diet / drugs with high salt and effects on synaptic fluid conductivity ?

[bleedingheartcommie]

I have either a very dumb question, or very smart question...

Background..... I Was diagnosed with Narcolepsy at age 17. I am now 31. Narcolepsy is a Neurological brain disorder/ sleep disorder. I have tried many drugs and drug regiments through out my dealings with this disorder.

Fact... Narcolepsy is caused by a lack of a specific protein in the hypothalamus. This causes an environment in the hypothalamus in which certain neurons (the ones that control sleep, wakefulness, temperature, and many other automatic regulators) lack the conductivity to fire regularly, normally, and sometimes at all.

Also... In my dealing With this disorder (as well as the many people ive talked with)... there are 2 drugs and only 2 drugs that seem to have a significant effect. They are Xyrem (ghb) and Adderall (amphetamine salts). When I was on Xyrem... the amout of salt in a nightly dose was equal to the monthly recommendation of salt in ones diet. I'm sure the very high doses of Adderall has a high salt content as well...

SO>> here's my question?

Is it possible that some or all of the benefits of these drugs has more to do with the high salt content that they contain... or are derived from?

More specifically. Can the amount of salt on someones diet affect the conductivity of the synaptic fluid in the brain??? much like salt increases the conductivity of other fluids.

I know this is a far fetched question... but I've asked a lot of professionals and am getting ambiguous answers all over the board...


any and all ideas or answers will be much appreciated !!!!!!!

Thanks
BHC

 

[sekio]

If by "salt content" you mean sodium: only Xyrem contains dietarily significant amounts of it. Despite the name "amphetamine salts", Adderall and friends don't contain sodium at all... "salt" is a generic term in chemistry for a (usually solid) ionic compound which is almost always derived from combining a base and an acid in equimolar amounts. The salts in Adderall all have amphetamine as the cation instead of sodium. Nor is amphetamine derived from sodium chloride (table salt).

Xyrem is 17.4% sodium by weight, that is, 1000mg of Xyrem contains 174 mg of sodium. The dietary limit is suggested to be about 2300 mg, so you'd need to consume a lot of NaGHB before you managed to exceed the RDA - about 14 grams per day.

Anyway to answer your question: no, consuming salt does not change the conductivity of synaptic fluid. The composition of the fluid the brain floats in is very tightly regulated by the body because even slight changes in the level of ions can cause disruptions in signalling.

 

[bleedingheartcommie]

Thank You!!!

 

[d1nach]

I agree with sekio completely. Atless your running marathon or have a neurological disorder causing you to drink water uncontrollably extra sodium Will Have No Effect.