Why do I have hyponatremia?

Ruby12345

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Since going from from vegetarian to vegan I keep experiencing hyponatremia. If I eat a salty snack it only resolves it for a short time. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night shaking and panicking then have to eat salt and go back to sleep.
 
I doubt it has anything to do with veganism. call your doctor and ask HIM.
 
I went to the doctors 2 months ago. She didn't know. The blood test showed b12 was low but I've now been taking this for 6 weeks and it hasn't resolved the problem.
 
Do you take a medication like Trileptal? Do you drink excessive amounts of water, or work out (and therefore sweat) more than the average person? Do you go overboard with raw foods and undersalt your meals?
 
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No I don't take any medication, don't drink lots of water, I have been adding lots of sea salt to meals but it's like my body can't hold onto it
 
No I don't take any medication, don't drink lots of water, I have been adding lots of sea salt to meals but it's like my body can't hold onto it

Do you drink coffee? herbal teas? do you take supplements like dandelion or any other known diuretics?

What foods do you no longer eat, or now eat, since the change from vegetarian to vegan?

What tests did the doctor do? were blood tests for kidney, liver functions done?

Research research research.... you really need to stay on top of an issue this serious and if your current doctor isn't helping then keep looking for one that will.

good luck, Emma JC
 
I went to the doctors 2 months ago. She didn't know. The blood test showed b12 was low but I've now been taking this for 6 weeks and it hasn't resolved the problem.
That's it? Just, Ï don't know,"and you're on your way? If she doesn't have the desire to continue searching for an answer, you need to seriously find someone who does. Why are you accepting "I don't know" for an answer? Please take care of yourself xo
 
I find it amazing that you say this because I had the exact same problem (see my previous posts). It took me about 3 years to figure out, and my symptoms were at their worst last year just before I figured out the problem (diarrhea immediately after or during each meal; lethargy after each meal where I felt exhausted and had to lie down immediately after finishing eating; constant thirst where I was drinking litres worth of water without any effect on my thirst; never feeling full and needing to consume thousands of calories worth of food which caused huge weight gain; constantly needing to urinate (maybe around 3 times an hour) and having a gigantic urgency to urinate all of a sudden each time (rather than a very gradual need to do so) and on occasion urinating in my pants on account of not being able to make it to the bathroom in time.

But I noticed that I pretty much never have these problems now when I put a large amount of salt on my meal (lots of olives, sea salt, etc.), stopping just before the point where it becomes way too salty. (I figured it out after feeling really good after drinking miso soup, and realized it must have been the sodium). As soon as I started putting a lot of sodium on my meals, all of these problems immediately stopped happening. I knew it was the sodium because there wasn't anything else that I changed (that I was aware of anyway), and there has never been a single other instance in my life where I change one thing and it immediately fixes 5 or 6 problems. It was absolutely unbelievable.

I think the reason may be that on a plant-based diet, you are consuming a huge amount of water on account of the fact that all plant-based foods are mostly comprised of water. I checked on Cronometer, and my water intake from food alone is often around 3 to 4 litres. Compound that with additional water intake, and you're probably diluting the sodium intake too much. I think with me it's even worse because I sweat a lot, which means that I was losing a lot of sodium through my sweat as well.

Also, bizarrely, since increasing my sodium intake so dramatically (by at least 5 - 10 grams of sodium a day), my blood pressure is almost always in the healthy range. I just checked yesterday, and it was around 125/65 or something. When I was consuming almost no sodium my blood pressure was around 140.

Also, I didn't realize it at the time, but I was also having sleep-onset problems where I would quite often never feel sleepy at night, or feeling kind of sleepy, but then it taking quite a while to get to sleep. When I consume a shitload of salt, I have absolutely no sleep-onset problems. I feel sleepy at around the same time each night (provided I've eaten enough food throughout the day with enough salt), where I can't keep my eyes open around the same time each night, and I get to sleep almost immediately. At the very most it just takes me a few minutes to get to sleep. I can do this at night even when I'm not that sleepy.

I don't think it has any relation to my sleep-maintenance problems, however (as it seems to with you). I have a problem where I repeatedly wake up throughout the night (around 10 to 20 times), and I end up not getting enough sleep. I've had this problem for around 5 years and my sodium intake doesn't seem to have much effect on the problem, I don't think. I still haven't been able to figure out why it's happening, and two sleep specialists I have gone to see had no idea.
 
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Have you made any progress on that hyponatremia issue? Hope you are doing better. Let us know.
I forgot about this thread but yes I did get to the bottom of it.

The answer was essentially B12. Like most on here I'm aware of b12 I used to take it every week but that wasn't enough for me so now I take a small amount every day.

You see the b12 deficiency was causing me to urinate all the time, I would even sometimes leak out pee😳 so I must have been peeing out salt and probably other electrolytes as well. This is all resolved now, by day 4 of taking b12 every day I was peeing normally again.
 
I forgot about this thread but yes I did get to the bottom of it.

The answer was essentially B12. Like most on here I'm aware of b12 I used to take it every week but that wasn't enough for me so now I take a small amount every day.

You see the b12 deficiency was causing me to urinate all the time, I would even sometimes leak out pee😳 so I must have been peeing out salt and probably other electrolytes as well. This is all resolved now, by day 4 of taking b12 every day I was peeing normally again.

That is wonderful news! Please do keep your eye on your levels as too much B12 is not good either. Hopefuly you will find a good balance.

Emma JC
 
That is wonderful news! Please do keep your eye on your levels as too much B12 is not good either. Hopefuly you will find a good balance.

Emma JC

I thought only smokers or ex-smokers could take too much B12. I was taught that it easily stored and also that it is water-soluble so anything extra gets flushed out in the urine.
 
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I'm confused. The OP talks of a condition that requires testing but it only sounds like they were having 'symptoms'.
Was hyponatremia actually diagnosed?