
November 23, 2001
Type 2
Question from Lahore, Pakistan:
I am 63 years old, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes two weeks ago, and the doctor says I drink too much water, so I urinate more. Won’t that drain salt out of my body? If I take extra salt to restore my body’s level, won’t that increase my increase blood pressure?
Answer:
What you need is to receive treatment to decrease the level of glucose in your blood. That will prevent you from urinating and drinking so much. I would say that for the short-term, you can drink fluids with salt in them to replenish your body fluids. This is okay if you are urinating a lot. However, when the sugar comes down, and you are not urinating a lot, you should back off on the high salt liquids because they will increase your blood pressure over the long-term.
JTL