Sodium ascorbate mega doses and sodium/potassium balance

[Mamatoto2]

I've been treating my girls for pertussis over the past 10 days with mega doses of SA, homeopathic Pertussinum, and various other things. I know that my DD#1 has pertussis based on her symptom presentation and direct exposure to a confirmed case over a prolonged period of time at school. DD#2 has had very mild symptoms (runny nose, occasional sneeze/cough), but nothing as severe as DD#1's coughing episodes.

I started treating both girls at the same time, even though DD#1 clearly had symptoms and DD#2 didn't have any yet. It may be that I nipped DD#2's case in the bud, or it hasn't gotten bad yet, or she somehow avoided it all together.

The difference in their treatment (other than time of inception relative to progression of illness) is that I have been able to dose DD#2 with SA to the point of bowel tolerance and adjust accordingly, which for her translates to about 180mg/kg body weight. For DD#1 I have not been able to achieve the point of bowel tolerance even though I currently give her about 430mg/kg body weight per day. Her cough is not being as well-managed as I would like, which I suspect is because I'm not dosing her with SA sufficiently to meet her current needs, but to be honest I'm afraid to keep upping her sodium ascorbate, particularly because I'm concerned that I'm going to throw off her electrolyte balance and mess her all up.

I haven't seen any discussion about extended mega dosing of SA and its impact on the sodium/potassium balance. Can anyone comment? Should I keep upping DD #1's SA dose and stuff her full of bananas or something? Should I accept the current level of supplementation and consider that maybe she'll never achieve bowel tolerance (she does have a history of chronic constipation, which is well-managed presently through other supplements, but maybe her "bowel of steel" will just never show loose bowels)?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

[tanyalynn]

I don't have enough technical background to understand how the sodium is being used. I've read that because of the reactions that go in in using the SA, the sodium isn't available for use (the sodium and the ascorbate molecule do some swapping around and the sodium winds up attached to something and is excreted pretty directly), it's discussed more in the huge Sodium Ascorbate thread that's in this forum, look for Momtezuma Tuatara's discussion. But do I know enough to argue this with authority? No.

And I can say that I personally feel better when I consume a lot of salt, if I add 1/4 or 1/2 tsp of salt to water a couple times a day, I have better energy, but I've never felt that way with high doses of SA, I've taken 20,000, maybe 30,000 mg per day for good chunks of time, so for me, the sodium in the SA doesn't seem to affect me the same as our sea salt.

I also give my kids high doses, they are 40 and 50 lbs right now and have been getting > 10 grams per day for quite a while--for months--we've got health things going on in all three of us that are using such high amounts, and even on these high doses, my kids still sometimes ask for more salt on their food--I let them salt according to their tastes, since I've seen such dramatic swings both high and low in how much salt my body wants.

FWIW, my kids originally had pretty different vitC bowel tolerance amounts, my first child was a lot higher than my second. Some people get rumbly stomachs, gas, like that instead of going straight to diarrhea, so that's something to keep in mind, I think those people use that as their stop-point and back off a bit til that goes away.