gland is damaged such as in Addison’ disease, the production of aldosterone can be interrupted and this can then cause hyponatremia. Certain types of cancer can result in producing too much vasopressin and thus also develop hyponatremia.

Some of the most common symptoms of salt deficiencies are fatigue, disorientation, headache, muscle cramps and nausea. If the condition worsens seizures and coma can appear. In rare cases, severe hyponatremia in combination with other conditions can even cause death.

In order to diagnose the salt deficiency, blood tests should be conducted. It is not uncommon for the levels of aldosterone or vasopressin to be tested as well.

Will salt water help or make things worse?

Physical appearance is very important today and people always try to look as good as they can and they try to achieve this goal in any possible way. Outer appearance is not the only relevant thing. People need to take a look at the inner body and clean it. To have a healthy body, people need to expel all the toxic and harmful material by detoxification. There are treatments that perform this function and they are becoming more popular today. The most common treatments are master cleanse diet and colon cleanse.Detoxification can be done with the use of salt water but people need to focus on the dangers that can arise because of this treatment. The use of salt water will remove the toxins in natural way and to clear the colon. Sodium is the base item of this product. Patients with constipation can also use salt water for their problem. In order to make salt water, a person should mix quart of boiling water and 2 teaspoons of salt. There are some risks, however, and people should get to know them and be aware of the symptoms of salt deficiency.

Risks of Salt Water Flush

One of the risks associated with the salt water is vomiting. This common side effect is created because certain people cannot tolerate and digest salt. Vomiting usually does not create serious problems, but sometimes it can lead to esophagus tearing and pain in the muscles.Another danger is the damage to the throat and the mouth. Dehydration can happen as well, which usually occurs because of the empty stomach that came in contact with the salt water. Dehydration can be caused by diarrhea that is caused by the salt water.Another risk is connected with the imbalance of the electrolytes, which happens because the kidneys work much harder when salt water is digested. This leads to the retained electrolytes. This imbalance can sometimes provoke heart rhythm disturbance, problems with the muscles and several others.People should know that there is a split opinion when the use of salt water is concerned. While some think that it is the best choice for this kind of colon cleanse, others are skeptical and do not recommend this treatment.Treatment of stronger cases of salt deficiency includes taking infusions of a solution of 5% sodium chloride in water. If salt deficiency is caused by diuretic drugs or low levels of vasopressin a patient should simply drink less quantity of water. If adrenal gland insufficiency is the cause of hyponatremia one needs to take hormone injections.