Sodium question,,,

If I have too much sodium (or just junk - for me it includes high preservatives, processed foods, sugar, excess alcohol), then I have a bad day (or even a vertigo attack) the next day. If I go full-blown vertigo, it usually kicks in mid/late morning or around noon after eating bad the day/night before.

 

I am new to this also and am not yet sold on the sodium thing. I have only had 3 attacks about 6 months apart over the last 18 months. I have only just been diagnosed with the disease now but thinking back between attacks (generally 6 months between them) I didn't do anything about my diet at all as I didn't know what I had. I am a little lost with all this but am now down to one coffee a day and am really watching my salt intake. Let's see how this goes....

 

Sodium bad; herbs and spices for flavor good. It may not bother you today or a week from now but sometimes, out if nowhere, you get knocked on your butt...literally. for me I found that after being off most sodium that salty foods I used to like now taste so salty I cannot eat them. Way too salty.

 

Limiting sodium had no impact on my symptoms. With that said when I started seeing exactly how much sodium is put into food I was floored. So now I go for the lower or no salt options and I don’t even miss all that extra salt.

 

Sodium doesn't have a big impact on me. However, when I was at the worst of my Meniere's (fast spinning attacks) high sodium meals seemed to be a factor. Especially pepperoni pizza. So I think it might depend on where you're at in your disease. If you're at the "height" of the disease, seems a high sodium day can push you over the edge into an attack.

By the way, Weber (the famous BBQ company) has a good seasoning called "Chicken Seasoning - Salt Free". Available at major grocery stores. I put it on my eggs and chicken.

 

Occasionally sodium will rev up my tinnitus. This was true even before i had hydrops. I think the same is true for aspirin, caffeine ... but it affected nothing else for me.
But, you should see the difference in the swelling in my husbands feet when he oversalts his food, so maybe try to be moderate for the sake of your heart if nothing else.

 

I may have had vertigo after salty restaurant food, but that may also have had MSG, who knows. I think the flare would happen overnight after the meal.

I recently had a month free of vertigo. I had 2 restaurant meals on Friday, so upped my Diamox dose and drank a ton of water. I was ok, but had a vertigo 3 nights later, during a wind storm. Not sure what causes my flares... but salt and barometric issues seem plausible.

 

The other day made me realize salt effects my MM more than I'd thought. I don't eat much overtly salty foods. And I don't cook with salt or salt my food. I visited my parents the other day and I ate a bunch of naturally salty things (clam chowder, etc) AND hand-salted stuff. Late the next morning (ten hours after salty food) I had an "episode" for a few hours. Very light headed. Hadn't been so lightheaded in about 4 months.

The time delay from salt intake to MM reaction is interesting. But I've read in the past that the reaction IS often delayed till the next day. Strange how that works.

 

For me, it’s always several hours later (usually the next day).

I agree with the above post that it’s difficult to tell if it’s the salt or preservatives / msg / whatever. I don’t feel like straight salt (say dusted on a nice steak) hurts me so much.

 

I get the same time-delay.

The thing to watch out for is the sodium, not just salt. Restaurant foods may not taste overly salty, but are often made with canned tomatoes or canned beans, two of the greatest offenders in sodium content, where it is used as a preservative rather than a flavoring. Canned soups and many other prepared foods can really pack in the nasty stuff. I've found in general the imported canned tomatoes from Italy are considerably lower in sodium than the US brands. Some US brands are now making no-added-sodium versions of tomatoes, stock, canned beans, etc.