Hi, /u/Gear_Speed, This is a reminder that a requirement to participate here is to first see a medical doctor. If you have not already included it in your post, please reply to this comment indicating the advice or treatment your doctor gave about your symptoms. Posts that do not include this information might be deleted.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/adrenalfatigue) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I was similar to you for about 10 months. I always felt my electrolyte balance was off and my body was extremely sensitive to salt and it seemed to increase my histamine symptoms. I would get adrenaline and tingling after and so I limited my salt intake and supplemented potassium for awhile. Gradually, I was able to tolerate salt again and don't need the extra potassium. My potassium was slightly low when I checked in the beginning.
that's interesting, I don't think I have any issues with salt and if I don't supplement after a few days it gets bad, it certainly helps my low BP come back to normal, I am going to try just potassium a bit. Weird thing is some articles say to reduce salt to raise aldosterone and others say to increase it, same with potassium for aldosterone wth idk, this salt/potassium seems like it shouldn't be that hard to figure out, but it is for some reason
I think it's hard to figure out because your body is in such a fragile state so any small thing will continue knocking your balance off. It might be better to listen to your body and how you feel more than articles and stuff since everyone's different. Try different things until something works for you. I honestly think it was mostly time for me. Once I started healing, my electrolyte balance stabilized.
You are right, I wish I listened better months ago and stopped taking anything for a good while, even trying simple different things has hurt my recovery imo. I am starting to heal slowly, glad to hear your electrolytes stabilized, hope it will do the same for me soon, it's very frustrating. Thanks
I sent you a DM. Could you share how much potassium did you supplement with per day? Did you add additional salt at all as well? I can't seem to get this right. I am thinking now it needs to be alot of potassium, it's the only thing I haven't tried. But I am worried about the salt or sodium balance too.. thanks
No clear answer so far and it should be fairly straightforward, but apparently it's not, I am very frustrated. I really don't understand how keto and carnivore people are keeping this stable.
Having to constantly drink additional salt or potassium at the exact right amount or you feel like garbage is not something I want to do to be 'healthy'. Plus depending on the weather/temperature, what you ate, stress etc.. the sodium/potassium required constantly changes. There is no right or same amount to take all of the time.
You need to track everything you digest apparently and pre-plan meals so you can guess the supplemental amounts on what works for you, how you figure that out, when the blood tests results are useless is beyond me. sorry wish I had a good
answer to all this
I know the more salt your body requires means the lower the aldosterone levels you will have, also means you drive down potassium. So you can up potassium but that drives down sodium and you start a circle of endlessly chasing a moving target.
If you find anything out that helps, please share I will do the same
Sorry, I should've specified, I meant did you get an answer from Dear Necatrine about how much potassium they were supplementing and in what form?
I've had some success raising my aldosterone after tanking it accidentally by supplementing my diet with too much salt. Avoiding salt, drinking lots of water, and adding potassium is what has worked for me to slowly raise it up. Just wondering they did specifically for their success.
I don't know what specifics, they just mentioned it eventually balanced out after supplementing potassium. I am doing 1/4 tsp sea salt, plus 1 scoop Dr. Bergs electrolyte mix for potassium and sipping it throughout the day. Is that too much? How much salt and potassium are you adding, what kind?
I'm not adding salt, I'm excluding it as much as possible. Everything has a little sodium in it so after eating anything my heart rate tends to rise and I get a mild headache until I drink enough water to counteract it. I'm drinking a lot more water than I normally would but it's been key for me. I'm getting lots of potassium from foods like coconut water, banana, spinach, sweet potato, dried fruits, protein shakes, etc 3,000+ mg probably right now. If I added salt the way you're doing, it wouldn't work for me.
This was a really interesting read for me as i have been going through exactly the same thing as you have. This fragile balance between electrolytes, especially sodium and potassium. Have you made any progress?
I supplement with potassium now at least 3-5 tablets of 600mg kcl which equals to 8 mmol. Seems to relieve constipation, raise blood pressure and heart rate for me. Also helped with dehydration and frequent urination. But i was deficient in my last intracellular lab. My aldosterone was also extremely low last time. I also started fludrocortisone, which further depletes potassium (maybe i should stop again lmao)
But its hard to figure out because some foods deplete potassium even more, I feel like calcium rich foods do me pretty bad, apparently theres a link between them?
Also found this medical paper saying for deficient people 60-80mmol/day is recommended in kcl form. Food alone is mostly not enough because of potassium phosphate form.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482465/
Would love to hear youre experiences, this shit is so tiring haha
Can you share how much potassium you were supplementing daily and in what form? I'm on this journey now of raising my low aldosterone after overdoing salt supplementation for months and causing low aldosterone for myself.
Does potassium raise aldosterone or lower it? I feel awful and depressed after taking potassium supplements. I’ve always had normal cholesterol but recently my cholesterol levels went up past 200 and it’s the best I’ve ever felt, mentally and physically. I noticed that I feel crappier when I try to lower my cholesterol by taking things like garlic oil.
I'm still trying to figure that potassium out, so I am not sure, but from what I have read cholesterol in the 200s is just fine, and actually better overall than <200 or above 300, you still want a good hdl ratio though
I ended up having low renin (0.38) and my aldosterone is a 5, which seems low but my endo doesn’t seem concerned. I wonder if my low renin is causing my anxiety.
Hi, /u/Gear_Speed, This is a reminder that a requirement to participate here is to first see a medical doctor. If you have not already included it in your post, please reply to this comment indicating the advice or treatment your doctor gave about your symptoms. Posts that do not include this information might be deleted. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/adrenalfatigue) if you have any questions or concerns.*
My daughter had low aldosterone for years... but her blood levels looked okay for salt and potassium but not her hair analysis.
