Lack of Salt - What happens?

[Blowmax10]

We've all been told that salt is necessary for us to live. My question is, what happens to the body when it doesn't get enough salt?

What are the symptoms and how long would it take for the symptoms to come on and would it lead to death? how long would that take?

[monkeybird]

Dynamic duo

Potassium and sodium are essential for life. Molecular pumps that pull potassium into cells and push sodium out create a chemical battery that drives the transmission of signals along nerves and powers the contraction of muscles. Potassium and sodium help the kidneys work properly. They are important for energy production and fluid balance. And researchers are beginning to tease out their roles in bone health.

Thousands of years ago, when humans roamed the earth gathering and hunting, potassium was abundant, while sodium was scarce. The so-called Paleolithic diet delivered about 11,000 milligrams (mg) of potassium a day, much of it from fruits, vegetables, leaves, flowers, roots, and other plant sources, but well under 700 mg of sodium. The scarcity of sodium is reflected in the human body's marvelous ability to hold onto this substance.

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/osteoporosis/potassium-and-sodium-the-dynamic-duo

Common symptoms include:

Abnormal mental status
Confusion
Decreased consciousness
Hallucinations
Possible coma
Convulsions
Fatigue
Headache
Irritability
Loss of appetite
Muscle spasms or cramps
Muscle weakness
Nausea
Restlessness
Vomiting

These symptoms can lead to:
Brain herniation
Death
Possible coma

In general, acute hyponatremia, which occurs in less than 48 hours, is more dangerous than hyponatremia that develops slowly over time. When sodium levels fall slowly over a period of days or weeks (chronic hyponatremia), the brain cells have time to adjust and swelling is minimal. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/000394.htm

Having recently suffered from a severe loss in body electrolytes I can testify how deadly these imbalances can be.

[Blowmax10]

Thank u very much

[Knobster]

I had to be careful about this a lifetime ago when I was a marathon runner. Drinking only water during a long run vs. grabbing some Gatorade is something we were warned of a lot.

[eeyore]

Today and as long as you eat mostly processed (canned) food, you won't need any addition salt. or if you salt in your future canning or curing of neat you should be ok.
It is very easy to under estimate how much salt you will actually need in Badtimes.

[miked2345]

I get cranky if I have less than half a pound of salt per day! :cool:

[All Talk]

A friend once told me about his grandfather. Seems the man was Filipino, living in Manila, when the Japanese invaded. Most of the middle class fled on foot into the mountains, carrying their valuables (gold candlesticks, what have you). He instead carried up two 50 lb bags of rock salt.

He became a very wealthly man.

[ebb]

Ive not put away any salt, i probably should. With every one in my AO having a well and a water softener i belive that salt will be around for the taking.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Ive not put away any salt, i probably should. With every one in my AO having a well and a water softener i belive that salt will be around for the taking.

How ya gonna coat that meat for preservation with water softner tablets?

[eeyore]

Salt is cheap, not to long ago you could buy 3 - 1 lb contains for a buck, i think it is a little higher, now but the key is get 10 each trip, it will add up.

[MustangGal]

I bought a four pound box today at Sams for less than a dollar.

[ebb]

Matt i have rock salt in my water softner, Take it out put it i a pan and hit it with a hammer till it is not rock salt anymore.

[mrrk1562]

you can die from lack of salt ..you need the salt to help the cells uptake the water ..and with out salt water can be toxic to your system..i found about this on web sites for extream running and biking like what lance armstrong does ..

[snarlbuckle]

Want to hear a first hand account of just how important salt is?

On my recent trip around Eagle Rock Loop, my gf and I ran dangerously low on salt on our first day. We drank plenty of water, almost THREE GALLONS each as we covered about a dozen miles and conquered a series of mountain ridges that day. What we didn't realize until much later was that the water was going straight through us because we were low on salts. We weren't urinating, we were sweating it all out. When we finally broke camp, we could barely think straight and we were very irritable. I make it a point never to treat her badly, but my brain chemistry was so far off that I was being almost mean to her for the first time ever.

I tried to pump some water from the nearby stream so that we could rehydrate and have water to cook with, but I could barely figure out how to do it! I tried to cook some instant soup using the water I had just pumped, but I FORGOT WHAT TO DO after I had lit the stove, so it sat there burning precious fuel. Once I had finally made the soup, neither of us wanted to eat any of it. Instead I just munched on the saltiest food I could find that didn't require cooking, which was a huge waste of rations. When I tried to set up my hammock, I couldn't find a good spot for the life of me despite the fact that there were trees everywhere, and I was getting really upset.

If you think I was doing bad, she had it way worse. Over the course of the night she drank a few more liters of Gatorade and couldn't sleep because she had to pee so often. Her mind was in an even worse state than mine to top it off. It was the first time I had ever seen her cry, and she was sobbing out of sheer desperation. Luckily for her, we had thrown an electrolyte pill in our trauma kit (https://www.survivalandpreparednessf...ght-Trauma-Kit), so she dug around in the kit and I told her what it looked like. She eventually found it and about an hour later she was fine. My salt deficiency wasn't as severe, so the food and Gatorade was enough to bring me back to a reasonably balanced state.

Hydration doesn't just mean drinking water. Salt doesn't just mean sodium either. Make sure you get a balanced diet of electrolytes and not just sodium with your water. Gatorade and Powerade are good places to start, though I like to dilute them a bit with water because I find them a little strong. Keep an electrolyte pill handy. By the time you need it, you'll already be in serious trouble and you won't even realize it.