Blood testing before starting sway - Ca, Sodium, etc

[atomic sagebrush]

So I had my blood rechecked today... It has been about 6 weeks on the diet. The first # is the value back in October and the second is now.

Sodium 138 141
Potassium 4.3 3.9
Magnesium 1.9 2.0
Calcium 9.2 9.4

So, what does this show? Probably that there is not much utility to having your blood drawn! Thought it was an interesting experiment though. I have been keeping track of all of my intake and I am eating WAY less sodium than normal (averaging about 500mg daily) and I am taking Calcium (666mg) and Magnesium (400). I was slightly more dehydrated today which is I am sure why the sodium is higher. I think blood sodium changes by the hour. Potassium is more diet driven so that decrease might actually be valid....

THANK YOU so much for updating. This is very important data for us to have because people can hear me say that the human body keeps very tight control over these minerals regardless of diet, but this is very illustrative of how tight that control can actually be!!! Thanks again, so, so very much.

[atomic sagebrush]

Oh and your body may have "felt" like it had to hold on to all available sodium because you weren't getting enough, so your blood levels may have been higher the second time because of that.

[NeedAGirl!]

If only I could have had my CM tested! HA! Imagine asking your doctor for that!

[atomic sagebrush]

I know. I so wish we had that ability at our disposal.

[Coco]

This was the study that drew me in too. I had my bloods taken - by my kids gp! Didn't think my own would approve and didn't want to do irreparable damage to the relationship. I've since learned that hair sample analysis might be a more accurate way of testing most mineral levels. some mineral levels can apparently fluctuate considerably in blood so hard to get an accurate picture. And my own gp told me that calcium is particularly unreliable as stored in bones. The hair analysis involves cutting about a tblspn of hair from near the base. Here in oz it costs about 130 and you get the results within 2 weeks. Got onto it through a natropath I started seeing who I've found to be fantastic. Just another option anyway. Best of luck coco xx

[aintnocinderella]

wow thank you ladies, amazing work. I wish i could have a a number of tests done and see the results. my lifestyle and attitude towards food has been very different this past year and having only found swaying 6 months ago i iwash i had resutls from way back when i had all of my ds's.do you knoe how your results compare to say someone of the same build type and size/weight or did they not provide those results?

[NeedAGirl!]

These are the normals - sodium (Nl 135-145) potassium (nl 3.5-5) calcium (nl 9-10.5) and magnesium (nl 1.5-2.5). The normal range is the same for anyone regardless of weight, gender, etc. Sodium I think is the least reliable as it is tightly controlled by the kidney and changes throughout the day. Calcium and potassium can be influenced by diet. I am not so sure about magnesium.

[atomic sagebrush]

cinderella, the body very tightly regulates the amounts of those minerals in the blood****** and the only people who go outside of those normal ranges have something seriously wrong with them or were on an extremely restrictive (to the point of life-threatening) diet. Regardless of size or body type, normal is normal with these because our bodies have mechanisms to keep them in a very tight range.

The levels of minerals in your blood will rise right after taking a supplement for a short period but then your body just stores/excretes what it doesn't want.

[aintnocinderella]

so what would be the point of a low sodium diet? i am currently doing the low everything diet and sodium the the most difficut for me and if i do slip up its always with junk food which is low nutrition but obvioucly high in calories and salt. i would love to have my testosterone levels etc too

[NeedAGirl!]

The point of low sodium diet is that we think we want sodium to be low in the fluid in the tubes and in the CM. Because sodium levels are so tightly regulated in the blood, if you are not eating much sodium, your body will draw sodium out of the other fluids in the body making them lower. For instance, the urine will have lower sodium. In the Dutch study, they also measured 24 hour excretion of sodium in the urine before and after the diet. Also, I believe that calcium probably sways. Excretion of calcium is tightly linked to sodium excretion. When you eat more sodium, your body needs to keep the blood levels within the normal range so excessive amounts are lost in the urine and it takes calcium with it.