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Preventing Hyponatremia In The Hospital

by — Last updated: 2021-04-14 in Musculoskeletal Issues

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If you have been in a hospital in the United States lately, chances are you were put on a severely sodium-restricted diet. After certain kinds of surgery, however, low-salt diets can be far more dangerous than high-salt.

More problems associated with low sodium levels include:

  • Hypopituiatarism. People who have low sodium levels often have problems with the pituitary gland, either from untreated hemochromatosis (iron overload disease) or tumors. This is a problem that takes years to develop, but that is often undetected. Failing to treat the problem with the pituitary gland can make treating other issues far more complicated.

Hyponatremia can add a week or more to a hospital stay, and it can even result in death.

So what can you do to make sure you or a loved one isn't incapacitated by the extremely common and usually easily correctable metabolic issue?

  • Don't be afraid to ask if you, or your loved one, is getting enough salt, especially when in the hospital for surgery and placed on a low-sodium diet. This is an issue you need to bring up with the physician managing your hospital care, not the nurse, who can only pass on the question to your doctor in most cases.
  • If you feel unusually groggy even after anesthesia and pain medications should have worn off, or if you loved one seems unusually "out of it," let a nurse know. Mental symptoms don't necessarily mean you have a mental problem. You may have a serious but easily correctable metabolic problem.
  • Let your nurse know if you feel "puffy," or you have swelling in your hands or feet. If you feel like you have a bigger belly than usual, especially if you have been eating less, let your nurse know so you can be evaluated for ascites.
  • Avoid drinking excessive fluid, because water dilutes salt and salt is an essential nutrient. Drinking too much fluid adds water to your bloodstream that lowers the sodium concentration in your blood plasma.

It is also important to avoid do-it-yourself treatment while you are staying in the hospital. Sure, (suspected) low sodium levels might seem like the perfect reason to ask a friend to smuggle in a cheeseburger during visiting hours, but as a patient, you need to cooperate with your doctors and nurses to get the best possible results from your hospital stay.

This is especially important if your doctors decide to treat your low sodium levels with a drug called vasopressin. This medication prevents your kidneys from releasing sodium into urine, and therefore, trying to boost your salt intake on your own can lead to serious complications.

If you both take the drug and consume high-sodium foods on the down-low, there is a risk of your body retaining too much fluid, which can cause other serious issues, such as headache, seizures, and cardiovascular issues.

See Also: A Dash or Two is Better than Too Little or Too Much Salt

Even though it can be a pain to work with your hospitalist and nurses to get your diet right, it is always best to work with hospital staff rather than working around them. Even after you get out of the hospital, low sodium levels can still show up. It is important not to overindulge in beer, which can cause a condition called potomania, which results in unusually low sodium levels, and while you should always do your best to follow your doctor's diet suggestions, you don't have to follow a diet that is more restrictive than what the doctor orders. Some sodium is both necessary and good for your health, so never attempt to take the doctor's orders to consume a low salt diet to an extreme by avoiding salt entirely.