pletcgm

Does anyone else take salt tablets and find it extremely hard to locate drug stores that carry them? The drug stores that I found carry them keep them behind the prescription counter, even though they are non-prescription.

supcom

I don't use salt tablets. During a long ride I rely on sports drink and some food along the way - usually lunch somewhere. A salty snack like trail mix is also nice if I don't have lunch planned.

DnvrFox

I used to take salt tablets while fighting forest fires. Somewhere recently I read that they are no longer recommended, but I can't remember why they said that??

TriBob

I started using Thermolytes this year and have seen very good results reducing heat and dehydration problems.

https://www.nvo.com/sportquestdir/pro...html?uid=10032

late

Hi,
you only need a tiny amount of salt. You can add it to your drink, or have a no-fat pretzel. I usually bring potassium tablets in hot weather. About $2 at Walmart.

SSP

fyi - for reasons I'm not clear on, potassium tables only contain a miniscule amount of potassium - 99 mg each, which is not much compared to the recent raised recommendation of 4700 mg/day.

I've started adding a dash of "Salt Substitute" to my sport drink bottles to increase the potassium content. It's straight potassium chloride, and 1/4 teaspoon contains around 600 mg of potassium.

late

Hmm,
good to know,
thanks

Lone Ranger

I have been taking Endurolytes, which are supposed to replace lost electrolytes including salt.

Pat

Well, that depends on the person. I live in Central Florida and I sweat quite a bit. I can go through 200 ounces of water in a 50 mile ride easy. Sodium is the dominant cation that you lose (much more then potassium) and there isn't much in most of the electrolyte replacement drinks. Also pretzels don't replace a meaningful amount unless you stuff yourself with dozens of the stupid things. I calculated that my loss of salt comes to the teaspoon levels on long rides (like centuries) and I have had hyponatriumia which isn't any fun at all. So I take a little film canister filled with table salt and I eat some of that from time to time as needed. But one does have to sweat a whole bunch to have this problem.

roadbuzz

Related... if you use salt at all, a good way to ensure you're getting potassium is to use Morton Lite Salt instead. It's basically half NaCl, half KCl. Cheap-o potassium supplement.