Salt deficiency

[Rosbud]

I’m having A brain fog day and I know that you wonderful people will be able to help me , I’m sure I’ve seen on here that you can tell if you need to up your salt intake by wether you can taste it on your tongue but there again i maybe completely off the wall , I do hope my brain revisits me soon x

[SnazzyD]

Have you had your electrolyte levels tested at all? What dose of Pred are you on as this affects whether you need more or less salt.

[piglette]

That is not quite true, you can lose your taste for salt by having too much, as well as other reasons. Is it just salt you can’t taste? What about such tastes as sweetness and sourness? Covid can cause general loss of taste. As SnazzyD says, the only way to find out is to have a blood test.

[Rosbud in reply to piglette]

I’m going to contact the surgery in the morning and ask for bloods x

[piglette in reply to Rosbud]

That is sensible, then you will know the situation.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

HeronNS is the originator of that concept of knowing if you need salt by whether it tastes good or bad.

[Rosbud in reply to PMRpro]

thank you so much , I don’t post often but really appreciate all your help , I do read the advice you give daily x

[HeronNS]

Yes, PMRpro is partly right - I originated the idea about salt on this forum, but I learned it from a passing acquaintance when I was on holiday. I remarked that I couldn't have any wine with dinner because once again I'd woken up with a headache and taken painkillers that day. She suggested if this was happening so often (it was) perhaps I was salt deficient. She told me to put a bit of salt on my side plate and take a few grains with my fingertip and taste it. if it tasted good, almost sweet, she said, it meant I needed more. I was to keep on doing that until it no longer tasted good. I didn't reach that stage then although I didn't have a headache the next morning, but the following evening I had more salt and all of a sudden it tasted absolutely awful!

My morning headaches were gone, and so were a few other things I'd noted, but hadn't made any connections. I'm afraid I can't remember them all now. I'd have to look up one of my posts from way back then (2018).

However once I was home I used an online calculator to figure how much salt I consumed in a normal day. I overestimated when in doubt, and it turned out that at that time I was probably only taking in about 900 mg a day, possibly even less, which is way under even the already somewhat low recommended amount. Because of pred I wasn't eating much in the way of prepared foods although I'd already experienced the occasional morning headache before pred. We had taken the salt shaker off our table decades ago and had always avoided extra salt. Too little of a good thing I guess!

[Rosbud in reply to HeronNS]

thank you so much , we’ve done away with salt cellar , may need to find it out and use it sparingly x

[nuigini]

Great that you're arranging for a blood test. My salt levels have been on the low side for many years, long before PMR. Docs did loads of tests trying to determine why. In the end they just said "eat salt" and I happily accepted that advice. My salt level are checked with full blood workup at least every six months and hovers around low normal.