Soooo, I've been on hrt for a couple of years & my endo upped my dosages a few months ago. Spiro first, then E. Every time we've done so, my body has gone through the same adjustments, such as really dry eyes, odd flutters in my chest (confirmed *not* my heart!), need for sleep down to 2 or 3 hours a night, estrogen euphoria, digestion, allergies/immune/autoimmune...basically anything that's regulated by serotonin (which is in turn in a feedback loop with *either* E or T...my body apparently needed E as none of those things ever worked right on T). So, I wasn't too surprised when things went all wonky again. What did surprise me was that I hit some threshold and suddenly needed to urinate far more than I expected, which would of course dehydrate me so I'd have to drink copious amounts of water, which would lead to a full bladder...lather, rinse, repeat 24/7. Hourly would've been tolerable, I've done that before; this felt constant. Blood work turned out fine, so I wasn't worried but I could not keep my eyes from drying out & it was annoying, & we were about to hop into the car for an eight hour drive & then back again.
I'd read up on the relationship between potassium and T, as well as that between K and sodium and realized that I'd habitually been on a low sodium diet due to a long family history of hbp. Might more sodium help? I gave it a try. High-sodium, low-cal broth instead of tea, lots of pickled olives, pretzels and the like, all that day. It worked very nicely and our only stops were for the dogs and kids (though I did take advantage of the restrooms, too). The water I drank stayed in me instead of turning me into a human Brita. This of course made the whole trip quite a bit more enjoyable, and I didn't even feel bloated, my rings fit just fine for the whole trip. After our return drive I went back to a somewhat lower sodium diet, my body also seems to be acclimating somewhat to the new doses, but the dryness in my eyes is returning. My question is, has anyone else noticed this effect and if hydration and urination needs are returned almost to 'normal' with more sodium, does it also negate the anti-T effect? In other words, I understand that T and K co-regulate each other, but is it the raw high level of potassium inhibiting T production or the (im)balance between K and Na that shuts down T? (Btw, I did not try this little experiment long enough to keep track of my blood pressure, might have been interesting.)
