Slightly Low Doesn't Sound Urgent — Until It Is
Last October, I ended up in the emergency room.
I couldn't form words. I couldn't see. I couldn't hold myself up. The nurses were asking me questions loudly and slowly, and when I tried to answer — gibberish came out.
They ran every test for a stroke.
It wasn't a stroke. It was hyponatremia — dangerously low sodium levels.
Three bags of sodium later, I could think again. Talk again. Walk mostly straight.
Here's what surprised me: I experience a liver condition. For years, I'd been told to avoid sodium. So I did. I drank lots of water. I took my supplements. I did everything I was "supposed" to do.
And it nearly put me on the floor.
The Weeks Leading Up
Let me back up.
In the weeks before that ER visit, my system wasn't doing well. I'd gotten sick and wasn't bouncing back. Allergies were flaring. My lymph wasn't moving. The thoracic area felt clogged. My back and the areas surrounding lymph points were stagnant — I could feel it.
Something was off. I started to recover some, but not all the way.
Then one day, I had to go up to the plant to work on some oils. They couldn't wait. I called my wife Carrie on the way and told her I didn't feel well. I felt dizzy. My whole system was just... off. Discomfort across my entire body. But I kept driving anyway.
When I got to the plant, I went up to the third floor to work on some formulations. I was struggling. And then I felt a simple prompting: "Get down to the first floor."
I grabbed the oils I needed and headed down. I was struggling to walk straight.
When I got close to some friends on the first floor, I asked for some Benadryl. I thought maybe it was an allergic reaction or just weakness. I sat down at a table and put my head down. I couldn't get it back up. I was losing feeling in my face.
I heard my friend Hunter say, "We've got to get him to an emergency room."
Hunter and another guy threw me into the car and we took off. During that drive, I lost my ability to formulate words. I couldn't move my body. I couldn't hold myself up. I couldn't see. It was frightening. And it was fascinating in a strange way — watching my own systems shut down one by one.
At some point, I heard sirens. A cop was behind us. Hunter was speeding — and the cop thought he was trying to outrun him.
When we pulled into the hospital ER, the cop quickly realized this wasn't a chase. He watched as three people threw me onto a rolling hospital bed.
How Did This Happen?
In the days and weeks after, I tried to piece together what went wrong.
Here's what I learned:
Many popular supplements — especially the ones marketed for "detox" and "cleansing" — contain diuretic herbs. Dandelion. Burdock. Parsley. As well as anything with caffeine — like green tea and coffee. These herbs and beverages can flush water from the body. But water isn't the only thing that goes oftentimes — electrolytes go with it, including sodium.
Stack a few of these supplements and beverages together, add the "drink more water" advice we all follow, and you're compounding the effect without realizing it.
Diuretic herbs are not bad — they are necessary. But when you stack without knowing your supplements, your herbs, and your current situation, it can become challenging.
The result? Fatigue. Brain fog. Muscle cramps. Dizziness. The very symptoms you were trying to fix.
The Discovery That Changed Everything
I tried to slow down after the ER visit, but I was still struggling.
In December, I had an MRI on my liver — it looked great. But I still didn't feel right. There was still pressure near my liver and small intestine. Something was off, even though the tests said everything was fine.
In early January, I went to see a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor. She did cupping on my back. What came up was dark — darker than it should have been. The cupping helped some, but it showed me something: my body was still holding onto things it shouldn't be holding onto.
After that session, I felt prompted to get blood drawn again. Not because anyone told me to — just a feeling.
I went back through my lab records. What I found made me stop: my sodium had been slightly low for years. Not low enough for anyone to flag. But low enough, over time, to affect my liver, my adrenals, my spleen, my brain, my energy.
Here's the thing about "slightly low": it doesn't set off alarms. It doesn't trigger urgent follow-up calls. It sits in the normal-adjacent zone where everyone nods and moves on.
