Can
Member
Are blood tests a reliable way to assess the body's level of sodium?
Looking back at the last few years retrospectively, I have been chronically depriving myself of salt in my diet (I was mostly making my own foods, cooking vegetables and eating fruits, had little processed foods and didn't salt my food much at all).
I am now trying to add some salt back into my diet, but I seem to react quite sensitively to it. Eating miniscule amounts, amounts that my mother for example tolerates as if it is nothing, have already triggered strong physical symptoms for me. Elevated blood pressure, feeling my heart uncomfortably strongly, feeling of pressure in veins and head, getting very jittery etc are among the symptoms if I ingest too much. And I already start to feel mild to severe symptoms when consuming barely 0.1 gs of salt (maybe sometimes less?), when eaten on its own. It's fine if I eat it within foods (like if I eat a few slices of cheese or bread I tolerate much more), but on its own or only mixed with one other ingredient, it can trigger symptoms at very low doses.
The thing is, in my blood tests, sodium was in optimal ranges. So I am wondering: Do blood tests depict sodium in the body accurately?
I started having salt cravings in the last few months (and start to have symptoms if I don't ingest salt as well), but also react strongly if I ingest a bit too much. If I have salt cravings and I eat the right amount, I can even feel the salt enter my body and it feels amazingly good! I really love the feeling of salt being absorbed, if I eat the right amount. It feels calming, reassuring and very relaxing. I suspect that my body is so used to running on little amounts of salt due to my previous low salt diet, which is why I can now feel salt so sensitively (I don't feel other specific nutrients being absorbed except for salt), so that even a bit too much in those situations, not bound to other foods that potentially slow the absorption, temporarily offsets the electrolyte balance which causes symptoms. Do you think that's possible? Any ideas?
Looking back at the last few years retrospectively, I have been chronically depriving myself of salt in my diet (I was mostly making my own foods, cooking vegetables and eating fruits, had little processed foods and didn't salt my food much at all).
I am now trying to add some salt back into my diet, but I seem to react quite sensitively to it. Eating miniscule amounts, amounts that my mother for example tolerates as if it is nothing, have already triggered strong physical symptoms for me. Elevated blood pressure, feeling my heart uncomfortably strongly, feeling of pressure in veins and head, getting very jittery etc are among the symptoms if I ingest too much. And I already start to feel mild to severe symptoms when consuming barely 0.1 gs of salt (maybe sometimes less?), when eaten on its own. It's fine if I eat it within foods (like if I eat a few slices of cheese or bread I tolerate much more), but on its own or only mixed with one other ingredient, it can trigger symptoms at very low doses.
The thing is, in my blood tests, sodium was in optimal ranges. So I am wondering: Do blood tests depict sodium in the body accurately?
I started having salt cravings in the last few months (and start to have symptoms if I don't ingest salt as well), but also react strongly if I ingest a bit too much. If I have salt cravings and I eat the right amount, I can even feel the salt enter my body and it feels amazingly good! I really love the feeling of salt being absorbed, if I eat the right amount. It feels calming, reassuring and very relaxing. I suspect that my body is so used to running on little amounts of salt due to my previous low salt diet, which is why I can now feel salt so sensitively (I don't feel other specific nutrients being absorbed except for salt), so that even a bit too much in those situations, not bound to other foods that potentially slow the absorption, temporarily offsets the electrolyte balance which causes symptoms. Do you think that's possible? Any ideas?
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