Your body is exceptional at telling you what it needs. All you have to do is listen!
One particularly undesirable effect of my brain injury is, when I exercise, I sweat... heaps. As long as I drink lots of liquid, I have no problem with it (although I'm less keen on running into girls I want to impress when I'm like that :-). However, I'm only slowly getting used to the new ways my body operates.
As I started triathlon training more regularly, I was exercising more often and therefore sweating more. About the same time, I started experiencing periods of cravings for potato chips. I'd never before had intense desires for particular foods (both before and since my accident), so I was very perplexed by such episodes.
Eventually, I realised that what my body was after was potato chips for their salt to replace the amount of salt I was losing in my sweat. Eureka! I increased the amount of salt in my diet by adding it to meals every so often. I haven't since experienced trouble with cravings for chips.
I certainly don't propose every recoverer will have a similar craving caused by sweating more! What I am saying is, listen to, and think hard about, what your body's saying to you. A TBI will likely change some/many of the ways your body works. As you get used to the new you, it might help to pass close attention to what it's trying to tell you.
Cheers,
Mike
Thursday, 30 July 2009
Listening to Your Body: Sweating and Cravings for Salt
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I get really dehydrated and need to carry water around. If I get to a level that is too low I could take days to recover. February in Auckland was hard.
I try to have good Himalayan mountain salt with minerals in it, if you're adding more salt to your diet I'd suggest that as it's a lot healthier than the bleached stuff they call salt in the supermarket.
I also try to be careful with sugar as I notice the foggy head stuff is much worse after eating it. Regular meals are also important for me.
I had a mild brain injury four n half years ago. Thought I would recover in 2-3 days. Tried to go back to work, drove the car, found myself incredibly tired and confused all the time. Finally was referred to a brain injury rehabilitation centre and was gradually educated on recovery. Still thought it would be, at most, a few weeks but here it is 2009 and still struggling with significant fatigue. My short term memory and problem solving abilities are only mildly affected now. Confidence was shot to smithereens. Having to ask for help and rely on others was agonising. My confidence is growing with each year. I have learnt through this experience what wonderful friends and family I have and that asking for help is not a disaster. I feel a better person now, more patient, better understanding of other people's issues and blogging has been my new found therapy.
Post a Comment