Not sure which forum...electrolyte loss (sodium) and high blood pressure

Wasnt sure which forum to use. I got super dehydrated last weekend and am still recovering. I didnt realize until wednesday the seriousness of my situation. I then made an even worse mistake by almost killing myself by ingesting too much water. The next day I could barely get out of bed to make the doctor appt.  I had some blood tests and she called an hour or so later and said my sodium specifically was low and her advise was " eat sodium rich foods" and if I dont feel better, go to the ER. Well, it's been hard to tell whats better and worse since I've felt horrible all week. I have had a few brief high notes from trying desperately to rebalance my system but I need help.

Will I just get better monitoring fluid intake and eating a rediculous amoutn of sodium? I wish I had just gone to the ER in the first place but now It almost would seem odd to request a sodium IV after I have taken in so much. so much in my mind is about 1500-2000mg, and I hear some people take in more.

Any advice? I'm drinking pedialyate some, and of course a little other liquid here and there. So dang thirsty, no wonder!

 

Thanks for the input. I'll check it out. I didnt really get much instruction from the doc and it's hard to find info online about this. I have high blood pressure and I thought it would have dropped after this episode but it actually was up again, 130/90, but its decreased slightly since then. I take meds for that, I am not too worried , but to regain the balance in my system, it's not that easy. I'm 33 and I would like to think my body would correct the problem quickly, but I put it through a lot the past month or so, so this is not entirely shocking to me, although it's never happened before. I am feeling okay considering i actually got some sleep last night, but it was due to the anxiety meds I took. I'll keep drinking the pedialyte and read up more on your sites as well.

I saw the doc Thursday and Friday, just a couple days ago now. Friday she said it was okay, but I think I negated the progress because I started to drink liquids again which when I told her she was none too pleased. I'll keep at it. Taking it pretty easy, not drinking any alcohol, which is a first for me in a long time on a weekend here in a city that seems to never stop. Going forward I will definately try to take better precautions.

Thanks.
K

The reality is that I do not understand it entirely. I only just found out about it due to researching my condition.

The details of the ordeal, albeit a tad rediculous on my part, are as follows:

I drank excessive alcohol this weekend without drinking much water. Fairly common for my friends and I as we usually drink water on sunday or Monday and chalk it up to a hangover.  The past few weeks though we were going out Sunday and its over 100 degrees here and with drinking and not hydrating properly, I believe this led to dehydration.  The symptoms: body twitching, excessively dry skin, lethargic, excessive thirst, producing no urine.  Thus, I believe I was dehydrated. I then began to drink a lot of water, and had even researched overcomsumption of water because I had heard of it, but didnt think that's what I was doing...after all, I wasnt drinking water as a frat initiation, but to re-hydrate the fluids lost.

So when the next day came and I felt even worse I decided to go to the doctor and describe my symptoms. She agreed I was dehydrated but wanted to run tests (white blood count, electrolytes, etc) to determine the problem. Low sodium is all that came back according to her and her suggestion was to eat salty foods.  The next day the 2nd test apparently came back normal but I advised I had already began drinking fluids again (as I did not think abstaining from fluids for 12+ hours was healthy) and she said that I should not, but only drink moderate amounts of pedialyte.  Well, now we are on day 5 of my complete meltdown and I have drank some water along with quite a bit of pedialyte as she wasnt here to hold my hand and advise of what to do. I figured with all the sodium I've been eating that it was justified. Its difficult to balance the two, I would have preferred to have more medical guidance, but I guess I'll just have to seek out another professional next time around...please do not let there be another next round.

So yes, I understand the danger of drinking too much water to an extent, but I thought it was more like multiple liters in a short amount of time and I was drinking bottles of ozarka and small glasses of oj and water which I thought was okay, but apparetly not.  I think the three or so days before I recognized the true problem it had already become worse and the water consumption pushed me over the edge.

Sorry so lengthy, that's the only way I can explain it. So, I realize I still may not truly understand the problem but my sense is that I was dehydrated, waited too long to rehydrate, and then overendulged in h20.

I have had the most energy to date today and am hopefull tomorrow will be even better but I cannot lie, I am a bit afraid of not keeping the balance since most days I drink a lot of water as a health benefit but I think I may have to postpone that this week. Not to mention skip the copious amounts of caffeine I normally consume.

Thanks for listening Selmer.

K

Post Edited (kdog) : 8/19/2008 6:16:15 AM (GMT-6)