On Wed, 1 Oct 2008 20:26:33 -0600, "Canuck57"
wrote:


wrote in message
...
Vic suggested using salt tablets for extreme sweating and I have to
admit I have never used salt tablets and dont use much salt on my food
either. I cannot seem to convince my doc that the sweating is a
serious problem; he simply says to drink a lot of water. However, it
has come close to killing me twice while caving so I can no longer do
any real caving.

Caves are a near 100% humidity enviro and around
here are roughly 74 degrees so I sweat enough to have my coveralls
saturated very quickly.

High humidity does not have to increase sweating for clothes to be
soaked, since whatever there is won't evaporate. If however you
continue to be overheated, your body might turn up the sweat rate,
even though it won't work. Hard to tell at the time.

The last couple times I went, I got loopy and
got lost and simply didnt care.
When boating, I can carry a lot of water so I always have a liter in
hand. I never drink sodas and am not into sports drinks either. This
issue makes me not want to go boating by myself so I am looking for a
solution. Sweating is your bodies way to get cool so isnt suppressing
sweating a bad thing? One can normally cool off during boating too by
jumping in the water but when working on the boat in the heat, I just
dont want to take the time to do that until suddenly I realize, uh oh,
am doing stupid things...............
So, salt tabs or not?

I too had a similar issue when I was younger, working in a paper mill. Hot
and humid place as the rolls came off the rollers. I came down with a
splitting headache one day and got dizzy. An old timer came by with 2 white
pills and a huge soda. Told me not to come back to my station until I took
the pills and washed it down with a quart or two. In 30 minutes, I was ace.

I asked him why, the answer was the salt helps your body cool itself, you
run low you sweet too much and get dizzy with low sugars. While not
scientific, it sure worked. I repeated it a couple of times to be sure, and
each time the same results, but just didn't let it go as far as the first
time. I later learned the company even supplied them.

I went through USAF basic training in texas in late May, June, and
early July. I had an extra canteen on my pistol belt, half filled with
salt tablets. Whenever there was a break, a line would form and I
would hand them out.

I later read the Kon-Tiki expedition book, good read. The one thing they
forgot to bring in their ocean trek was salt!!! In an ocean of it, and they
didn't have palatable salt. Go figure. While too much is bad for you, not
enough can also be devastating.

Other things in sea water. It's the standard source for magnesium and
bromine, for example. The CRC has the complete ingredients list.

Like anything else, you have to prepare for what you are going to do. Diet
and liquids are part of it.

The Boy Scout motto is " Be Prepared ". The official USCG motto is
Semper Paratis, translates to' always ready.' The rescue boat crews
have there own slogan: "You have to go out, but you don't have to come
back." Their boats carry ballast to the point of being self righting
like a lead keel sailboat.

Casady