Salt is Bad for you.. they say.

I was always told salt was bad for me. My mom was a diabetic, and for her an overdose of sodium meant swollen hands and feet. So, she avoided salt in all of her cooking - and generally discouraged its use at the table.

When I was about fifteen, I began to have dizzy spells. They would come on quickly and suddenly, sometimes well after I had gotten up and started to walk. It was as if I was suddenly on a merry-go-round and the rest of the world was moving but I wasn't. My vision would fog, with small white 'pinpoints' coming up from nowhere and eventually filling my entire vision like the static on an old television. Usually at this point my hearing would become distant and I would either catch myself on something or fall flat to the floor. Everything would equalize slowly and I would be able to see and balance myself again within seconds.

At the doctor, I was told it was 'growing pains', and to take more time getting up. For a fifteen-year old kid, that is not a good thing to hear. 'Whenever you get up, pump your legs a little to get the blood flowing. Always get up slowly and take time deciding where you are going in case you need to fall.'

I felt like an invalid, and my mom was scared that her little girl was dying of some strange disease. Her already tight reign of control on me (she was always scared I was going to be hurt) became even closer to house arrest. She began to insist that if I went anywhere it all, it be with someone who could 'take care of me.' I love my mom, but she was reacting with fear because we had no clue what was causing this. She didn't want me to move away from home, go to college, or even drive. I did put my foot down and get my learner's permit, and I did go to our community college, often by bike. I worked two jobs at times just to get out of the house, and had another job monitoring an online bulletin board on 3D computer modelling. I drank a lot of coffee to keep awake, and was always on the move. At times I learned to walk 'sideways' against the flow of the dizzyness until it became strong enough to require a rest.

In January of 1998 I had the worst fainting spell I have had to date. I slit the back of my head open on a sharp object on the wall and required 17 stitches. My own physician sewed me up at our small town ER. He started more tests. He found nothing. He told me the same things he had before. I asked for a new doctor.

The new doctor, also from our small town, had a different theory. He started with my heart - and ruled out all chances that it was slowing or speeding up on its own. Either of those could cause a fainting spell. I had come in to the ER once more displaying symptoms of wild blood pressure changes and obvious disorientation. My new doctor knew a friend at the Mayo clinic who he wanted to ask about this, and it just happened he was going to make a visit to our hospital soon. I was signed up for a new test.

The clinic doctor took my blood pressure when I was lying down, then when I was sitting up, then right after I stood up. I didn't have a dizzy spell, but my blood pressure dropped, drastically, upon the change of position. It dropped much more than twenty points, and it was 'low' (around 110) to begin with. During my dizzy spells the pressure must have dropped even lower, to 80 or so, which would definitely cause physical symptoms.

Usually low blood pressure is 'healthy.' However, when it drops below a certain point, especially quickly, the body can't adjust. He had found why I was fainting, and no, it was not 'growing pains.' This was called orthostatic hypotension, a fancy name for the blood was rushing out of my brain in an upright position quicker than it could compensate to pump it back up.

Usually this condition is found in older people, which was why my doctor never looked for it. It has become much more common in young people, especially tall, thin people who are very active. It also didn't help that like most American kids I liked caffeine. Caffeine aggravates the condition. It is a diuretic, which removes more water from your system than it puts in. The answer was for me to reduce the amount of caffeine I took in (ouch!) and increase the amount of water and salt in my diet.

I haven't been able to give up the coffee, except when other things really press it. I still have about a half-cup a day, mixed with milk. However, at the time of my fainting spell, I was up to about a 2-liter of Mountain Dew over the course of the day plus 4-6 cups of coffee - so yes, there needed to be an intervention there.

Now I liberally put salt on things when it tastes good. What had been a 'always bad for you' thing in our house became my alternative to a medication. (I tried the medication for a short time, it gave me the shakes) When I don't eat right and lose weight the dizzy spells become more frequent. Since I began eating better again in January I haven't had a major dizzy spell. During pregnancy, which is notorious for dizziness, I haven't had one.

The blood volume of a woman increases greatly with pregnancy, so it is something I was initially worried about. Drinking lots of water helps that blood volume expand, and about 20% of it is now going through our baby as well as through me. Most women are worried about high blood pressure in their pregnancies, but my blood pressure amounts have been within normal ranges and everything seems to be going fine. I am very very thirsty though, and this too, is right on track ;)