Salt and sodium advice please

[Male47]

I always thought was just sodium, but now I read Salt (sodium chloride) is about 40% sodium and 60% chloride. on food food labels it just states the amout of salt, should I just be counting 40% of it? Confused. Ihave ascites that was diagnosed 4weeks ago, so new.to all this

[Tizzwas]

So firstly, don't get too hung up on what you eat. I was told it doesn't really matter as long as you don't eat a load of salt to try and compensate as that doesn't work, just be sensible about it. If you have ascites then you may be put on fluid restriction (I was on 1.5l a day) as the more fluid you drink the more the sodium is diluted therefore your levels can become really low. Also you'll need regular blood tests if they put you on diuretics (usually Spironolactone) to check your sodium levels.

[Male47 in reply to Tizzwas]

I'm on spironolactone, just had increased to 300mg from 200 as my bloods are all good

[Tizzwas in reply to Male47]

Oh brill you should be fine. Thinks are a bit stricter post transplant but fingers crossed you won't need one if everything is on the up 👍

[Male47 in reply to Tizzwas]

I'm hoping so. Start strong n good luck

[Readlots]

Hi, have you had a referral to a dietician? Our consultant did a referral when Mum was put on a low salt diet. They gave us a leaflet of instructions and were really supportive. Mum was on no salt and limited fluid. It meant cooking from scratch because so many things have salt in them. We were told to even avoid ‘Low Sodium’ as it was still too high. Kali do low salt stick cubes which were a life saver. Lots of herbs and spices to give things flavour. Good luck

[Male47 in reply to Readlots]

Been referred, awaiting appointment. So far I'm just reading labels

[Readlots in reply to Male47]

That’s good. Take the salt figure as is, don’t reduce it by 60% until you’ve spoken to the dietician. Better to be safe than sorry

[Roy1955]

Salt is salt unless your a chemist, what it says on the label is the amount of salt in the product and you don't need to do any calculations.