Originally Posted by reverett123

There's been a lot of cogitating on the farm the past week as I waited to see my GP about my potassium issues. I was getting worse and worse as the weekend began, despite the initial improvement using the potassium chloride salt substitute.

Something was wrong with my hypothesis. (Remind me to have T-shirts made with that one ) Yesterday was pretty miserable. By late afternoon, once again I was weak to the point of non-function, wrapped in brain fog, bloated like I had swallowed a pumpkin, and peeing frequently. I was, indeed, a credit to my species!

Going into Junior Birdman mode, I was checking out the ingredients on the No Salt. Potassium chloride and some minor lab sweepings.

Then I got to wondering if the potassium might be killing the H. pylori that infect my stomach. That had happened on an earlier experiment a couple of years back and I still carry the damage. I laboriusly typed away and found that not only does it not harm the H pylori, potassium chloride is like manna from heaven to the little buggers! My colony had been having a party and I was supplying the refreshments!

Now, that could be seen an act of kindness, except that when HP is happy and growing, it neutralizes your stomach acid by producing ammonia. The ammonia and stomach acid fizz like vinegar and baking soda - thus the bloating. Once the ammonia production outstrips the acid available, it begins to be picked up by the blood and taken to the liver for detox. If the liver's capacity is exceeded, ammonia circulates around the system and into the brain. That is very dangerous, even fatal if it goes on unchecked.

So, what does that mean to you? We've talked a lot about HP and a lot of us have it and don't know it. While it reacts to potassium chloride and you don't take it, it reacts the same way to sodium chloride, ordinary salt.

So, if bloating is a problem....