Posted 3/1/2016 5:14 AM (GMT 0)
The ones I take now you can get in the health food sections of some stores. This one is called "Nuun Active". Yeah, that's spelled right. It looks like an alka seltzer tablet and works the same way. You just drop the tablet in water and it fizzes and dissolves. They make them in different flavors. Mine happens to be a berry flavor.
Reading the ingredients, it looks like there's 1 gram of sugar. The other ingredients include calcium, magnesium, sodium bicarbonate, vitamin C, Potassium, and salt. An all around decent electrolyte mix.
Personally, I'd stay away from Gatorade and Powerade. That stuff is crap, even if the sugar isn't an issue, they only put one or two electrolytes in them.
The reasoning for taking electrolytes for the heart are several fold, in my opinion.
1. Most of us already know, Lymes does crazy things to our electrolyte balance.
2. Magnesium alone has been proven to do great things for your heart, even if you're already healthy.
3. Electrolytes improve neurological functions. Another given.
4. Electrolytes, especially salt, helps you absorb water, which does several things:
A. It increases your blood volume, which some might think increases your blood pressure. As it turns out, new studies show that high salt diets may NOT actually increase your blood pressure. Old studies of salt and blood pressure were based on feeding rats MEGA overdoses of salt, which killed them. Duh.
B. Fluid in your body helps reduce inflammation. This is one of the reasons the hospital puts you on a saline IV bag as soon as you get admitted for heart issues.
C. Being heavily hydrated thins your blood, making it pump easier.
D. One of the reasons some Lymes/Bebesia patients have heart issues is actually related to their arteries. We all know that Lymes messes with your immune, and causes inflammation. Well, part of this inflammation can be caused by a histamine reaction, similar to an allergic reaction. There are specific histamine reactions that cause your arteries to dilate. Your arteries should naturally dilate in specific situations, like stress, exercise, etc...However, if they just dilate for no good reason, your heart has to pump faster/harder to maintain proper blood flow. You can be suspect of this specific case if you've had your heart checked out with no known issues, and you have facial flushing and headaches. This is also a common culprit for people with orthostatic hypertension.
That last point is a very curious one, because several things that you would think should increase your blood pressure will actually reduce it. Another example of that is caffeine. Now, I know most Lymies need to stay away from caffeine. However, one thing caffeine does is cause your blood vessels to constrict. If you have over dilated blood vessels, this could actually be a good thing. Still, not really an option for most Lymes patients.
Anyway, back on point, there is another electrolyte powder I've taken before that is actually made from coconut milk. I'll have to check the store to see what the was called again. Its good stuff, but wasn't the cheapest option.