Learning A Lesson The Hard Way

This has been one of those weeks.

We learned a lesson the hard way.

What did we learn the hard way?

We learned that low sodium in your body can be very bad.

We get annual blood tests and my husband's sodium was always low, but they said not to worry about it. Usually people have to worry about too much sodium in their diet. The doctors and commercials on TV say to watch your sodium intake and to drink lots of fluids.

We didn't know this was what happened at the time. But after three days in the hospital, we found out that low sodium caused my husband to pass out on Tuesday morning and then have what I think was a seizure. Well, needless to say, it scared me to death. The doctor immediately admitted him to the hospital and had oodles of tests taken to see what caused this to happen.

He passed all the tests with flying colors, except the low sodium. Lower than just a little low. . . a whole lot low. He was put on a drug that helps retain sodium in your system and they restricted his fluid intake. They say he drinks too much water and that doing that can flush out the sodium in your body. I had never heard of such, I always thought drinking lots of water was good for you. The doctor even instructed me to bring an apple and a salt shaker (regular salt, not low sodium) to him in the hospital.

My husband always craved salty and crunchy things to eat. I guess his body was telling him that he needed the extra sodium. I guess we should listen to our body, it is smarter than we are.

Nausea seemed to be his only symptom before he passed out.

If you have blood tests taken and your sodium usually runs a little low, my suggestion would be . . . don't be afraid of the salt shaker, it may be your friend. But don't take my advice, talk to your doctor.

I just wish doctors would tell their patients these things. A little knowledge can go a long way and help people to not have to learn things the hard way.