[imataloss]

My family and I have been researching the causes of low sodium as we have discovered our mother has had low sodium counts several times that we know of in the last couple of months. We still don't know the exact cause, but I find it interesting that one cause can be hypoglycemia. Mom is diabetic and was put on a new drug called Symlin around November 2007. We thought it was wonderful because she was overweight and it caused her to not be able to eat as much so she lost weight and was able to reduce her insulin levels and eliminate a host of other medications. However, it was a rough ride for her. We were taking her to the emergency room or drs office frequently with extremely low blood sugars, which of course causes confusion, etc. She hated the drug and finally convinced the drs to take her off of it about 2 months ago when she was hospitalized. That's when we first learned that her sodium levels were low. They gave her an IV to increase her sodium. About a week or 2 went by and we were back at the hospital and things were getting progressively worse to the point that she's been in several emergency rooms, hospitals, and "mental" hospitals and has been diagnosed as bi-polar, put on psych drugs and now is in a nursing home. In less than a month, we lost our mother. She was no longer who she used to be. We do not want her on the psych drugs but everytime we took her to the dr or ER, she was immediately knocked out with tranquilizers and psych meds and put into a mental hospital. Each time we brought her home she spiraled out of control and turned into a crazy person we didn't know. She was home less than 24 hours and we had to take her to the ER. We finally (2 days ago) spoke with a cousin in the medical profession that agreed to look over her records and try to get to the bottom of the whole thing. We're still waiting for answers. They are weaning her off of the psych drugs and attempting to get her sodium levels corrected by limiting her fluid intake. We have also found out that she has bone cancer. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1985 and she chose to have a radical mastectomy to make sure it wouldn't spread. She's been cancer free for 23 years and we've been told that the bone cancer is from a cancer that spread. We have an appt with an oncologist and don't know much more at this time. All I know is that this woman has been put thru hell over the last couple of months. We have serious doubts that she is really bi-polar and think it may be a misdiagnosis and that the low sodium levels masked the bi-polar symptoms. She has SIGNIFICANTLY improved at the nursing home and since we've gotten her off almost all of the psych drugs. We're seeing our mother return. It's like the movie Awakenings. It makes me very sad and very angry that she had to go thru all of this........especially in what may be her last days. I did notice on another web site that some people are drinking gatoraide or something similar which is something I had thought about doing, but notice that the drs are not doing, so I don't know if it's the right thing to do. I really want to see her improve but don't want to do anything that might throw her back into the hell she just climbed out of. Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated. In our research we did discover that bi-polar can sometimes be misdiagnosed when low sodium is the culprit. We also looked into the side effects of Symlin.....the only thing that would really relate would be hypoglycemia. I think I should get hold of the company and let them know that the hypoglycemia can cause low sodium. Maybe others are having the same problems.......who knows. Are others are having these same problems? My heart goes out to so many people who have been placed in mental institutions or put on psych drugs who just need to get their sodium levels corrected.

[cc rider]

Yes, my daughter (she's a registered nurse) told me that sodium levels do affect a person's mind. I shared my story on this site a few weeks ago under cccc on the confusion, etc. that I went through. My sodium level was 16 pts (or however they measure sodium) too high and I cannot remember weeks of my life just recently, and probably never will recall this time.
I don't know but think that your Mom's sodium levels did make her spiral out of control. When I read about her sodium levels, I remembered that my daughter had asked if my sodium levels were normal or not because it could cause confusion, disorientation, loss of memory, etc.
I wish that we had more information on this subject because I don't want it to happen to me or anyone else again. It is a frustrating situation. God bless you and yours.
Warmly,
Carol (cccc)