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[RC] Hyponatremia, and demyelination - beth gloverThat was a really interesting long post on the hyponatremia. That woman is lucky that she came out of it okay. Many many years ago I took care of a woman who was studying (cramming) for her exams in Chiropractic school. She took several No-doz (caffeine pills) and was drinking Morning Thunder Tea, which I think is off the market, but could be compared to Red Bull or some of the other stimulant caffeine drinks people use now. She began vomiting, and her boyfriend replaced her with lots of water. She was pretty out of it. I remember that when we got her, her blood ph was something like 7.1 and it should be 7.35 -7.45 and her sodium was incredibly low, like 105 or something. She was basically dead, and they CPR'd her and bolused her with Saline, I don't remember all the particulars. But she "bounced " her sodium up to a high normal within a very short time, and I was told that it was the rapid increase that fried her brain. She was in a vegetative comma in the hospital ICU for several months, on a resp irator, was also combative. Because the myelin sheaths of her Pons which is the area for primative brain function was damaged, something like shorting out electric wires by losing the plastic covering. I remember her because she was so beautiful and it was so tragic. We took good care of her, and she went to a rehab facility, and a year and a half later, she was able to walk in her sister's wedding. Still in rehab. What we learned from that (and also from other incidents of bouncing blood sugar's with resultant brain swelling) was that it took several mechanisms to deplete the normal electrolytes...in that case, it was the diuretic caffeine, the vomiting and the gastric lavage with plain water. Then the attempt to immediately correct the problem was way too drastic. I don't think people really knew that so well 20 years ago, but now when we correct electrolytes, we do it slowly, over hours. Which ties in with Susan G.'s past teachings about small frequent doses of electrolytes for the ho rses, which I have tried to carefully remember. This is also a reason that I am careful on rides to supplement myself with something other than plain water all day, such as Gatorade, orange juice and bananas for Potassium, and salty snacks too. I've also heard that people who keep their lytes in balance, staying on top of it through difficult athletic events, are less likely to suffer from the vomiting, and other nasty stomach maladies. You can read a lot about those things on Ultramarathoner websites/groups. Beth Get MSN 8 Dial-up Internet Service FREE for one month. Limited time offer- sign up now! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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