A
PERSISTENT LOW SODIUM/POTASSIUM RATIO
by Lawrence
Wilson, MD
© December
2009, The Center For Development
We
receive many questions as to why a hair sodium/potassium ratio sometimes
remains low, even though the patient does a nutritional balancing program
correctly and his health may improve.
Before beginning, it is most important that the hair is not washed at the mineral
analysis laboratory to obtain accurate sodium and potassium values. Only Analytical Research Labs and
Trace Elements, Inc. do not wash the hair at the laboratory.
Also,
for more general information about the ratio, see the book, Nutritional Balancing And Hair
Mineral Analysis.
UNDERSTANDING
THE SODIUM/POTASSIUM RATIO
Dr.
Eck called the Na/K ratio the vitality ratio. It has to do with the balance of
sodium, an extracellular mineral, and potassium, an intracellular mineral. This balance is regulated in part by
the so-called sodium pump. Its
function is to pump sodium out of the cells while moving potassium into the
cells. This, in turn,
maintains the correct osmotic balance and electrical charge of each cell of our
bodies.
Cellular
electrical imbalance, acute or chronic stress, chronic infections, blood sugar
abnormalities and other problems are often reflected in an imbalanced
sodium/potassium ratio on a hair mineral analysis.
Improper Diet. Improper diet or subtle difficulty
handling sugars and carbohydrates may also cause a persistent low Na/K
ratio. Diet plays an important
role in sugar-handling, as do mineral deficiencies and toxic conditions of all
kinds that may result indirectly from a poor quality diet and/or improper
eating habits. For example, some
client simply refuse to give up eating sugars and other sweets. This may seem innocuous, but in some
cases it will slow or perhaps even stop progress in the correction of the Na/K
ratio.
Perhaps
low levels of omega-3 fatty acids or even impaired vitamin D levels, both of
which are common, might also impair correction of the Na/K ratio. This needs more research, however, as
it is just speculation at this time.
Aging. Older people
may persist with a lower Na/K ratio due to weaker adrenal glands, or perhaps
kidney dysfunctions, which are usually due to the presence of toxic metals and
lowered vitality as one ages.
Vaccines.
These
introduce many poisons such as mercury into the body, as well as toxic germs
and other contaminants in most cases.
Excellent alternatives to toxic vaccination exist. See the article on this site entitled Vaccination for details.
Fatigue
and/or low vitality for any reason. Fatigue alone can cause a low sodium/potassium
ratio and can cause it to persist.
It is usually due to inadequate rest and sleep, although it could be due
to overdoing on activity or exercise, in a few cases.
Medications
and other drugs. Medical or
recreational drugs often contain toxic metals, even marijuana. They can poison the kidneys and all
other organs, affecting the sodium/potassium ratio.
INFECTIONS
Dr.
Paul Eck discovered that a low Na/K ratio is associated with chronic
infections. Based on years of
experience, I estimate that the average person has at least a dozen or more
chronic infections. Common sites
are the eyes, ears, sinuses, teeth, intestines, joints, bronchial tubes, lungs,
liver and elsewhere.
Eliminating
these infections often takes some years on a nutritional balancing
program. This is not because the
program is lacking. It is because:
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The infections are very old, many dating back to childhood.
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They thrive on weakened tissue and toxic matter in the body.
Most people have plenty of this by the time they undertake a nutritional
balancing program.
á
They are often very deep-seated and chronic, meaning that
they are well-entrenched, often in areas of the body with impaired circulation
or tissues that are unhealthy such as the bronchial tubes and even the ear canals
in many people.
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Often they have been encapsulated or walled off by the body
to some degree. This reduces blood circulation, oxygenation and hydration to
the area, making healing much harder and slower. It also means that nutritional remedies, colloidal silver or
any other medication has difficulty reaching the infected area.
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The entire process of isolating the infection must be
reversed and this takes a few years of building up the body and removing enough
toxic matter that the infection becomes weakened sufficiently for the body to
undertake to remove it completely.
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Many bacterial ones were treated with antibiotics that
killed off most of the infection, so the person felt better. However, the germs that remain are
stronger and resistant to antibiotics, perhaps, which means they are not
susceptible to medical treatment.
á
Meanwhile, past use of antibiotics has caused toxicity in
the body that is subtle, but very real.
The drugs must often be removed from the body with coffee enemas, sauna
therapy and a properly designed nutritional balancing program, and this also
takes time. Strange as it may
sound, removing the drug residues is often helpful to strengthen the immune
response to the point where the body can go after the remaining infection.
á
Sauna therapy that 1) enhances the circulation, 2) heats the
tissues are few degrees, and 3) heals the tissues with near infrared energy, is
often also necessary to activate the bodyÕs immune response enough to cause
healing to begin.
Most of these infections are bacterial
infections, but some are viruses and a good number are parasitic in nature as
well. They may be very low-grade
with few symptoms. For example, on
may only experience post-nasal drip, or slight aches and pains, or other vague
complaints from time to time. For
this reason, most people have no idea these infections are present. Yet they can in some way cause the Na/K
ratio to remain low for years, in some cases.
TOXIC
METALS
This
is probably the major or most common reason for a persistently low Na/K
ratio. Everyone, in my experience,
today has excessive amounts of toxic metals and many toxic chemicals in their
bodies. These also take some years
to remove completely, even with a number of years of consistent daily use of near
infrared sauna therapy, coffee enemas and short-term use of distilled water for
about 6 months, but usually not longer.
The distilled water just removes the most superficial of the toxic
metals quickly and simply.
