Gatorade alternatives when on spiro?

[Alyssa M.]

I started drinking Gatorade on long hikes years ago when a friend suggested I try it diluted 50%. I've found that it's a great way to get water without getting cramps or feeling bloated, and the sugars and salts are great when I need energy and electrolytes, but I've lost my appetite (which often happens with altitude).

Since starting HRT (1.5 years ago) I have begun to suspect that it's giving me an upset stomach -- sometimes really bad -- and I think might be because of the potassium and the interaction with spiro. I spoke to my doctor when I started HRT, and she said it would probably be fine, despite the "potassium-sparing" effect of the drug. Basically, she told me that unless I noticed any symptoms of hyperkalemia (which are generally rare and subtle) or my potassium tested high, I shouldn't worry about avoiding any specific foods. I don't think "upset stomach" counts as a symptom, but maybe it is, or maybe it's a sign that something's different in my electrolyte balance or my digestion. I plan to ask her about this when I see her again.

Have any of you had a similar experience, and might you have suggestions for alternatives that work better when you're on spiro?

[edit: The NIH says "nausea" is a symptom, but I never feel nauseous in the motion / altitude sickness kind of way, nor do I ever feel like I need to vomit. Maybe my interpretation of "nausea" is too strict. But regardless whether it's hyperkalemia or something else, I'm looking for an alternative.]

[Flan]

can also try Gatorade rain or similar, it lacks Glycerol ester of wood rosin (which is pretty nasty in my experience).

[Miniar]

I do not remember what it's called, but my friend drinks some.. seeds.. in water.. it's trippy, tasty (I've tasted it, he mixes lemon juice in it, is delicious really), and apparently it really kicks all these "sports drinks" in the hindquarters..

He picked it up on a tip on a runner's site of some sort..

I really wish I could recall what it's called..

[lilacwoman]

if you're starting your day - for work or hiking - with a good meal then you don't really need fancy drinks especially as you're on Spiro so try drink plain tap water with a tiny bit of ordinary sugar to make it nice and see if it helps the stomach problem.

the last time I bothered looking at the sports drinks I got the impresssion that they would be OK if we could start each day with a printout of exactly what levels of everything we have in our system from all the food and drink we had in the last 12 hours so we could choose a drink that topped up all the low levels.

[Alyssa M.]

It's not a question of how I start out the day so much as how I end it, specifically on those days that begin at 3:00 a.m., involve 5000 vertical feet of elevation gain, 20 miles of hiking, many pitches of roped climbing, miles of difficult scrambling or bushwhacking or breaking trail through deep snow, or some combination thereof. I prefer not passing out until I get to the camp / hut / trailhead. And anyway, sometimes that 3:00 a.m. breakfast is just too early to be anything but a cup of tea, a few cashews, and a packet of instant oatmeal ... if I'm lucky.

Work is different. I don't usually need Gatorade to sit in front of a computer. My only "energy drink" there is coffee. And lots of it! 

[kyril]

"Homemade Gatorade": a 20 oz container of water, 1 tbsp sugar, about half a teaspoon of salt, and a splash of your favourite juice (lemon is nice). Salt and sugar amounts can be varied to taste/to suit your needs. We made this, minus the juice, in our canteens in boot camp - it got us through some long days.

[Diane Elizabeth]

        So, are you saying Gatorade is not good for you if you are on spiro.  I drink gatorade all the time at work during summer.  I love it and need it.  Those other power drinks I don't like.  So next year I may have to find something else to drink.  that won't be easy to replace. 

[lilacwoman]

Original Gatorade formula is 1% and Endurance is 2% potassium and Spiro increases serum levels of potassium by decreasing the amount our bodies pee out so assuming all the potassiums are the same then drinking Gatorade elevates the levels of potassium in the body.

If you drink the stuff every day or several cans then you are taking in a lot of potassium.

for last few years since first getting the Spiro cramps in my legs at night I've stayed away from sweet and gassy drinks and basically drink lots of watered down pure fruit juices.

[Alyssa M.]

So, are you saying Gatorade is not good for you if you are on spiro.  I drink gatorade all the time at work during summer.  I love it and need it.  Those other power drinks I don't like.  So next year I may have to find something else to drink.  that won't be easy to replace.

