Let's say you're stranded in the wilderness, it's been more than three days so the SAR stopped looking for you. It's hot and humid and you managed to collect enough water. But you didn't manage to find some adequate food and you finished all your jerky. And you got to get out of there since nobody is looking for you so you'll have to exert almost like an athlete. Then you start having minor symptoms of hyponatremia (low level of sodium in the blood) and you don't have pretzels and Gatorade available.

Since you have read the first chapter of the SAS survival handbook and some paragraphs of 98.6 degrees the art of keeping your ass alive! you are aware of the consequences of sodium depletion and you packed some kind of sodium replacement. Here are some products I found in older posts, in my books and in some stores:

Alka-Seltzer (without added Aspirin) (Cody Lundin's 98.6 degrees book)

Ceralyte 70 (rice-based oral electrolyte) available at MEC.ca for diarrhea?? (they talk about diarrhea but not about hyponatremia.)
http://www.ceralyte-usa.com

table salt packets or salt tablets

Thermotabs (buffered salt supplement) or something similar probably found in drogstores:
http://www.coradhealthcare.com/item/Thermo_Tabs

The bottom line is that I'm not sure what to pack in a mess tin or FAK to treat an hyponatremia emergency (without becoming hypernatremic either) if it ever occurs in an unexpected extended off the land situation. I think just a pinch of salt added to your water will treat the first symptoms like "salt cramps" but I want to know what works best and also what packs best. I'm also aware that taking aspirin, ibuprofen and acetaminophen can make it worse. I guess it depends if it's acute, chronic or just minor and I guess I should take it up with a physician.

Do you think if you don't have any salt availabe, you can add some drops of your urine to your drinking water <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

I imagine that the boullion I've carried for years in my wilderness survival kit would do the job nicely, as well as make my chipmunk stew more palatable. <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Regards, Vince

I have seen a person almost die from hyponatremia. Read this link for a thorough treatise on this condition.

While all "bad situations" are best avoided rather than treated, getting hyponatremia is one thing that you definitely want to avoid instead of treat. The victim gets extremely nauseous and sick. Even the thought of consuming food/liquids can bring on waves of nausea and vomiting.

About the only field-expedient treatment is to slowly dribble in sodium via nibbling on pretzels and sipping electrolyte solutions. In the best of cases it takes many hours to begin to reverse the more severe symptoms. Even when the victim is coming back around, they will have severe weakness and will be in no condition to walk across the room, let alone walk through wilderness terrain.

About the best electrolyte supplement I've found that could reasonably be included in a hot-weather PSK is EnduroLytes by Hammer Nutrition.

Thanks for the info. Just reading the web page you sent made me hyperventilate. I didn't know it was that bad. I'm thinking about packing some Gatorade powder mix along with other dedicated electrolyte replacement. But it makes me realize that in a survival situation, especially in hot weather it's better to rest and avoid sweating too much by building a solar still for exemple.

Frankie

I've been hyponatremic once due to pancreatitis. Very, very unpleasant. They gave a liter of normal saline with some sort of extra electrolytes added. I've seen my medical records and for some reason that did not get charted, so I don't know exactly what was added to the saline. I was told that a couple less points down and I would have siezed. I carry Gatoraide powder in my BOB these days.

You must have had a bad time. I know there's not only "exertional hyponatremia" and there are many causes and it's an issue in hospitals. Pancreatitis is also bad, my cousin stayed 6 weeks in hospital on account of a pancreatitis. They think he had it because he took too much alcohol.

Frankie

I also carry Endurolytes in my PSK, and keep Gatoraid in my office stash. I also keep water in an unopened commercial gallon-size container at the office. Because I wanted to keep it for a long time without having to replace for freshness, I decided on distilled - to keep bacteria from building up. Since distilled has no mineral content, it is especially important to keep Gatoraid of some other replacement handy if this is the way you want to go.

about 40% are due to alcohol, 30% due to gall badder disease, 30 % are [censored] happens. I was that latter.