Low sodium diet and a diuretic

Eleftherios S. Papathanasiou, PhD, FEAN

Clinical Neurophysiologist

Fellow of the European Academy of Neurology

Hi Jackie.  Are you sure you have MD?  Were you diagnosed by an ENT doctor?  If so, a diuretic and salt restriction (1000 mg/day max) are the first stage of treatment.  I have had MD for 40 years and have lived comfortably with these restrictions.  To get on a good diet regimin sounds difficult but is quite manageable.  You might want to develop a habit of doing the following:

1.  when eating out, stay away from fast food places other than to order salads.  Most other restaurants will happily prepare your meal without salt....you just need to request it.

2.  when shopping for food always read the label and notice the grams of sodium.  There are thousands of food selections that have low sodium.  Keep in mind the 1000 mg daily limit.

3.  when cooking at home, just do not use any salt at all.  Try using Mrs Dash products or vinegars in your cooking.  If you use butter, buy the salt free kind.

4.  Make as many meals at home (vs eating out) as you need to manage your salt intake.

5.  Within only a couple weeks your taste for salt will diminsh greatly and you will not even miss it....I assure you it is possible to do.

Hopefully the diuretic and restricted salt intake will enable you to avoid vertigo and other MD symptoms that plague us.  If you need more advice or support let us know.  All of us on this forum have MD and have learned some tricks over the years that may be helpful to you.  In the meantime you might want to read some of the comments on other "threads" on this forum to get a better idea of what you may be dealing with.  We wish you the best in this new challenge of managing your MD....you are not alone....we care about you!

I went to low with my Salt when I started. Now I maintain 1500 to 1800 a day. If I go over a little it doesn't seem to bother me much. But don't ear lunch meat. Go for grilled chicken. Daves killer bread has a lower sodium bread, ear corn tortillas instead of floud ones for tacos. Look for low sodium options with your chips. Go to organic section. Lots of options. .. I love cheese so I eat swiss cheese.. lowest sodium option. Lots of veggies.. balsamic and vinegar. . CHEESECAKE FACTORY 'S TUSCAN CHICKEN is delicious and low on sodium. Just read labels and make sure you spread your salt intake throughout the day. Be sure to get potassium. . I have to ear bananas.

I take a natural diuretic. The prescription diuretics are way to hard on me. So I use Dandelion pills ( natural Diuretic ) less side effects and I can buy at local markets. 4 a day. 2 in morning and 2 in afternoon. But the supplement pine bark really helped me with the circulation in my inner ear. I can't even begin to tell you how much it has helped. Getting my life back. Best of luck.

I take a natural diuretic. The prescription diuretics are way to hard on me. So I use Dandelion pills ( natural Diuretic ) less side effects and I can buy at local markets. 4 a day. 2 in morning and 2 in afternoon. But the supplement pine bark really helped me with the circulation in my inner ear. I can't even begin to tell you how much it has helped. Getting my life back. Best of luck.

I have my sodoum intake under 1000mg per day.  it's really helped.  No lunchmeat in 4 months,no olives, piclkes fast food, prepared foods, bacon( well maybe one slice).  I haven't had an episode in over 4 months.  ENT prescribed a diuretic but I had a negative reaction.  Be sure to start reading labels on food.  It's amazing how much sodium is in just about everything.  Easier to avoid sodium than my head spinning aoround like the exorcist.  Good luck and stay vigilant.

Thanks everyone! I just wasn't sure if you had to do both the low salt diet and the diuretic. I was hoping I could get by with just the pill. This is all really confusing. I will read through some of the posts. I have a lot of questions. On the plus side I have lost 20 pounds.