The medical community doesn't see slightly low sodium as a threat. It's considered "unremarkable" or "not significant." And I don't blame them — they're working within a system that only has time to catch fires, not slow leaks. In a ten-minute appointment with a dozen other things to cover, "slightly low" doesn't compete with urgent concerns.
Maybe they mentioned it in passing. Maybe they said something like, "Try to get a little more sodium." But that advice gets lost. And you move on. And it compounds — silently, over years.
What I Changed
I decided to run an experiment: increase sodium in my water and on my foods.
Now, I never thought I'd do this. When you experience a liver disease, high sodium is considered a no-no. It's one of the first things you're told to avoid. Sodium causes fluid retention. Fluid retention stresses the liver. Avoid it.
So I avoided it — for years. I was careful. I was compliant. I did what I was supposed to do.
But I was the opposite of what they warned against. My body wasn't holding onto sodium. It was losing it. The rules that applied to most people with liver conditions didn't apply to me — and I didn't know that until I nearly ended up unable to speak.
I started adding sodium to my water and my food. The first time I added a real amount, my energy lifted within minutes. My afternoon crashes got better. My sleep improved. My thinking cleared.
I also pulled back on supplements. Way back.
This was hard. I'd been taught — like most of us in the wellness world — that supplements were the answer. Stack this. Add that. Cover all your bases. But I was beginning to realize that more wasn't helping me. It was depleting me.
I kept my One Tap Detox Duo — morning and evening — but I stopped stacking supplements. I listened to my body instead.
I still need and like to use some specific herbs classified as diuretics, but I can better feel what I need now because I have the full picture. The noise has quieted. The signals are clearer.
What My Body Taught Me
My liver didn't have adequate sodium. According to the tests, it was functioning great. But I could feel something was off.
The tests measure function. They don't always measure environment. They don't always catch the slow creep of something "slightly low" becoming a major problem.
Here's what I want you to hear: any mildly low issue, left unaddressed over time, becomes a major issue. It doesn't announce itself. It creeps. And it affects everything downstream.
My thought processes are clearer now. My energy is better. My afternoon crashes are rare. I sleep better.
And I got there not by adding more — but by simplifying and listening.
What This Means for You
I'm not saying throw out your supplements. I'm not saying you have the same issue I had.
I'm saying: know what you're taking.
Understand that many "detox" and "cleansing" products contain diuretic herbs. Understand that anything with caffeine — green tea, coffee — has the same effect. Understand that supplements require energy to metabolize. Understand that more isn't always better.
And if you've been doing "all the right things" and still feel exhausted, foggy, or off — maybe it's time to simplify and listen.
Your body is always communicating. The question is whether we're listening — to the quiet signals, to the prompting that says "get down to the first floor," to the lab result everyone else calls "unremarkable."
If you've been struggling and can't figure out why, maybe the answer isn't more. Maybe it's less.
I'm still learning this every day. And I'm grateful I'm here to learn it.
Hope on,
Gavin
P.S. If you're curious about how I support my liver without stacking internal supplements, the One Tap Detox Duo is where I start. Topical. Simple. They support without adding to the digestive load.
Sources
For those who want to dig deeper into the science behind chronic hyponatremia and diuretic herbs:
On Chronic Hyponatremia and Brain Function:
- Frontiers in Medicine (2021) — "Acute and Chronic Hyponatremia": https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2021.693738/full
- National Institutes of Health/PMC — "Hyponatremia and the Brain": https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5762960/
- Journal of Clinical Medicine (2014) — "Effects of Hyponatremia on the Brain": https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4470176/
On Diuretic Herbs and Electrolyte Loss:
- National Institutes of Health/PMC (2009) — "The Diuretic Effect in Human Subjects of an Extract of Taraxacum officinale (Dandelion)": https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3155102/
- Cleveland Clinic — "Natural Diuretics": https://health.clevelandclinic.org/natural-diuretics
General Information:
- National Kidney Foundation — "Hyponatremia": https://www.kidney.org/kidney-topics/hyponatremia-low-sodium-level-blood
Written by Gavin Poulton