Do you want to know why pickles work with athletes? Athletes sweat a lot. Then they drink a lot. The problem is that drinking too much water dilutes sodium. Hyponatremia (too little sodium) can kill you. Sodium helps you retain water. Pickles and their juice are usually very high in sodium.

If you're on Pred, don't have too much sodium!! You'll blow up like a balloon.

I've had hyponatremia. It is horrid. But so is hypernatremia. You get agitated, dizzy, can't focus eyes, tremors, bradycardia, etc. Hyponatremia can kill. Any electrolyte disturbance can affect the heart and brain (CNS).

Binge drinkers can get hyponatremia and very quickly. Too much water for runners does the same thing. That's why drinks with electrolytes in them is important. Though, some of them don't contain sodium.

Fluid and electrolyte imbalances are no picnic, with or without a pickle. And, I'm sorry to be contradictory, are best managed BY A DOCTOR. I've had one too many of them and they are damn dangerous.

So please proceed carefully. Yes, the body is supposed to be able to balance water (making you pee when you have too much and making you retain it when you don't have enough). But there are so many other variables, like when people have kidney problems.

And there are conditions, like Addison's Disease, that can cause an electrolyte imbalance. It's important for a doctor to know how someone is doing off of supplements just in case something else is going on!

I'm only being a downer because I've been there, done that. After my water deprivation test for diabetes insipidus, where they give you a drug to retain fluids, I felt horrid. I went to the ER. Instead of waiting for the labs to come back, they stuck an IV in me and pumped in two bags of fluids. I was really out of it and not thinking clearly. Once I finally realized what was going on, I almost ripped the IV out of my arm. They did not wait to give me those fluids, which I didn't need, until they got the lab results. So my already bad hypontremia got worse. What they should've done is give me a dose of a diuretic!!!! Did I mention I LOVE ER doctors?

Sorry if I'm upsetting anyone. Sylv, this is sort of on topic but if there are any other questions or concerns you have, please tell us!

Annie

This is an okay article on it.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153188.php

Plus these.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/question565.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water-e...lyte_imbalance