Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yikes, that is really low, I have a friend with low BP and she gets dizzy so I don't know what she's doing to change things. I know of enough people who do a pink salt drink in the mornings...I do not as I battle to keep my levels balanced...mostly high end. I've cut out the chips I've been snacking on and got on a new blood pressure support so need to take my BP one of these days. I take BP rx meds but it still spikes.
You might need more potassium, jam. It's needed in decent amounts to balance sodium. Most people who get put on a low-salt diet could possibly just increase their potassium and switch to unprocessed salt. The Alkazone I take is a good potassium-based mineral drop that is sodium-free. You just use 3 drops in each 8 ounces of water you drink.
Actually, the low-sugar recommendation is warranted. Nobody should be eating a ton of sugar like so many people do today. We do need (high-quality) salts and fats, but we don't need a lot of sugar at all.
I think the point of the forum is; we do need these ingredients: all of them including sugar. We just don't need them in excess. Most of what we need we can get naturally just from what we eat. We all know many fruits and some veggie are filled with sugar.
I am not sure we get more sugar now than years ago, we just are not as active. When I was growing up, as an example, cereals were not pre sweetened but most moms had dessert for us every night. We also didn't have processed foods and we spent many more hours outside. Mom spent more hours just keeping the house in decent order. Many families didn't have dryers in the 50s or even early 60s. The vacuums weighted twice what they do now: we didn't have dish washers except for us kids and daddy or the boys pushed the lawn mower without even filling it with gas. that is for starters. So, it isn't just what we eat, but what we do not do.
I think the point of the forum is; we do need these ingredients: all of them including sugar. We just don't need them in excess. Most of what we need we can get naturally just from what we eat. We all know many fruits and some veggie are filled with sugar.
That's true. Some doctors don't even want us to eat very much fruit because of its sugar content. I don't worry about that too much since the fruit contains so much more than just sugar. I wouldn't go so far as to be a fruitarian, but I don't avoid fruit.
Quote:
I am not sure we get more sugar now than years ago, we just are not as active. When I was growing up, as an example, cereals were not pre sweetened but most moms had dessert for us every night. We also didn't have processed foods and we spent many more hours outside. Mom spent more hours just keeping the house in decent order. Many families didn't have dryers in the 50s or even early 60s. The vacuums weighted twice what they do now: we didn't have dish washers except for us kids and daddy or the boys pushed the lawn mower without even filling it with gas. that is for starters. So, it isn't just what we eat, but what we do not do.
We definitely did more back then, but we do consume way more refined sugars than we used to eat.
I’ve been having my normal checkups with the doctor every year and this last checkup he ran the usual blood and urine lab tests. When the lab report came back a few days later the doctor told me it showed that my sodium was low. Lower than the last test which was also low than the one before that. Low sodium showed 128 with the normal between 134 - 144. The doctor of course thought that because I was taking some of my natural alternative vitamins or minerals that would cause this.
After I checked on what I was taking (again) and realizing that my overall diet is no different than in the past and I’ve always been taking the same alternatives, I concluded that it must be the Blood Pressure prescription that he had started me on months ago. Obviously he said it wasn’t the prescription.
However the other day I found a pamphlet from my health food store that was a Nutrient Awareness Guide. When looking through it I discovered that the prescription the doctor put me on (Losartan) was associated with nutrient loss. Losartan can or may deplete the body of sodium, zinc, CoQ10, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium and or calcium. What an eye opener that small booklet was. Now I can return to the doctor in the weeks and show him just what is causing this lower level of sodium in my body. I’ve tried to find more online information about the connection of Losartan and sodium but so far I’ve failed so far.
I’ve been having my normal checkups with the doctor every year and this last checkup he ran the usual blood and urine lab tests. When the lab report came back a few days later the doctor told me it showed that my sodium was low. Lower than the last test which was also low than the one before that. Low sodium showed 128 with the normal between 134 - 144. The doctor of course thought that because I was taking some of my natural alternative vitamins or minerals that would cause this.
After I checked on what I was taking (again) and realizing that my overall diet is no different than in the past and I’ve always been taking the same alternatives, I concluded that it must be the Blood Pressure prescription that he had started me on months ago. Obviously he said it wasn’t the prescription.
However the other day I found a pamphlet from my health food store that was a Nutrient Awareness Guide. When looking through it I discovered that the prescription the doctor put me on (Losartan) was associated with nutrient loss. Losartan can or may deplete the body of sodium, zinc, CoQ10, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium and or calcium. What an eye opener that small booklet was. Now I can return to the doctor in the weeks and show him just what is causing this lower level of sodium in my body. I’ve tried to find more online information about the connection of Losartan and sodium but so far I’ve failed so far.
You cannot find information about losartan and the nutrient loss described in the booklet because the booklet is wrong.
There are few references to losartan causing a low blood sodium level, so if it happens it's rare.
Losartan may raise potassium levels, so you should not take extra potassium without consulting your doctor.
Losartan is also available in a combination with hydrochlorothiazide, a diuretic which may cause potassium loss.
In this study, losartan and the combination were associated with loss of zinc but not magnesium:
This is a helpful thread, as the "be afraid of sodium" health police have successfully scared a lot of people into unnecessary suffering.
Sodium (as described in this thread, the "balancer" to potassium) works synergistically with potassium, calcium, and magnesium.
One of the key functions of sodium is that it - along with sugar - blunts one's adrenaline response. Thus, if you suffer from symptoms of regularly high adrenaline (nervousness, anxiety, a high heart rate, high blood pressure, sweating excessively from the armpits, etc.) often times just what the doctor ordered is a good old fashioned salty carbohydrate snack (popcorn; pretzels).
High adrenaline is antagonistic to healthy or optimal thyroid function and as such, salt helps boost body temperature and the metabolic rate.
If one wakes up frequently in the middle of the night with the inability to fall back to sleep, this is often a symptom of high stress hormones. Very often, eating a salty snack with a bit of sugar mixed in will be just what the doctor ordered to blunt the stress hormone response and to put a person back to sleep.
For those with unusually low blood pressure, it is possible that adding some sodium to the diet could help boost blood pressure into a more normal range. Having extremely low blood pressure often times causes direct symptoms but indirect problems as well and is not healthful. If the blood pressure gets too low, adrenaline will kick in as a response for the body to be able to try to get blood pressure back up. Again, this is not healthful or optimal, and a little sodium will help the blood pressure function normally with blunted adrenaline thus minimizing the stress hormone response and allowing normal body functioning.
It is possible but far less than previously thought that excessive sodium levels will exacerbate high blood pressure conditions, however, again due to its anti-stress hormones effect, sodium is just as likely if not more so to reduce blood pressure than to cause high blood pressure.
As mentioned in this post by others, potassium balances sodium, so ensuring adequate potassium in the diet is also a key in ensuring a lack of sodium dominance. However, again, sodium is definitely not the boogeyman it has been portrayed as in the media and in health circles and is a strong key to solid metabolic functioning and health.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Losartan / Sodium issue found out
