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Medications and low sodium ( Hyponatremia ) in older adults

Signs and symptoms of hyponatremia can include altered personality, lethargy and confusion. Severe hyponatremia can cause seizures, coma and even death.

Hyponatremia is more common in older adults because they're more likely to take medications or have medical conditions that put them at risk of the disorder. These risk factors include:

Drugs that make you urinate more (diuretics)
Some types of antidepressants
Carbamazepine, an anti-seizure medication
Underactive thyroid or adrenal glands
Decreased function of the kidneys, liver or heart
Certain cancers, including lung cancer
Certain illnesses, such as pneumonia or urinary tract infections, that can cause dehydration

Hyponatremia treatments may include changing a medication that affects your sodium level, treating the underlying disease, changing the amount of water you drink or changing the amount of salt in your diet.

Call us at kingwood kidney associates 281-401-9540 to schedule your appointment to help prevent and treat hyponatremia

You can also schedule your appointment online using the booking tool on this page. Book your examination today.

Author

Dr. Sowmya Puthalapattu Sowmya Puthalapattu, MD, or Dr. Sowmya as she’s known to patients, is an experienced board-certified nephrologist and internal medicine physician at Kingwood Kidney Associates, with offices in Kingwood and The Woodlands, Texas. Dedicated to providing her patients with comprehensive individualized care, Dr. Puthalapattu believes in the importance of active listening and having an open and creative clinical mind to provide the right care to meet her patients’ needs. She is faculty and Subspeciality education coordinator for Nephrology at IM GME program HCA Kingwood . Her areas of specialty include chronic kidney disease, end-stage renal disease, hyponatremia, and high blood pressure. A resident of The Woodlands, Texas, Dr. Puthalapattu spends her free time with her husband and two children. Her favorite activities include hiking and traveling.

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In hyponatremia, one or more factors causes the sodium in your body to become diluted. When this happens, your body's water levels rise, and your cells begin to swell. This swelling can cause many health problems, from mild to life-threatening.

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