What Causes Low Sodium In The Human Body – A 47-year-old man comes to the emergency room with an altered mental state. According to the ambulance, the patient was found slumped in an alley with empty beer cans at his side. As nursing staff attempt to establish an IV, the patient begins to seize. Temperature is 37.0°C (98.6°F), pulse is 101/min, respirations are 11/min, blood pressure is 152/74 mmHg, and O2 saturation is 95% on room air. On physical examination, the patient appears disheveled with tetany in the upper and lower extremities bilaterally. The abdomen is soft and not distended. The patient’s laboratory findings are shown below:

With hyponatremia, hypo- means below or low, and -natrium is Latin for sodium, often written as Na plus, and -emia refers to the blood, so hyponatremia means a lower than normal concentration of sodium in the blood, generally below 135 mEq /L.

What Causes Low Sodium In The Human Body

About 60% of our body weight comes from just water, and it basically sits in two places as liquid compartments – one third of it is in the extracellular fluid, meaning outside the cells, and two thirds of it is in the intracellular fluid, or within cells.

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The extracellular fluid includes the fluid in blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, and the interstitial space, which is the space between cells that is filled with proteins and carbohydrates.

Normally, the two compartments have the same osmolarity – total dissolved concentration – and this allows water to move freely between the two spaces.

The most common cation in the extracellular compartment is sodium, while in the intracellular compartment it is potassium and magnesium.

The most common anion in the extracellular compartment is chloride, while in the intracellular compartment it is phosphate and negatively charged proteins.

Signs Of Low Sodium In Your Body

Of all these, sodium is the ion that moves back and forth across cell membranes, and subtle changes in sodium concentration tilts the osmolarity balance in one direction or another and that moves water.

That being said, hyponatremia, or low concentration of sodium in the extracellular fluid and thus the blood, can be caused by losing more sodium than water, or gaining more water than sodium.

The first is hypervolemic hyponatremia where there is a huge increase in total body water with a less significant increase in total body sodium.

Typically this is seen in conditions such as congestive heart failure, cirrhosis, or nephrotic syndrome where a lot of fluid leaks out of the blood vessels and into the interstitial space, causing edema especially in the ankles.

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Hyponatremia refers to a blood sodium level that is below the normal range, specifically below 135 mEq/L. This can cause various symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, headache, confusion and fatigue. In severe cases, hyponatremia can lead to hyporeflexia, seizures, coma, and even death.

Common causes of hyponatremia include drinking too much water or other fluids without enough salt, use of certain diuretics, renal failure, syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH), etc.

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Metabolic acidosis can develop when you have too much acid in your blood that removes bicarbonate (high anion gap metabolic acidosis) or when you lose too much bicarbonate in your blood as a result of kidney disease or kidney failure (normal anion gap metabolic acidosis).

Bicarbonate is a base. It’s a form of carbon dioxide—a waste byproduct after your body converts food into energy.

An anion gap is the difference between the positive and negative electrical charges in the electrolytes in your blood. Electrolytes are ions that help regulate many metabolic processes in your body, such as bringing nutrients into your cells and taking waste products out of your cells. Examples of electrolytes are sodium, calcium, potassium, chloride and phosphate.

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Determining The Cause Of Hyponatremia (adults)

Metabolic acidosis can affect anyone. However, it often affects people who have kidney failure (renal failure) or chronic (long-term) kidney disease.

Your body needs a specific pH balance to function properly. The pH scale is the level of acids and bases in your blood. The pH scale ranges from 0 (very acidic) to 14 (very basic or alkaline). A normal pH range in your blood is from 7.35 to 7.45.

Your kidneys and lungs help maintain a good pH balance. Your kidneys remove excess acids and bases from your blood through your urine (pee). Your lungs regulate the amount of carbon dioxide in your blood.

Metabolic acidosis occurs when your body produces too much acid, or your kidneys don’t remove enough acid from your blood.

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Your health care provider will ask you about your symptoms and may perform a physical examination. They will also order tests to confirm their diagnosis. They can also refer you to a nephrologist. A nephrologist is a doctor who specializes in kidney diseases.

Your healthcare provider may order different tests based on what they believe may be the cause of your metabolic acidosis. These tests may include:

Blood tests help provide important information about chemicals in your blood. Blood tests for metabolic acidosis may include:

During a urine test, you pee in a special cup. Your health care provider will check the pH level of your pee. You may have too many acids in your pee or not enough bases in your pee.

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Once your healthcare provider determines what is causing metabolic acidosis, they can recommend an appropriate treatment plan. Some treatments include:

Certain foods and drinks can make your body more acidic. Before making any changes to your diet, talk to your healthcare provider. They can guide you in safely including or increasing the right food or drink in your diet. They can also refer you to a dietitian who specializes in kidney diseases (renal dietitian).

The over-the-counter (OTC) medications sodium citrate or sodium bicarbonate can help balance the acids in your body. Talk to your healthcare provider before taking OTC medications to treat your metabolic acidosis.

Your healthcare provider may also prescribe inotropes. Inotropes help your heart beat harder, which helps get more oxygen into your body and lowers the amount of acid in your blood. Your healthcare provider can deliver inotropes to your body through an IV in a vein in your arm.

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Your healthcare provider will work with you to develop a treatment plan, which may include medications and lifestyle changes. Your treatment plan may include:

Contact your healthcare provider if you have symptoms of metabolic acidosis or symptoms of a condition that can cause metabolic acidosis.

Metabolic acidosis involves your digestive system and your urinary system. Your kidneys cannot properly filter acids from your bloodstream. Kidney disease, kidney failure, untreated diabetes, loss of bicarbonate and blood poisoning can cause an acidic pH in your body.

Respiratory acidosis involves your respiratory system. Your lungs cannot remove enough carbon dioxide from your bloodstream. Asthma, brain injuries and excessive or irregular use of substances can affect your lungs’ ability to remove carbon dioxide.

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Metabolic acidosis is a condition that causes acids to build up in your body. You can try to ignore or push through some common signs of metabolic acidosis. However, they are your body’s way of telling you that something is not right. If you have symptoms, talk to your healthcare provider, especially if you have conditions that affect your kidneys. They are here to help. Sodium deficiency or hyponatremia refers to the low sodium concentration in an individual’s body. Like other minerals, sodium also plays essential roles in the human body. It is necessary for many of the body’s functions, including blood pressure control, fluid balance and the proper functioning of the nervous system. It can also sometimes lead to neurological impairments that affect walking and attention and can also result in bone fracture. Hyponatremia can be caused by drinking too much water, without sufficient replacement of sodium from the body. However, consuming too much sodium can increase the volume of blood in the body, which results in various health problems and can sometimes lead a person to coma.

The symptoms of sodium deficiency or hyponatremia are usually not always specific. They can vary from person to person and depend on how fast the fall in the body’s sodium concentration is. However, some of the common symptoms that are usually seen in the affected individuals are as follows:

The severity of these symptoms depends

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