The reason it takes years is not
because nutritional balancing science is a slow method of removing them,
although it is a very safe method, in my experience. In fact, I believe it is as fast or faster than most other
methods such as chelation, herbs or clay baths, for
example. This is what will
eventually correct the sodium/potassium ratio. The reason the process is slow
is that it removes millions of molecules very deeply. The process takes a lot of time due to:
á
Toxicity of
the metals. They are extremely toxic
substances. If they were removed
too quickly, they could poison or even kill a person. The body seems to know how to remove them at a pace that is
safe, providing we keep balancing the body chemistry and supporting a person
the entire time. Otherwise, it
just takes longer. Rarely, a
person will have a powerful toxic reaction as a heavy metal is released from a
storage site, but this is not common.
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Location of
the metals, in some instances. Some storage sites of the body are much
harder to reach than others due to impaired circulation, or other difficulties
such as the blood-brain barrier and others. Toxic metals in the bones, for example, usually take longer
to reach as well due to reduced circulation and just the depth or layer of the
tissue where they are stored.
Sites that have suffered damage and some scarring such as often the ear
canals, bronchials, lungs and other tissues may also
be harder to regenerate and thus take longer.
á
Incorporated
into enzymes. Toxic metals
are often not just in deposits or floating free in the tissues, although this
is true of some of them. These are
the easiest to remove.
Unfortunately, millions of molecules are replacing essential minerals in
enzymes throughout the body. They
cannot simply be pulled out with a chelator or
anything. The body must very carefully
and slowly replace them with enzymes that contain essential minerals. This is a much slower process, but a
vital one that slowly increases a personÕs energy level and restores
functioning of all the body organs as well.
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Low vitality. Energy is required to synthesize new
enzymes, carry away toxic metals and activate the eliminative organs to remove
them completely. Most people,
especially when they begin a program, have low cellular energy production that
make this process much slower.
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Impaired eliminative
channels. All toxic metals must be flushed or
removed from the body through the so-called eliminative channels or organs such
as the liver, kidneys, bowel and skin.
Some can be removed through the lungs and elsewhere but these are the
main routes. Most people have very
damaged livers, colons and skin, so this slows the process of metal elimination
drastically, often for a few years until these organs can be rebuilt and
function at their optimum levels.
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Impaired
general mineral nutrition. As explained above, toxic metals
must often be replaced by vital minerals in enzymes. One may think that just swallowing some kelp capsules or
other supplements and eating well will provide these replacements. However, the body has complex buffering
systems, and it will only accept a certain amount of these essential minerals
at one time. This is even true if
one decides to take mineral in intravenously or intramuscularly. Each mineral must be bound to a mineral
transporter to be properly utilized in many instances and the process of remineralizing and renourishing a
body thus is a time-consuming process no matter what. If I felt that IV or IM minerals and other nutrients were
better, I would suggest it but so far I have seen the opposite. Other than very gross remineralizing of the body, these routes of administering
nutrients seem to do more damage by unbalancing the delicate mineral balance of
the body and bypassing the normal buffering systems of the body having to do
with food absorption. Exceptions
to this principle may exist, but they are not many.
MENTAL
AND EMOTIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
Dr. Paul Eck found that chronic
emotions, in particular frustration, resentment and hostility, correlate with a
low Na/K ratio. In other words,
these negative emotions can, if important enough, create chronic stress to such
a degree that it affects this ratio critically and keeps it low.
If these emotions are not addressed, a
person may not be able to overcome the low ratio with just diet, supplements
and a healthful lifestyle. This is
an important reason why a low ratio may persist.
We find empirically that when the Na/K
ratio is less than about 1:1, a person is, in some cases, even less aware of
their emotional imbalances. Often
they appear well-adjusted and emotionally balanced. We believe this is due to a reduced level of awareness,
though, rather than the absence of negative emotions or some kind of buried
trauma.
We find that as the Na/K ratio begins
to increase on a nutritional balancing program, the person is suddenly faced
with his or her emotional issues.
This can be very disconcerting and uncomfortable. Greater awareness sounds wonderful, but
it is so for many people. It may
not be pleasant, especially at first and more so if one is not prepared or
lacks the skills or support to handle the feelings of anger, anxiety, depression
or other that may arise. This can
also slow oneÕs progress in correcting a low Na/K ratio. These individuals may experience
significant improvements in some areas, but their Na/K ratio may persist at a
low level.
Explaining the reality of deeply buried
emotions and traumas is most helpful and perhaps essential to enable some
patients to move beyond their traumas and their low Na/K ratio. Techniques such as meditation, relaxation
and a number of natural therapies designed to help process emotional traumas
more easily may also be excellent in this regard.
Spiritual
Attitudes. At times, an
attitudinal change may be needed to clear a persistently low sodium/potassium ratio. For example, having excessive
expectations of people or situations easily gives rise to chronic
frustration. The habit of holding
grievances leads to feelings of resentment and to living in the past.
Attitudes that promote a normal Na/K
ratio include living in the present,
letting go of grudges and grievances, forgiving everyone (which does not
mean condoning bad behavior), and keeping
expectations reasonable at all times.
An attitude of gratitude for
what you have, no matter how paltry or imperfect it may appear, can also be
most helpful.
Correcting oneÕs attitudes can also
assist tremendously to face unpleasant emotions or issues from the past or the
present with courage and great compassion for oneself and for everyone, in
fact, even if they appeared to harm one.
Any therapy or method that assists a
patient change his or her attitudes can go a long way to correcting a low Na/K
ratio. In fact, cultivating
healthful attitudes also helps all aspects of healing the body and mind.
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