Oh I have always said that I was probably compensating for something, but it has become a taste thing now. Have to have salt or it just doesn’t taste right. I will most likely start adding electrolytes (gatorade) to my consumption, but I seriously doubt it will diminish my salt consumption in the process. But who knows. Only time will tell.
Well, and here’s where this gets very interesting.
My firstborn child has always been a mover & shaker. I knew she was going to be a pistol when I felt her first movements at 13 weeks of my pregnancy. Throughout the 40 weeks, she moved constantly, never seeming to sleep.
When she was born, those first three months were pure h***. She slept in 3-hour increments at night. During the day, naps were 20-30 minutes. She was awful to try and settle down especially in the evening. One of us constantly held her/wore her/rocked her. We found swaddling to be of help, and having her upright to see everything. She fell asleep usually from exhaustion late at night, and awoke before 6am for years. We attributed the way she was to her being wired as a person who wanted to absorb it all, be everywhere, learn everything,who loved being around others.
When this child would sleep throughout grade-h.s., she was all over the bed all night long; moving, flopping, stretching, the same as en utero.
She graduated hs above 4.0, with a 30 ACT and 10 college credits. She played varsity vb on winning team w/personal awards, state champ in track, choir, intern for state Rep., Mayor’s Council, student council & body president, unquenchable reader, volunteer, academic awards, K-life, on and on.
Ffw. to April of last year...this is still so difficult to recall so please pardon that I need to speed through this.
Actually going back to fall semester, my daughter did very well in gpa considering all she did and attended. All home football games, intramural sports, going through sorority rush, 1st semester in college. She drank lots of coffee, studied all the time in the library, attended labs and study sessions with student leaders.
Then second semester, in April, she had a sz and fell from her loft bed at 2 in the am, sustaining a pretty bad concussion. Nothing showed on any neuro tests for a sz cause, so the neurologists chalked it up to a high-achieving, very stressed out, way over-caffeinated, reduced immune-system, extremely sleep-deprived freshman student. She wound up making the Dean’s list then came home for the summer, taking two summer courses while working. She did complain that she didn’t feel rested in the mornings, that she often had trouble falling asleep.
During the summer, three months later, she suffered two more (generalized t-c) seizures while at home in my presence each lasting about 5 minutes. Tests still indicate nothing. She was put on keppra a week before returning to school as a welcome-week volunteer. She insisted on going back.
Fall semester, she increased her dose two or three times, and overall could be considered a success as she earned a 4.0. Sorority, football games, all of it. Slept a little more knowing that was a trigger for szs, and for the first fall in maybe 5 or more years, she wasn’t sick - no colds, sinus infections, nothing bronchial.
Semester #4 which she’s in currently, the side effects from medication have begun kicking in. She’s forgetting very simple information. Her mood had been depressed, starting to feel like she isn’t cut out for a career in medicine, isn’t smart enough, wants to stay home instead of socialize. Not like her at all. Drs have tried switching her off the keppra, but she’s reacted to the two new medications by vomiting and developing a large rash. Her grades this semester have suffered. I don’t think she has even one A due to her memory impairment.
A few weeks ago, she suffered some very bad auras in close succession. Enough so they got her attn and her friends drove her to the ER. Her neurologist increased her dose again, even with the side effects being as they are, so her szs could be controlled and she could finish the semester and we then will have time to come up w/a gameplan.
All of that said - just as a mom looking at her life. She stayed very active in the transition from h.s. to college. However, her intense training in sports went from a 9 or ten for at least six straight years to maybe a 2 or 3. She never has been a fluid drinker, but her fluids of choice have mostly been water and gatorade. In college, she stopped drinking gatorade and only drinks water. She isn’t a salter of food. I also think her restful sleep has probably been reduced while she’s been at college.
I find the brain is more foreign to scientists than the moon. We feel like forensic investigators looking at every detail for a clue to learning what went wrong anyhow to fix it. While I may come across as emotionless, I assure you, it’s only to keep myself together explaining my interest in this thread.
If anyone wants to throw this to a relative or friend who’s a neurologist, plz have at it. I’m completely open to one of you being placed in my path as God’s blessing to us. Thanks for reading all this. :)