Have a favorite trail recipe or technique you'd like to share? Please do! We also like reviews of various trail food products out there. The Backcountry Food Topix forum is the place to discuss all things related to food and nourishment while in the Sierra wilderness (as well as favorite trail head eateries).
powderhound wrote:I've never heard of a placebo curing uncontrollable diarrhea, especially when the max dose of Imodium won't even help. I've had issues with overheating my whole life, and long hikes were giving me some pretty serious issues even when I made sure to drink plenty of water. I got desperate and was willing to try anything, and the electrolyte capsules solved my problems instantly.
So taking salt tablets cured you of uncontrollable diarrhea on multiple occasions? And it has also reduced or eliminated other symptoms consistent with hyponatremia?
Maybe your specific physiology predisposes you to hyponatremia -- assuming your self-diagnosis is correct.
powderhound wrote:I don't understand why anyone would argue against the benefit of electrolyte supplements during strenuous activity.
Because I don't believe that they have benefit in the vast majority of cases. Just because the Boy Scouts or your doctor recommends something doesn't mean it's correct. Word of the day: "iatrogenic".
Here are two excerpts from a 2007 review of the literature on exercise induced hyponatremia that was published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology:
"Because EAH (exercise-associated hyponatremia) primarily develops by consumption of fluid in excess of urinary and sweat losses, most efforts at prevention have been focused on education about the risks of the overconsumption of fluids (14,95). In many respects, EAH can be viewed as an iatrogenic condition because of the prevailing view that exercising athletes should drink as much fluid as tolerable during a race...
"Currently, there is insufficient evidence to support the suggestion that ingestion of sodium prevents or decreases the risk for EAH..."
longri wrote:
So taking salt tablets cured you of uncontrollable diarrhea on multiple occasions? And it has also reduced or eliminated other symptoms consistent with hyponatremia?
Yes, it has completely cured me of all symptoms consistent with hyponatremia. This thread got me wondering though, so I decided to ask a medical doctor. Hyponatremia can cause water to collect in the gut, and low potassium or calcium levels can cause muscle spasms, including in the gut, which together may cause terrible and powerful diarrhea. A more appropriate diagnosis would be an electrolyte imbalance, although hyponatremia is not necessarily incorrect.
I agree with your suggestion that my condition may have been iatrogenic, or was at least exacerbated by drinking too much water when I started feeling ill. I'm curious about the study you quoted though. It states that adequate evidence was not found that would indicate that increased sodium intake would decrease the risk of exercise induced hyponatremia. Sodium is not the only salt your body needs, and unless the article says the same thing about other salts like potassium or calcium, then I don't think the statement is regarding anything other than sodium specifically. Still, there is a wealth of information online that correlates an increased sodium intake with the treatment and prevention of hyponatremia. A single article like that should be taken with a grain of salt, even if it was published in a scientific journal. The standard medical treatment is to administer a saline solution, regardless of how the patient acquired the condition.
Last edited by powderhound on Tue Feb 28, 2017 5:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Also:
Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Treatment of Hyponatremia: Expert Panel Recommendations
Verbalis JG, et al
Am J Med. 2013 Oct;126(10 Suppl 1):S1-42. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2013.07.006.
Normally do not eat any breakfast at all nor even drink any water mornings. Work week or days off or on trail. Friday drove an hour down to Pacheco Pass to day hike and stopped at Walmart for lunch supplies and bought a cinnamon roll then ate it right then as am a sugar fiend. About the only situation I eat early haha. Hiked 7 miles, little on trails often on soggy grassy hillsides while lugging a usual Nalgene bottle 3/4 full. Sweated a bit too though temps in 40s low 50s so cool.
Lunch stop ate a strawberry Yoplait. Back at trailhead 6 hours gone had never opened my water bottle once as never was thirsty nor suffering. Felt wonderful. Have a high sweating threshold but if it is warm and or humid enough will drink as much as everyone else. Backpacking I often hike miles in cool weather not drinking at all. Not advising others do so but an example of someone having trained their body so over decades.
hikerduane wrote:When do you start taking in electrolytes if any after breakfast? Or do you take water for awhile, then switch to a mix? I've hiked a couple hours before taking on a mix if any, to stretch a quart out for that days hike. Am I being frugal? I'm usually of the I can tough it out mentality. 63 now, may need to abandon that line of thought. )
Duane
I dig this question.
My backpacking breakfast is always in camp shortly after wakeup around 6/630 most days. Almost always oatmeal w protein powder/dried fruit mixed in, plus 2 starbucks via coffees. I used to split coffee, but now just put the Via into 1 single cup to save water/time. I get the hydration issue. I drink at least a liter usually before setting off on trail.
It has only been since coming to Sierras and now being later 30's that drinks other than water seemed important. I'll typically have 1, maybe 2, liters/day with gatorade mixed in. Some days it is late afternoon, while relaxing post hike and before dinner. I try to avoid dinner/onward to avoid late night trips outside the tent. But some days, I will pound a gatorade w/in hour or so after breakfast if feeling the coffee and water to follow was insufficient. Nothing standard, but I need my coffee yet realize that and my morning potty run can leave me flushed....
I can relate to SSSdaves decaces of training to do with less water. As a rock climber, I have had to spend a lot of time up on a wall without the ability to hual up lots of water. This means tanking up in the morning, taking very little water, and learning to do with less; a lot of little sips, no bit glugs. On the way back, the first stream is always such a treat!
I would hesitate to use tons of Gatoraide. It has a lot of sugar, which is not great for those of us in our 60's or more. Instead, get some electrolyte drink that does not have all that sugar. In addition to spiking your blood sugar (with the subsequent crash), you are carrying more food weight than you need to if you use sugared electrolyte drinks.
