POTS. Salt, salt and more salt

To combat the sodium problem, the original recommendation was for my daughter to drink Gatorade every day. Gatorade has a lot of sodium, granted, but it also has artificial ingredients and sugar. A little investigation revealed that if you purchase the
G2 line of gatorade, you get a lower sugar product that does not contain the same crazy ingredients, and they even have some clear varieties that avoid coloring agents. So, that is good, but it still delivers sugars and without the movement of regular exercise, that is not great, so we add a lot of salt to food, but we still need her drinking plenty of liquids and it's been a challenge to keep the levels high enough to make the impact that is required to reduce the POTS symptoms and raise that blood pressure.

A co-worker recommended a product to us that is an

electrolyte powder packet from Pure. It contains some sodium (not as much as a gatorade, but still a nice amount) and some magnesium, which is also recommended. I like that the magnesium dose is small enough to not bother her touchy stomach, and I like that this product does not contain a long list of minerals and amino acids. We don't need all of those ingredients, so this seems pretty good. The only problem is the flavor. It is a powder that you mix with water. To me it tastes like nothing....like water, but to my daughter, it is like drinking a glass of sweat. So, that is not an option for regular use.

Douglas Labs make a similar product in a capsule format (Klean Electrolytes), which would be much more doable for my daughter. The only problem with this is that I don't know exactly how much she should receive and if the other ingredients would get too high if we went to the level she needed of the sodium/mg. I have that question out to a pharmacist at the moment and I will follow up with the answer when it comes in.

Finally, there are basic salt tablets that deliver sodium, alone. The amount of sodium is about the same in one tablet as in 2 gatorades. That is very targeted and perhaps it is where we need to go. The doctor did suggest it as an option, though I am not sure how to take such high doses of sodium and not throw the body off in terms of ATP or general hydration. I feel like we need more specific guidance rather than "increase sodium intake". This will require a bit more research. In the meantime, I will wait to hear back from the pharmacist and start my question list for follow up with the doctor. My hope is that the right balance of sodium, liquids, and compression garments will prevent the need for blood pressure raising medication at this time.