The sodium thing happens with the elderly, but I think a lot of it is due to being unable to eat due to anxiety. The latter much are family problems that eat away at me..
And, yes, I was on Lisinopral (sp?) bp med that had a diuretic component. Luckily the dr at that time knew to have it checked. First check went low. Second check went lower. Took me off it. I'm not sure the hospital doc believed me but he will find it in my records if he bothers to look.
They said mine was dangerously low. It has happened before. Sodium chloride drip which takes forever and blood draws every 4 hours for days. When I finally got my appetetite back, it went up toward ideal # fast. Then they took away a med I depend on in high-stress situations like rolling panic attacks and feeling trapped and I still don't want to eat. They lost my trust completely now. I will never trust any of them again for that and other stuff like forgetting my bp med after an incident with my bp. After about 2 hrs I remembered it wasn't with the other drugs. I finally got it.
Other mixups. I talked to my CPA about something else, and he says I am right to go over all my meds and find out exactly the dose, what and why. Used to pop whatever they gave me. No more. I even called my pharmacy from the hosp twice to make sure without dragging them into it.
And, yes, it can cause death so the paper said.
Now when I do other legal stuff if I ever can get there, I need an attorney legal advocate. They have one. In their system which means if you don't go outside the system, they will cover for each other. And I am not going to pursue legal action or file a complaint. Too hard to prove for one thing but may have to go back there. Can happen anywhere really.
A trusted friend or relative can't be there checking for you 24/7. Sounds paranoid. What it's come to. Luckily I still have a fairly sharp memory to fend for myself, can't count on that lasting either. Now I never want to go to one of those homes because of what happened.
Remedies that can help others might be detrimental to one individual. Unable to take statins due to the fact they cause such pain to joints, unable to take a step without a walker. Once off of these, all was fine. The sodium depletion was such a surprise. NO ONE mentioned that when taking a diuretic that potassium should be taken as well. Thus - the inevitable occurred. After suggesting that plenty of water should be consumed, to find yourself denied fluid truly makes one wonder. (Sigh) Doctors do stick together. They might actually be teaching politicians to do the same.