Re: Sodium/Celery-thick blood?, Jim

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I do not know if there is anything in celery that would cause the

blood to thicken. With sodium the body will absorb water and it may

likely be a decrease in water in the blood that is causing it to

become thick. The body does not absorb water, it absorbs sodium and

the water follows the sodium into the body. Sodium is also

responsible for regulating the amount of water in the body.

Over the years we have been told that sodium is responsible for high

blood pressure and that it should be avoided or at least reduced.

They should have been more specific since they were talking about

sodium chloride, table salt. Most people incorrectly assumed that all

sodium was to be limited. The sodium from plant sources, sodium

phosphate, is a good thing.

Well what happened to the sodium in our bodies to begin with?

The following is speculation. I believe that a portion may be being

retained within the cells. Sodium naturally difuses into the cell and

potassium naturally difuses out of the cell. The sodium potassium

pump, Na+K+ ATPase, an enzyme in the cell wall is responsible for

pumping the sodium out of the cell and bringing the potassium back

into the cell, maintaining everything in balance. I have read that

possibly 30% of the ATP (cells gasoline) that is produced is used to

power this enzyme pump. Now suppose that the cell is not producing as

much ATP to keep the pumps pumping at required capacity, then you will

have more sodium inside the cell and more potassium outside.

(I would guess that many w/CFS/FMS test high for blood levels of

potassium.)

I read where cancer cells supposedly love sodium because they have

been found to be high in sodium. What I suspect to be more accurate

is that the cells could no longer pump the sodium out and they just

naturally filled with sodium due to osmotic pressures.

Anyway, experiment with the celery and drink plenty of water. I don't

think that it can cause any harm. Oh yeah, I'm not a doctor, just and

engineer trying to figure some things out.

Engineering should be a required premed degree for all doctors.

All the best,

Jim

clements@...

Fibromyalgia: A Hypothesis of Etiology

http://www.xmission.com/~total/temple/index.html

> Hello Jim,

> That is very interesting about the celery and sodium. Do you know

if celery

> has any things in it that would thicken the blood?

[Guest guest]

> > Hello Jim,

> > That is very interesting about the celery and sodium. Do you know

> if celery

> > has any things in it that would thicken the blood?

Jim and ,

You might be interested to know that celery contains 3-n-butyl

phthalide, a substance that lowers blood pressure and cholesterol.

The work on this was done at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

The father of one of the researchers prompted the work. He had found

that by eating a quarter of a pound of celery every day for a week, he

was able to lower his blood pressure from 158/96 to 118/82. I learned

this from Murray and Pizzorno's " Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, 2nd

Revised Edition, " pp. 526-527.

Also, Jim, PWCs don't normally test high in serum potassium. I think

you're right about the energy crisis affecting the Na-K-ATPase ion

pumps and causing a drop in potassium (K) concentration inside the

cells. In fact, since this pump normally moves 3 sodium (Na) ions out

for every 2 K ions moved in, I think the power failure for the pumps

causes a rise in the osmolality inside the cells, which causes them to

imbibe water, as you alluded to, and this causes swelling. I suspect

that some of the pressure-type headaches reported by PWCs are caused

by this mechanism, as the brain swells.

I think that the reason why high K is not observed in the serum in

PWCs is that the serum K is regulated independently of the

intracellular K. The kidneys just dump the extra in the urine,

restoring the serum K concentration to normal, even though the

intracellular K is low.

There have been whole-body measurements of potassium in PWCs in

Australia, using gamma-ray counting of the natural radioactive isotope

potassium-40. Unfortunately, I have never seen a clear report on the

final results of this work, and I think there are conflicting reports

on what was actually observed. Since most of the body's potassium

inventory is intracellular, I think the results of these measurements

should reflect the average intracellular K concentration.

From the treatment standpoint, many PWCs benefit from supplementing K,

which is another clue that says they are low in K.

Rich

[Guest guest]

,

Salt tablets would provide an inorganic form of sodium, sodium

chloride. You do not want to take in a lot of this. The sodium in

celery is sodium phosphate. This form of sodium helps regulate things

in the blood. Because one person found celery beneficial for lowering

their blood pressure. You may find a different result, maybe that it

will bring your blood pressure back within a normal range.

Unless you have an allergy to celery, I do not think that it will

harm you to add more celery to your diet.

All the best,

Jim

clements@...

Fibromyalgia: A Hypothesis of Etiology

http://www.xmission.com/~total/temple/index.html

> In a message dated 3/16/01 1:24:07 PM Pacific Standard Time,

> vankonynenburg1@l... writes:

>

> << Jim and ,

>

> You might be interested to know that celery contains 3-n-butyl

> phthalide, a substance that lowers blood pressure and cholesterol.

> The work on this was done at the University of Chicago Medical

Center.

> The father of one of the researchers prompted the work. He had

found

> that by eating a quarter of a pound of celery every day for a week,

he

> was able to lower his blood pressure from 158/96 to 118/82. I

learned

> this from Murray and Pizzorno's " Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine,

2nd

> Revised Edition, " pp. 526-527.

> >>

>

> I am not so sure I should I can use celery for the salt thing

because I

> already have severe low blood pressure. Is there anything else I

can

> use...what about salt tabs?