Meniere’s Disease and Salt

Let’s talk about SALT:

Most of the people reading this article will be dealing with Meniere’s disease and will be very familiar with salt cautions.  Sodium, salt, and sometimes potassium are things they have been told to be aware of. However, this fear of using ANY or tiny amounts of salt can be detrimental as well.  

Once you lose your fear of using salt, you can use it to really heal yourself in many situations, including LOW blood pressure! Knowing how something works and why it works, is very helpful and informative. But TAKING ACTION to make the actual changes is very powerful and life changing.

So, it is important to understand the principles of salt. I keep reminding people that this is their body: they need to know how it works so they can stay healthy. 

You might want to learn a little about “homeostasis”: that way you can apply this “salt” knowledge to yourself.

Here is a super helpful video!

The basics of salt: how it really works.

Salt dries things up it by drawing fluid out of its present location to itself. This is called osmosis. We will use this easy to understand “osmosis” definition from The Free Dictionary.

• “a. Diffusion of fluid through a semipermeable membrane from a solution with a low solute concentration to a solution with a higher solute concentration until there is an equal solute concentration on both sides of the membrane.”

Homeostasis is a health state of the body. Osmosis is an action that happens in the body. 

Let me use some examples on how salt works and then how it can impact your body. 

The easiest example to use is a slug, not pleasant, but very descriptive.

If you pour salt directly onto a slug, you know it will shrink, right? Its skin is this permeable (not solid) membrane. If you put a bit of salt in some water and then put the slug into the water, the slug is very happy. Why? Because there is a balance of salt in the slug’s body and in the water.

What is the difference? 

Remember that salt dries things up by drawing fluid out of whatever it is put into. 

So, this slug now has salt on it, and the salt by “osmosis” now pulls the fluid through the membrane (skin) out of the slug. But as the salty water is pretty much the same as the chemical make-up of the slug, nothing happens. This is called “homeostasis” (meaning the solution meets the mix as the slug’s mix).

I think this next example is even easier to “see”. If you have an infected finger and put it into a glass of plain water to try to get the infection out, (quite a common home remedy) it will take quite a few days to achieve this goal. However, if you add salt to the water, the infection is gone very quickly. The salt draws out the bacteria and restores the health of the finger.

I am sure you have heard of pickling of fish or meats. Why is it done? To preserve the food for another time without other ways of keeping it in an eatable state. In this case, the (salty) brine the food is put into, has a stronger salt content than the food itself. Once it is needed for actual eating, the balance of salt and water is reversed, restoring fluid to the food. (There is a lot more to this technique than just adding or removing salt.)

Take eye drops: it is a solution very similar to natural tears. It is a mixture of sodium chloride (salt) in water. And because it is almost the same solution as the body, it will not cause any unnatural reactions. (Do use clean hands when touching your eyes: they are very susceptible to inflammation).

Have you heard about saline compresses? 

This is one of the most helpful and common ways to get rid of unhealthy situations in your body. This is an amazing home remedy!

Apply a facecloth, moistened with a salty solution to the uncomfortable body part. By osmosis the salt will draw out the irritant by “following the salt”. Again, homeostasis and osmosis come into play..

Sore feet after a long walk? Try soaking your feet in a salty foot bath. Plain water is fine, but notice how much better it feels if you swish your feet around (adding circulation)? Now by adding a bit of salt (not much) your feet feel even much better.

Unknowingly you had restored homeostasis to your body. It’s so easy to do when you know how to use salt. (The long walk imbalanced the body’s healthy state just for a short while.)

Now here is one time to use your own good common sense: a time when salt may not be the best use of it.

One of the most common uses of saline solutions is in sprays for sinus issues. And sadly, this is a not a good idea as you’ll see shortly.

• Did you know that all sinus tissue is meant to be soft and “mushy” in order to do its “job”?

And the “job” of your sinuses is two-fold

1. To hydrate (moisten) the air you breathe in. 
2. To catch and hold any debris in this air you breathe in so this (debris) doesn’t get to your lungs. (If it does get into your lungs, you cough, that’s the body’s way of getting rid of a foreign/unwanted irritant.)

So salt in a saline spray DRIES up the tissue… and that sounds nice, but it’s totally unhelpful.

It would be much better to use clean plain water, with no added drugs or salt. You may ask why saline sprays are recommended. I believe the idea stems from the intention to maintain the same pH solution of your body. But your sinuses IN your body already has the same pH, so that is not needed. What would be far better is to find the cause of the irritation that is setting off the sinus reaction and fix that. (And that is an article for another time.)

Now let’s get to the usual recommendation of a “low salt diet”. 

This is one issue I am faced with constantly. 

EVERY single person who has been suspected of having balance or hearing issues that might lead to a diagnosis of Meniere’s disease, is told to restrict their salt intake. EVERYONE!!

Now you have to understand that our easy access to the Internet, everyone, and I mean everyone, has been told this long before a firm Meniere’s disease or BPPV diagnosis has been made. 

So everyone is deathly afraid of salt already! And they eliminate salt from any source they find it in…or suspect it’s in.  

Along comes the well-meaning medical professional with this “low salt diet” recommendation (part of the Meniere’s disease protocol). This now forces the person to try to lower their salt content even more!

• They forget that they only see their medical professionals occasionally, who knows little about their actual salt intake.
• They forget they have already LOWERED their salt intake.

So this well-meaning medical professional offers the only protocol they share: lower your salt content, NOT knowing how LITTLE salt you actually take in (having been scared to eat any.) 

So let’s go back to what is actually happening;

Your body needs a certain amount of salt to function, to maintain homeostasis. This has to do with electrolytes and many other balanced body requirements. 

Why was the low salt caution given?

The idea is that salt holds in excess fluids and this may cause balance symptoms. So in order to reduce that risk, you are recommended a low salt diet, and on top of that, a diuretic to draw of even more potential fluid. 

From what you have learned here, can you see what fluid imbalances you may be creating in your entire body? 

One quick way to measure your fluid balance is to measure your blood pressure. A normal reading is 120/80. That is your goal. Just like the slug, you want to balance your salt levels. But that might mean eating MORE salt in order to regain your homeostasis. 

In order to know what your body needs, why it needs it, and how salt affects it, you need to know the actions of salt. Interesting isn’t it? 

Let me…one more time, remind you that this is your body and you want to do what is best for it.

Please let me know if you would like a copy of our “Sodium Content of Common Foods” email.

• If you would like a copy of our Meniere’s Disease Study Guide, please click here.  This guide is a step by step journey exploring your symptoms and what may be causing them.

• If you would like more information on the system that David, and numerous others, have used, please click here; What Finally Worked.

• If you have any health questions or concerns, please feel free to Contact Us and we will be happy to share our knowledge and ideas with you.

Karin Henderson, Retired Nurse

(604) 463-8666 – Pacific Standard Time