• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

Low serum sodium

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
I had bloods done yesterday, the Phelbotomist said they had lots of people with skewed results due to dehydration this summer. The conversation came up as asked when would be able to access our results online. Her reply was never as it was dangerous as people would not understand. I also asked was this a practice session or a CCG one, but I did not get a satisfactory reply. She used these skewed results as part of the argument.
 
Well ours are online, but don't get put there until the practice has reviewed them - and mine apparently only had a note that the Chol level needed a routine appointment, but nobody's tried to make one, which is correct because years ago my GP said he'd noted my file to say I refused to discuss it.

(This of course is true - for the sole reason that they always try to push the statins which I had mental health side effects with hence I refuse them - and as they have never offered any other thing that might change it, it's wasting everyone's time and just annoying me. However my GP never accepted that my memory loss was due to statins.)
 
I hope you have a positive appointment with the GP today. I was a little confused when he said to you about dehydration because limiting fluid intake is one of the treatments for low serum sodium.
 
Yes - he said that 2L is the recommended amount so reduce it to no more than 1.5 - but turns out about 1.5L a day is what I normally drink anyway, so that didn't require changing. I must have accidentally expressed it wrong. Anyway ….

Went to docs - she was running an hour late so I had a nice rest, chatting to other people in the waiting room after the comparative rush to get there for 8.30 and sodium is back up again to my usual 131 so that's as OK as its going to be - perhaps I was 'awash' the previous week - or a mistake by the lab? Who knows, but anyway panic over for that.

Curiously though - she rather obviously did my BP. The first one was 134/dunno, but something very reasonable. She did it again - and it was 126/dunno again. Absolutely potty ! So …. off to my 'Annual diabetes check' with the surgery nurse in half an hour, so I'll ask Judy to do it again, while I'm there, just to see after a morning being (comparatively) normal LOL
 
I’m glad that you’re sodium was back up to it’s usual 131.
 
trophywench said:
Yes - he said that 2L is the recommended amount so reduce it to no more than 1.5 - but turns out about 1.5L a day is what I normally drink anyway, so that didn't require changing. I must have accidentally expressed it wrong. Anyway ….

Went to docs - she was running an hour late so I had a nice rest, chatting to other people in the waiting room after the comparative rush to get there for 8.30 and sodium is back up again to my usual 131 so that's as OK as its going to be - perhaps I was 'awash' the previous week - or a mistake by the lab? Who knows, but anyway panic over for that.

Curiously though - she rather obviously did my BP. The first one was 134/dunno, but something very reasonable. She did it again - and it was 126/dunno again. Absolutely potty ! So …. off to my 'Annual diabetes check' with the surgery nurse in half an hour, so I'll ask Judy to do it again, while I'm there, just to see after a morning being (comparatively) normal LOL
Click to expand...

Glad that all got sorted out!
 
It's back down at 125 again now. Endo said to stop Lansoprazole so I did and to have another blood test in a fortnight and again at a month. First one was 16 days after and was 125 again, next will happen on Friday. Thing is I've not actually been taking the Lansoprazole for very many months anyway - why on earth do GPs prescribe things that lower sodium when the patient already owns lower sodium? Grrrr.

I expect Mike and Abi are about the only two people here 'qualified' to answer my next query - is anything else I take/use a suspect? Insulin, Thyroxine, Doxasozin and Clopidogrel ?
 
Jenny I hope that you soon find the cause of the low sodium, that it either starts going up or can be easily corrected x
 
None of the drugs you are on is associated with A low sodium level, Jenny. If you don’t have any symptoms of a low sodium level then I wonder how hard this needs to be chased, to be honest.
 
I've ALWAYS wondered that last bit Mike! How do I stop the medical profession chasing it, then? LOL
 
You can’t stop that. The medics these days work exclusively on lab results and other data, and forget to look at the patient, sitting cheerily in front of them.
 
We have a locum GP at our practice - she's been there about 3 years I think and I've seen her a good few times. I like her - she's very thorough and frequently runs late because she never tries to rush you out the door. I asked her on Monday what low sodium with everything else perfectly normal could cause, cos I have asked in the past and not received any answer. She thought about it and then said well if it's really low - it can cause fits. I said I thought either me or my husband would probably have noticed if I had and we both grinned at each other - she agreed we should have noticed LOL

The really frustrating thing is they can't find out why - nobody can ever suggest any way known to man to increase anyone's serum sodium level. Nothing one can do or avoid doing to sort it. Aaaagh.
 
Jenny

there are multiple causes for a low sodium,
first thing to do would be to re-do the test to make sure this is not just an anomalous, errant result.
other causes include excess inappropriate ADH secretion, for whatever cause, and adrenal insufficiency, the latter often accompanied by a potassium that is towards or slightly above the normal range,
a high potassium is more dangerous than a low sodium in general terms though a rapidly dropping sodium can be serious all right.
In a patient with diabetes type 1 it is important to exclude an adrenal cause should your repeat blood tests reveal a persistently low sodium
a sodium of 122 is on its own not likely to be life-threatening or cause fits though it might indicate the need to exclude Addison's, the adrenal problem, particularly if your appetite is poor, you are losing weight and you are developing a craving for salty foods such as crisps and peanuts.
I suffer from this and my reading was 102 at diagnosis 40 years ago though i was obviously very unwell and skeletal at that level...and had been devouring loads of crisps for years,
 
That’s the problem Novonord. Jenny doesn’t have any signs or symptoms.
 
agree -might be tempted then to let sleeping dogs lie though would monitor it carefully and if it persists would certainly want to exclude an adrenal problem as it's so easily treated.....and symptoms are nebulous
 
As I said before many times - I'd be more than happy to let sleeping dogs lie until I get an iffy potassium result or have some symptom - BUT neither my hospital consultant nor my GP surgery, will do that. OK I could refuse to have any more blood tests than every 6 months I suppose - I might do that.

It is an issue that's been going on, off and on, for about 10 years!
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top