No, I wouldn't make such a general statement as to say it's "not good for you if you are on spiro"; only that I suspect it's part of the cause for the upset stomach I've been having, and that more than outweighs its benefits. I can't say I "need" it, but I certainly love it and have relied on it for years on big days out in the mountains. I think it might have something to do with being on HRT, since I haven't had any issued before I started; on my last trip, a weekend of backpacking, I felt bad on Saturday only after drinking some, and then I felt better after I stopped. Well, it took a day, but by Sunday early afternoon, I was fine.

So I'd suggest you keep it in mind as something to look out for. If you don't feel bad and your blood work checks out, then carry on; if you do, then you'll have a good guess as to what you can change so you'll feel better.

Original Gatorade formula is 1% and Endurance is 2% potassium

See, this is why I'm skeptical that the potassium, specifically, is the culprit. If one serving gives you 1 or 2 % of your recommended daily intake, even if I'm having 10 servings, that's at most 20% of recommended daily intake (for people not on spiro). That's as much as there is in a bowl of raisin bran cereal with milk, which I can eat with no problem. So I really suspect it's something other than the potassium. Maybe it's the dye, or maybe it's the sodium/potassium ratio, or -- who knows?

for last few years since first getting the Spiro cramps in my legs at night I've stayed away from sweet and gassy drinks and basically drink lots of watered down pure fruit juices.

Interesting -- and another reason to think it's maybe not potassium (since lots of fruit juices have high potassium), but rather something else (such as food dyes). Coca-Cola has long made me feel queezy, and I rarely drink it (or any other such drink). I haven't had leg cramps, but it's interesting that making that change has helped you. I'll definitely keep that in mind.

"Homemade Gatorade": a 20 oz container of water, 1 tbsp sugar, about half a teaspoon of salt, and a splash of your favourite juice (lemon is nice). Salt and sugar amounts can be varied to taste/to suit your needs. We made this, minus the juice, in our canteens in boot camp - it got us through some long days.

Thanks! That's the kind of suggestion I was hoping someone might share. I'll try it out.

[Cruelladeville]

While in the US Gatorade/Powerade et al....think Lucozade in the UK...

Well it saved my bacon post-op Liposuction.... though it took my private nurse to tell me about the importance when I crashed-n-burned physically 72hrs after surgery... I quite quickly felt really rotten...

And it took 3 days of solidly downing the stuff to pull out of the sudo-meltdown I felt myself to be physically in.....lol

When they flush a lot of fat off it screws with yer body's electrolytes.... you sees.

So yep a bottle in the fridge helps...... though some of the 'flavours' are pretty ghastly! 

[lilacwoman]

it's not 1 or 2% of your daily needs but 1 or 2% of each can which is actually the stuff..so a couple or more cans are giving a really large amount and add to that from other foods and the body will be overloaded.

pack of fresh orange here says nothing about potassium but only sodium and that is only .01% and we don't hear about problems from sodium.

The PDR that doctors use states Spiro may cause cramps.

http://nmhs.net/documents/chfyellowbook.pdf page 5 says Spiro can increase potassium.

as we are all different anyone getting leg or stomach cramps in the night could try reducing Spiro or Gatorade-type drinks to see if the cramps lessen.

[Alyssa M.]

it's not 1 or 2% of your daily needs but 1 or 2% of each can which is actually the stuff

It's 30 mg of potassium  per serving, compared to a Reference Daily Intake of 3 grams : 1% RDI.

Now, a serving is 240 mL (which is about 240 grams). So we're talking 0.0125% potassium by mass. Even if you ignore the water, there's still 14 grams of sugar, so all the potassium has only about 0.2% of the mass of the sugar.

add to that from other foods

That's irrelevant. I'm talking about days when I'm probably burning around 6000 calories or more. Meanwhile, I probably lose that 30 mg to sweat alone every hour.

[long.897]

I just wanted to pop in with an antirecommendation; avoid crystal light if you're going to be drinking a lot, it's tasty and low calorie, but horrendously bad for you.  When I was in serious swim workout mode I would drink probably 4-5 gallons a day (no diabetes,) and I actually ended up at the doctor's with MS-like symptoms.  Apparently excessive consumption of aspartame causes some people to experience symptoms that are virtually indistinguishable from multiple sclerosis; not a fun time, I assure you.

