Interpreting blood test for sodium

(charlie3) #1

Blood test results are trickling in from Quest. This is the first time I’ve ordered tests for myself. Sodium is normal range is 135-146. The result is 137, which begs the question, what does this mean? Can I assume my salt intake is low enough so no influence on blood pressure? I do a lot of exercise. Does this measure, at the low end of the range, suggest taking more salt?

#2

That’s how I’m reading it, I’m also at 137 as of last month and like many I’m a salting FOOL! I take a 1gm sodium supplement usually twice a day plus my dietary consumption which I’m not shy with. I also eat more carbs than many (~60g net daily) and that’s were I am. I think it’s VERY accurate at this point of what we’ve told about sodium and blood pressure only being correlated in a small minority of people. I also work out a lot and that could also be part of it.

(Bob M) #3

I have started ignoring the values. I just take a lot of salt, keep taking more of it under the theory that more salt = less wasting of magnesium and other minerals.

I have 7+ years of blood pressure data. Here’s systolic:

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The “started LC”, “started IF” and “increased salt” no longer align with where they started (their location is fixed, but I keep adding data to the x axis). They need to move to the left. Anyway, got a big decrease with IF and longer fasting.

I’ve eaten tons of salt and sometimes little salt, with no effect I could see.

(charlie3) #4

I salt to taste. Turns out to be not very much.

(Bob M) #5

Some people are like that. I’ve been testing eating more salt, such as drinking pickle juice or Kalamata olive juice, along with salting to taste, just to see what happens.

Some believe the more salt you take in, the less wastage of mg, K, etc., you get. I’m testing that out.

However, I had foot cramps last night. Not sure why. They appear periodically, and seem to be related to a change in exercise. I took off 1.5 weeks, then did body weight training yesterday. I think cramps are related to something I’m doing physically, and not due to say Mg intake. But it’s hard to tell.

If you follow Dave Feldman, for instance, he says he had to take Mg and more, until he upped his salt intake. By a lot.

So, I think you should do whatever works for you. Meanwhile, I’m guzzling some salt water.