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CaptJunebug 
Group: Guests
Posts: 134
Joined: Jun. 2012
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Posted on: Jun. 23 2012, 1:30 pm |
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Thought this is an interesting article;
http://www.outsideonline.com/blog....ts.html
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“To live for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.”
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| Post Number: 2
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doughnut
Group: Members
Posts: 16
Joined: May 2012
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Posted on: Jun. 23 2012, 7:31 pm |
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QUOTE All we knew was that her blood sodium concentration was very low. The question was, had she drunk too much, or had she lost too much salt, or was it a combination of both?
These are the only sentences in the entire article that even mention salt and sodium, which is absolutely ridiculous. Sodium levels are crucial to hyponatremia. A simplistic explanation is that when sodium levels are too low, water penetrates organs, including the brain, causing them to swell. When the brain swells too much, it can push on the spinal cord, causing death. Sodium levels can be low from sweating out salt or excessive intake of water, or both (or other things, probably). Either way, taking in sodium usually relieves the situation.
I spent fourteen hours in a hospital, twelve of which I do not recall, with severe hyponatremia. It took five bags of saline dripped in my arm before I could tell the staff my name. Rather scary, looking back. They said eating some crackers with all the water I drank would have prevented the situation.
Re: the Outside article - to advise people that they do not need to drink so much water when engaged in endurance sports seems a very irresponsible thing to do, in my opinion. The problem might not be overconsumption of water, but underconsumption of sodium. The author should have at least addressed this issue.
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wildlifenate
Group: Members
Posts: 5830
Joined: Jul. 2004
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Posted on: Jun. 23 2012, 7:58 pm |
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sodium is not the only electrolyte lost in sweat and diluted by excessive water consumption.
I have to ask, doughnut, how much water did you drink in what amount of time, and what were you doing in the process?
even then, I've been involved with endurance sports for the bulk of my life. soccer and mountain biking mostly, but also running recently. never had any serious problems that required hospitalization, but have had some bouts with heat exhaustion and a possible overconsumption of water or two. drinking too much water when I exercise makes me ill.
this time of year, it seems like I've almost always got a bottle of an electrolyte drink around when I'm outside. it does make a huge difference.
and gatorade is crap. it's better than nothing, but has too much sugar and not enough electrolyte
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The GPS Geek
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| Post Number: 4
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nogods
Group: Members
Posts: 5420
Joined: Sep. 2007
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Posted on: Jun. 23 2012, 9:32 pm |
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I did a 12-mile today with a little over 2000 elevation gain and 2000 elevation loss. I sweated a lot. Drank 4 liters on the hike. On the way home I had a headache and felt exhausted. I stopped at a grocery store, bought a 1/2 lb of pastromi, a roll, and some diet coke. A 1/2 hour after eating the pastrami sandwich and drinking the diet coke I felt like I could do another 12 miles. It was like snorting cocaine only took longer for the rush to hit.
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| Post Number: 5
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doughnut
Group: Members
Posts: 16
Joined: May 2012
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Posted on: Jun. 24 2012, 3:36 am |
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Well, my problem was simply drinking too much water. I know that sodium isn't the only electrolyte lost from sweat or diluted by water, but as I understood from the hospital folks, it was the one necessary to keep water from penetrating organs. (The simplistic explanation of hyponatremia above is the one I was given by those supposedly in-the-know.)
It's been ten years, and the details have faded somewhat. I was with friends and we weren't doing anything strenuous. As best as I can recall, I drank about 7 or 8 or 9 liters of water in about as many hours. No food. Nothing else to drink. I did have more water at the hospital in the form of ice, which they kept giving me cups of as I lay on a gurney in the hospital hall (according to my friends; my last memory was struggling to stay upright in the admitting line). A staggering, insensible person was low on the triage in San Francisco General. It took them a couple hours to even look at me (again, according to my friends). I don't know if the wait made it worse. I'm sure the cups of ice cubes didn't help.
In a way, this has nothing to do with exercise-induced hypernatremia, other than the end result is the same. From what I gathered from the nurse, drinking a lot of water isn't a problem, as long as you also consume an adequate amount of sodium.
I drink more water than anyone I know, and I also sweat a lot. Once in a while when I've had a boatload of water and feel a bit woozy, I'll pour salt in my hand and eat it. Like nogods said, it is like snorting cocaine, only a lot slower, but the change is noticeable. I agree that Gatorade is crap. Vile stuff. Way, way, way too much sugar for the amount of sodium and potassium, and it makes me thirstier after drinking it. Tastes like poop, too.
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| Post Number: 6
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Serpicorabbit
If I pee on it, it's mine!
Group: Members
Posts: 4112
Joined: Oct. 2008
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Posted on: Aug. 25 2012, 3:20 am |
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I had a mild case of hyponatremia as the result of a tooth ache once. The only thing that abated the pain was cool water, which lasted only a minute or so each time. I must have consumed a couple of gallons before I realized what was happening and starting spitting the water into an empty bottle. But it was too late and I wound up nauseous and yacking. Hardly severe, but a good education for future reference should I ever feel that way on the trail.
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No problem! ~ ALF
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Serpicorabbit's blog
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| Post Number: 7
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Survival Skills 101 • Eat Better
