[pct-l] Hyponatremia and salt intake

[Ellen Shopes]

Subject: Hyponatremia


>A number of points regarding hyponatremia...
> 1.  it's occurence and symptomology is documented in the hiking 
> population: see articles published about Grand Canyon hikers.
> 2.  it seems to occur more often in women than men (there may be 
> physiologic reasons for this, as male/female mice handle excess brain 
> water differently).
> 3.  it's symptoms are so similar to heat exhaustion that only a blood test 
> can definitively diagnose it.
> 4.  the symptoms occur when there is a rapid change in body sodium levels. 
> (People can adapt to chronically low sodium levels.)
> 5.  while it is true that sodium content in sweat decreases during 
> acclimitization to the heat, the total volume of sweat increases (so 
> sodium losses overall remain about the same).
> 6.  hyponatremia is much less common than heat exhaustion.  For every 100 
> cases of heat-related problems at Grand Canyon, 90 were heat exhaustion, 9 
> were hyponatremia, and 1 was heat stroke.
>
> The symptoms of hyponatremia include headache, nausea, vomiting, muscle 
> cramps, altered mental status.  People usually (but not always!) produce 
> copious clear urine; this can be your lone clue out there in the desert 
> that you are drinking too much: look at your urine.  If it looks like you 
> could drink it, you are probably drinking too much.
>
> The alterations in mental status can be quite bizzare.  I remember one 
> person who tried to drink from her flashlight.  Another was ready to 'duke 
> it out' with rangers and her boyfriend, who were trying to get her water 
> bottle from her.  Another guy described it to me as a 'neat kind of high'; 
> he seemed to be having almost a LSD kind of experience.
>
> Be careful out there!
> Elderly Ellen
>