Blood pressure medicines and salt substitutes

[Dragontail]

I just decided to use a potassium based salt substitute to help with my weightloss and High blood pressure problems and after using the substitute, I was plagued with feeling famished. My stomach growled and bitched about being hungry, even though I had had a filling meal..I decided to snack a little after 2 hours of this. (2 celery stalks, 3 large carrots, and a south beach diet bar peanut butter flavor, man those are yummy. :yum: ) When this failed to quiet even partially this hunger, I went to bed and tried to get some sleep. I felt fine, and not even hungry for breakfast when I awoke, I seldom eat till lunch time anyway. For lunch I had some white rice and italian blend mixed vegies (carrots, broccoli, green beans, Cauliflower, Zucchini, green lima beans) sprinkled with some Mrs. Dash Tomato basil garlic blend. Not liking the resulting flavor, I decided to add a little of the Morton salt sub..Within a few minutes, I again felt like I was starving. Another serving of lunch only made this worse, so I guessed that the salt sub was the problem. I currently take Hydrochlorot and Caduet (amiodipine besylate/atorvastatin calcium) for blood pressure and cholesterol and would like to warn others that they should consult their doctors before using a potassium based salt sub with any medications. My hunger was a mild but highly annoying side effect, and eating more was probably more damaging in the end then a dash of good-ol' salt would have done.

[camaromom]

I don't know what kind of salt sub you got, but most contain some sodium and potassium. I've not known potassium/sodium to increase appetite, but YMMV.

[cs_carver]

If "filling" includes rice, I'd look to the rice as the problem rather than the salt substitute. Don't see enough fat in that meal to be satisfying. Carrots make me feel famished because they have a lot of sugar, and that sets off insulin, despite their low position on the "glycemic load" index which is supposed to mean they're safer.

Have you checked the label on the Mrs. Dash? I had to toss several flavored salt products because they contained sugar, and that will make me feel hungry even when I've consumed enough calories.

Potassium is so far down my list of candidates for triggering hunger that it's never made it to the top.

Depending on meds, yes, you probably should consult a doctor about potassium. Some meds affect potassium balance--I don't know which ones.

[Dragontail]

I'm thinking it may have been a potassium/med reaction...Since disposing of the salt sub, I haven't had any problems with extreme hunger..I've fasted for a bloodtests and wasn't as hungry as with the sub/med problem. Perhaps this was something else entirely, but whenever I used the sub I had the same reaction. Dieting and changing my lifestyle is hard enough without feeling like my stomache is about to eat itself. Thanks for the replies though, I mostly posted to see if anyone else has ever had a reaction like that.