My wife, 35 female, 318 lbs, 3 hospital visits to ER and they have basically said don't come back. Several doctor calls, he witnessed her blood pressure drop 30 points going from sitting to standing. Compression socks, leggings, legs up. Feeding 1000 mg sodium electrolyte powder on 650 mg sodium Pedialyte 500 ml fluids.
She passed out on the toilet at 9 am, we found her 2 hours later. 7360 mg sodium given over 10 hours.
8360 mg sodium administered yesterday, finished at 6 pm. Drank some sodium fluids over the night. Washroom passout at 9 am. Two days ago, 4410 mg of sodium administered.
I will have her call me when she needs to go the washroom in the night and give her 1.5 grams of salt in pills.
Cardiologist says "eat as much salt as feels good"
I don't know what to do. All I can think of is increase up to 12000 mg of sodium today. Hospital ER staff just says it is stress. Doctor can just do referrals. No one can come in without a doctor prescription. We can't get out to a private clinic.
She's been unable to move on the ground sor 12 hours now, she gets body jolts and can wiggle her toes.
At 11 am she was complaining of headache, nausea, fatigue, muscle cramps and was confused.
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Feel like we're missing a lot of info. What country are you in? Why is she being fed salt? Is she chronically hyponatremic? What's her medical history?
Yeah… as a fainter but not a doctor, my biased impression is they’re thinking orthostatic hypotension or vasovagal syncope (hence salt and fluid and ER not worried). But was she still unconscious when OP found her? That’s a crazy long time to be unconscious.
Also, a crazy amount of sodium to treat it. With that much salt, I’d be curious to know if she has a severe imbalance of electrolytes.
And without an official diagnosis.
His post history has more info if you're so inclined.
Does she have a primary care physician? That’s where she needs to start.
He is sending a referral to a cardiologist who told us last summer that she should "eat as much salt that feels good."