Oh, boy. What a day.
Yeah, we missed going to Costco again. I wasn’t feeling well.
Not because of the pain levels I’ve been having lately. Not at all.
The morning actually started out rather well. I woke up around 5:30am. Usual routine; use the facilities, feed the inside cats, supervise Butterscotch while she uses the litter box so other cats won’t bother her. I was back in bed by about 6am and actually slept, waking up before my alarm went off at 8. I felt rested and awake.
Then I sat up.
I was immediately dizzy.
Just a head rush, I thought. I sat up too quickly.
I took my morning meds and supplements.
It didn’t go away.
I got up and took care of feeding the outside cats…
… and some skunks. Those little ones were acting so famished!!! I didn’t have the heart to chase them away.
The bigger one with the feral kitten, I left alone because if I tried chasing it away, I’d scare the kitten away, too, and she really, really wants to have her share of cat soup!
I was still dizzy.
I decided to walk around a bit to see if the fresh air would help, but I definitely wasn’t up to watering the garden or harvesting anything. I finally went back inside and settled in.
My younger daughter, who was supposed to go with me, was up so I messaged her to come over. I told her how I was feeling. I wasn’t safe to drive, but if she could do the driving, I could probably do the trip. Not to Costco, but at least to the nearest Walmart.
There was a problem with that.
She had managed to get only a couple of hours sleep, and wasn’t safe to drive, either.
So I figured, we could both lie down fore a couple more hours and head out later.
Before lying down, though, I realized I hadn’t eaten yet. I wasn’t feeling hungry, but felt I should have something in my stomach, at least. I managed a small piece of cheese.
Cheddar aged with malted whiskey. Probably not a good choice, but it was already cut, and it was quite delicious.
I didn’t feel any better or worse after eating, at least. Then I tried to lie down.
The dizziness got worse. Bad enough that I had to grab my garbage can to get sick into.
That ended up happening two more times over the next few hours. After the second time, I gave up on lying down and was at my computer, watching gardening videos.
At this point, the family was getting quite worried and kept checking on me, trying to figure out why I was feeling like this. After the third time I got sick, I asked a daughter to make something mild for me to eat, just so I wouldn’t be getting sick again on an empty stomach. My daughter ran some options past me and I chose a couple of hot dogs, just because that would be the fastest.
It was the hot dogs that brought an idea to mind. Eating didn’t make me feel any better or worse, but something about the wieners made me feel… different.
I did a quick search.
My suspicions seemed to be in the right direction.
I was low on salt.
Now, this is something I’d been aware of for a while, because low sodium is one of the things that can contribute to the Charlie Horses I’d been getting, along with a lack of things like magnesium, zinc and potassium. Symptoms of lack of salt include dizziness, nausea and muscle fatigue, which I had been attributing to the dizziness and hadn’t thought much of.
I don’t use a lot of salt in my cooking, because we all have different preferences. You can always add more salt, but you can’t take it away. So, to compensate, I kept a tiny bowl next to my keyboard of coarse Himalayan pink salt. The little chunks are easy to grab, and I would just eat a little piece of salt every now and then.
I emptied my little bowl some time ago, and kept forgetting to refill it.
Could it be that simple?
I refilled my salt bowl and let the family know what I was trying, and ate a few pieces.
My daughter came down to check on me less than a minute later.
I was already starting to feel better, but I didn’t want to jump the gun.
I kept eating more little pieces of salt, slowly, with water.
After a while, my daughter came back to check on me. By this time, I could definitely say I was feeling better – I had gone from getting increased dizziness just from turning my head, to being able to shake my head from side to side energetically, before I felt any dizziness. With my daughter there, I decided to try walking.
I was back to walking normally again. No dizziness. Balance returned. No nausea.
Aside from still feeling a bit weak, and my throat on fire from the last time I got sick, I was back to normal.
Salt.
It really was that simple.
We’re getting a bit low on the coarse pink salt. Something I could pick up when we finally get out for our second stock up shop. It’s a bit hard to find it without being in a grinder, and we have a refillable grinder we prefer to use, but sometimes it’s in stock.
My husband went ahead and ordered 5 pounds of it off of Amazon.
When it got to be time to feed the outside cats, I decided I was well enough to also to a harvest and water the garden, so I messaged my daughters to see if one of them was able to come along, just in case. My younger daughter joined me, bringing my walker and the harvest colander out for me.
Not only did I feel well enough to feed the cats and do the harvesting, I felt good enough to dig up the garlic while my daughter did the watering!
Right now, not only is the dizziness still gone, but I actually have an appetite, and feel I can eat a full meal again.
With plenty of salt.
Tomorrow, we’re going to try for Costco again. Unless something else happens.
Third time’s the charm?
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 