[Nero]

Hi Alyssa.
A little off topic, but I was wondering what other differences you're experiencing in your hiking and climbing etc now that you're on HRT. Is it harder, more exhausting, etc without T? Less endurance? Or can you still do pretty much the same as before?

[Alexmakenoise]

I just wanted to pop in with an antirecommendation; avoid crystal light if you're going to be drinking a lot, it's tasty and low calorie, but horrendously bad for you.  When I was in serious swim workout mode I would drink probably 4-5 gallons a day (no diabetes,) and I actually ended up at the doctor's with MS-like symptoms.  Apparently excessive consumption of aspartame causes some people to experience symptoms that are virtually indistinguishable from multiple sclerosis; not a fun time, I assure you.

That's horrible, but not exactly surprising.  I avoid aspartame because even small amounts of it give me a headache.


As for Gatorade . . .  I actually have a question about it that maybe someone can answer since we're on the subject.  When I go several days without drinking Gatorade, I feel kind of weak and lethargic, like I'm deficient in something nutritionally.  When I drink some Gatorade every day, I feel normal.  I wonder if this is because my diet is low in something that Gatorade contains.  But what could this be?  Sodium?  Potassium?

[Alyssa M.]

I believe you are referring to Chia seeds. I hear they are used for hydration by cyclists, etc. I have never tried them.

Thanks! I'll check it out!

I just wanted to pop in with an antirecommendation; avoid crystal light if you're going to be drinking a lot, it's tasty and low calorie, but horrendously bad for you.

Oh, no, of course not! I avoid any artificial sweeteners in general, since they kick of that "woo-hoo, here comes some sugar!" response, and then it doesn't come. That's bad enough even without the creepiness of the physiology and connection with diseases. Besides, "low-calorie" is certainly not what I'm looking for when I'm hiking!

Hi Alyssa.
A little off topic, but I was wondering what other differences you're experiencing in your hiking and climbing etc now that you're on HRT. Is it harder, more exhausting, etc without T? Less endurance? Or can you still do pretty much the same as before?

I definitely feel different overall, but it hasn't had much of an effect on my outdoor pursuits.

I'm actually climbing more now than pretty much ever before, so I'm actually better at it than I was before transition. Being more sociable means you find more climbing partners, so you can climb more. I'm not sure whether I can do a pull-up anymore, but I have better technique, so I don't rely as much on arm strength.

I'll find out this winter whether I can break trail through deep snow on skis going uphill as well as I could before. I've gotten some lighter gear, so that should serve to mitigate any problems. On the downhill part, I'm skiing as well as ever. Last season I didn't get out much (my worst season in a decade) but I was still skiing about as hard as ever.

Hiking has been a problem only because of this issue. Again, lighter gear probably helps; some of my old gear is really heavy, so it evens out, I guess.

Mostly, I'm just enjoying it all a lot more now, and that's all that really matters to me.

[Miniar]

I believe you are referring to Chia seeds. I hear they are used for hydration by cyclists, etc. I have never tried them.

I wrote my reply,,.. then noticed that.. so.. YES!

CHIA SEED!

I remembered!!

Gesigewigu's swears by it and he's been doing some very serious running this last year.
He mixes (if I recall correctly) just a tablespoon or two in a half liter bottle of water with a little bit of salt, little bit of raw sugar, and a fair squirt of lemon juice. And it's extremely tasty and dirt-cheap and a quick consult with google shows me post after post by athletes being thoroughly impressed with it in general.

[Sada]

bye

[Nero]

I'm actually climbing more now than pretty much ever before, so I'm actually better at it than I was before transition. Being more sociable means you find more climbing partners, so you can climb more. I'm not sure whether I can do a pull-up anymore, but I have better technique, so I don't rely as much on arm strength.

I'll find out this winter whether I can break trail through deep snow on skis going uphill as well as I could before. I've gotten some lighter gear, so that should serve to mitigate any problems. On the downhill part, I'm skiing as well as ever. Last season I didn't get out much (my worst season in a decade) but I was still skiing about as hard as ever.

Hiking has been a problem only because of this issue. Again, lighter gear probably helps; some of my old gear is really heavy, so it evens out, I guess.

Mostly, I'm just enjoying it all a lot more now, and that's all that really matters to me.

That's awesome! Everything is more enjoyable done as yourself, isn't it?  Good luck on the breaking of the deep snow!