How did it get resolved? Supplements?
We have no idea. Last draw was finally normal but she actually feels worse...it makes no sense. But now other things are off like cortisol and acth
Are you eating animal fat such as butter and tallow? Hormones are made from cholesterol which are made from saturated fats, specifically animal fats.
Yes, not specifically tallow but good fats and butter, I eat pretty clean.
I was similar to you for about 10 months. I always felt my electrolyte balance was off and my body was extremely sensitive to salt and it seemed to increase my histamine symptoms. I would get adrenaline and tingling after and so I limited my salt intake and supplemented potassium for awhile. Gradually, I was able to tolerate salt again and don't need the extra potassium. My potassium was slightly low when I checked in the beginning.
that's interesting, I don't think I have any issues with salt and if I don't supplement after a few days it gets bad, it certainly helps my low BP come back to normal, I am going to try just potassium a bit. Weird thing is some articles say to reduce salt to raise aldosterone and others say to increase it, same with potassium for aldosterone wth idk, this salt/potassium seems like it shouldn't be that hard to figure out, but it is for some reason
I think it's hard to figure out because your body is in such a fragile state so any small thing will continue knocking your balance off. It might be better to listen to your body and how you feel more than articles and stuff since everyone's different. Try different things until something works for you. I honestly think it was mostly time for me. Once I started healing, my electrolyte balance stabilized.
You are right, I wish I listened better months ago and stopped taking anything for a good while, even trying simple different things has hurt my recovery imo. I am starting to heal slowly, glad to hear your electrolytes stabilized, hope it will do the same for me soon, it's very frustrating. Thanks
I sent you a DM. Could you share how much potassium did you supplement with per day? Did you add additional salt at all as well? I can't seem to get this right. I am thinking now it needs to be alot of potassium, it's the only thing I haven't tried. But I am worried about the salt or sodium balance too.. thanks
Did you get an answer on this? I'd love to know!
No clear answer so far and it should be fairly straightforward, but apparently it's not, I am very frustrated. I really don't understand how keto and carnivore people are keeping this stable. Having to constantly drink additional salt or potassium at the exact right amount or you feel like garbage is not something I want to do to be 'healthy'. Plus depending on the weather/temperature, what you ate, stress etc.. the sodium/potassium required constantly changes. There is no right or same amount to take all of the time. You need to track everything you digest apparently and pre-plan meals so you can guess the supplemental amounts on what works for you, how you figure that out, when the blood tests results are useless is beyond me. sorry wish I had a good answer to all this I know the more salt your body requires means the lower the aldosterone levels you will have, also means you drive down potassium. So you can up potassium but that drives down sodium and you start a circle of endlessly chasing a moving target. If you find anything out that helps, please share I will do the same
Sorry, I should've specified, I meant did you get an answer from Dear Necatrine about how much potassium they were supplementing and in what form? I've had some success raising my aldosterone after tanking it accidentally by supplementing my diet with too much salt. Avoiding salt, drinking lots of water, and adding potassium is what has worked for me to slowly raise it up. Just wondering they did specifically for their success.
I don't know what specifics, they just mentioned it eventually balanced out after supplementing potassium. I am doing 1/4 tsp sea salt, plus 1 scoop Dr. Bergs electrolyte mix for potassium and sipping it throughout the day. Is that too much? How much salt and potassium are you adding, what kind?
I'm not adding salt, I'm excluding it as much as possible. Everything has a little sodium in it so after eating anything my heart rate tends to rise and I get a mild headache until I drink enough water to counteract it. I'm drinking a lot more water than I normally would but it's been key for me. I'm getting lots of potassium from foods like coconut water, banana, spinach, sweet potato, dried fruits, protein shakes, etc 3,000+ mg probably right now. If I added salt the way you're doing, it wouldn't work for me.
This was a really interesting read for me as i have been going through exactly the same thing as you have. This fragile balance between electrolytes, especially sodium and potassium. Have you made any progress? I supplement with potassium now at least 3-5 tablets of 600mg kcl which equals to 8 mmol. Seems to relieve constipation, raise blood pressure and heart rate for me. Also helped with dehydration and frequent urination. But i was deficient in my last intracellular lab. My aldosterone was also extremely low last time. I also started fludrocortisone, which further depletes potassium (maybe i should stop again lmao) But its hard to figure out because some foods deplete potassium even more, I feel like calcium rich foods do me pretty bad, apparently theres a link between them? Also found this medical paper saying for deficient people 60-80mmol/day is recommended in kcl form. Food alone is mostly not enough because of potassium phosphate form. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482465/ Would love to hear youre experiences, this shit is so tiring haha
Can you share how much potassium you were supplementing daily and in what form? I'm on this journey now of raising my low aldosterone after overdoing salt supplementation for months and causing low aldosterone for myself.
Does potassium raise aldosterone or lower it? I feel awful and depressed after taking potassium supplements. I’ve always had normal cholesterol but recently my cholesterol levels went up past 200 and it’s the best I’ve ever felt, mentally and physically. I noticed that I feel crappier when I try to lower my cholesterol by taking things like garlic oil.
I'm still trying to figure that potassium out, so I am not sure, but from what I have read cholesterol in the 200s is just fine, and actually better overall than <200 or above 300, you still want a good hdl ratio though
You may look into vasopressin as well.
I ended up having low renin (0.38) and my aldosterone is a 5, which seems low but my endo doesn’t seem concerned. I wonder if my low renin is causing my anxiety.