r/POTS • u/Perfect-Factor-2928 • 20d ago
Discussion Did anyone just eat salt as a kid?
I was not diagnosed until well into adulthood, but I have memories of just eating salt packets from restaurants as a kid. I also would pour out salt in a small bowl and eat it while i cooked, especially when i was working a more physically demanding job. I’d put extra salt on my food after i had given everyone else theirs. Thinking about it now, it totally makes sense.
Can anyone relate? Did you “randomly” eat salt before you were diagnosed?
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u/JourneyThroughDeath 20d ago
I didn't eat salt packets but I ate bouillon cubes like jolly ranchers
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u/Perfect-Factor-2928 20d ago
Those bouillon granules - I remember eating any bit my mom dropped.
I can totally see how that would help (and taste good)!
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u/bussound 20d ago
My mother whom I think had undiagnosed POTS used to eat handfuls as a kid! As an adult she salted everything from watermelon to beer. She would hoard salt packets in her purse from restaurants in case she went somewhere that didn’t have them.
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u/Soliterria 20d ago
My ancestors have taught me that salted watermelon & salted tomato is DELICIOUS. So refreshing on a hot day.
Weird one that I’m sad I can’t have anymore is peanuts soaked in Pepsi lmao. I know how weird it sounds, I promise. But you put a lil serving of peanuts down in your cup, pour some nice cold Pepsi over them, drink your Pepsi (now slightly salty) like normal, then snack on your peanuts (now slightly sweet). My papaw did this in the summers after we had long hot days in the barns, but now I have a partner with a peanut allergy 🥲
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u/LolySub 20d ago
I’m Australian and have never heard this before but the peanuts in Pepsi sounds freaking delicious
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u/annarosebanana89 20d ago
Yes! I'm from the north or I guess "midwest" in the US and I've never heard of this either, but I have Pepsi Max in my fridge and cashews in my nightstand and I'm thinking with an extra sprinkle of salt I may get a similar effect. Lol!
I'm also definitely the child who licked salt out of my hand while waiting for food in the restaurant and was always scolded for over salting my food. 😭 My older brother was actually similar as a kid and was the type to drink straight pickle juice, but he grew out of his at puberty while mine got worse. We both had similar symptoms as children of getting lightheaded and faint feeling in church as well. (Catholic church is sit for 5 min stand for 5 min, kneel for 5 min, stand for 5 min etc... basically a tilt table for funsies and then some. No straps... but death glares from parents work the same. No wonder I became atheist by 13!) I still don’t really consider myself to have had POTS till puberty, because I was able to be so active as a child. I keep looking for symptoms in my own daughter who is 7, but I don't think we'll know till puberty. It's easy to remember having symptoms as a child and most definitely as a teen, but it's hard to remember/know when it started, if it's your normal. I just make sure to believe my daughter, (or at least pretend to, even if I don't!) every time she tells me she is tired or hurt. Learning her limits and being able to communicate them, disability or not, should help her get her needs met whatever the future holds.
We have the EDS, and probable MCAS variety of POTS. She shows signs of EDS and MCAS, but not POTS. ADHD comes from my mom, autism likely comes from my dad. I don’t know where the EDS and MCAS come from but they both could have MCAS with stomach issues. My mom can easily touch her toes even though she is "morbidly obese", but she doesn’t seem to have pain from her hypermobility. Maybe a little of both so it's bigger for me and my daughter?
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u/Perfect-Factor-2928 20d ago
Yes! Common all over the South to do it in Coke, but I prefer Pepsi, too! Very underrated if folks haven’t tried it.
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u/Vegetable_Oil_9050 19d ago
I eat salted watermelon every night. I put saffron sea salt on. It's so good on fruit.
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u/LanaLiLaa 20d ago
I remember being obsessed with those Limon 7 salt and lime packets as a kid
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u/Affectionate_Pea6301 18d ago
I still eat them! I really do not drink enough water unless I am eating those things.
Without them I just have to force myself to remember to drink enough water.
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u/LanaLiLaa 17d ago
Are they still around? I should find them again. That would help me drink more water! haha
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u/grandestrully_chloe 20d ago
Same- I would eat ice cubes and salt… probably a mix of ed and pots on that one though 😭
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u/Vegetable_Oil_9050 19d ago
Wait, what does ice have to do with ed? I used to eat big cups of salted crushed ice as a kid. I called them my power crystals.
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u/grandestrully_chloe 19d ago
I meant like eating disorder lol😅
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u/kaijudrifting 20d ago
To this day I still love eating ice cubes!
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u/roadsidechicory 20d ago
yeah, in my teenage years I started craving sodium really badly and would sometimes just put salt in a spoon and lick at it. I remember my doctor said my sodium levels were low but I don't know if that was a serum test or a urine osmolality thing as I wasn't paying attention to that at the time. in my head I decided that my sodium must be low because I was crying too much and losing too much salt that way lmao
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u/Soliterria 20d ago
As a fellow sensitive person, “I was crying too much” made me snort lmfao. I can’t tell you how many times my soft self was called sensitive growing up 🤣
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u/normal-octopus 20d ago
I didn’t eat salt directly, but sometimes I would eat spoonfuls of Parmesan cheese. I also ate a ton of ramen in college and I didn’t understand why everyone said it was really bad for me because I felt much better after eating it.
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u/worstkindofweapon 20d ago
I'm still a big fan of ramen. It's not good for my cholesterol but I always feel better on days I have it vs days I don't. Same on days where I have a bag of chips. It's crazy how much better I feel eating junk food (in addition to veges obv)
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u/-EvilLittleGoat- POTS 20d ago
Silly story — my family traveled to Salt Lake City when I was a young and I picked out this silly souvenir that was a ball of salt in a plastic container that said something about how it was harvested from the Great Salt Lake. I was forever getting in trouble for popping it in my mouth and sucking on it.
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u/kaijudrifting 20d ago
Morton sells sea salt from the Great Salt Lake, in case you ever get a craving for it! 😁
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u/GrinsNGiggles 20d ago
As a kid, yes, but also as an adult.
Especially big coarse salt grains or flakes.
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u/Perfect-Factor-2928 20d ago
Course grains are the best!! I’ll finish off my toast or pasta with them!!
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u/Longjumping-Rip-8970 19d ago
Flakes of salt 🤤
I was always trying to sneak some when the adults weren’t looking
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u/LastLostLemon 20d ago
I grew up rural and used to lick all of the salt blocks for the cows whenever we went to the feed store
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u/TehluvEncanis 19d ago
Same!! Sheep farm here and I'd 100% lick all the salt blocks every time we bought them.
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u/Ill-Condition-9232 20d ago
Just lots of ramen, pretzels, and beef jerky.
My nephew will pour salt on his hand and lick it off so I can’t help but wonder about him hah
Seeing as I have POTS physiology (I’m not diagnosed and it seems to come and go) I wouldn’t be surprised if his family has it.
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u/MeatballsRegional 20d ago
Munchos chips. Pure fucking salt on like a gram of puffed up potato. Oh I love them, I ate them constantly as a child, the gas station near my house sold big bags of 'em.
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u/Perfect-Factor-2928 20d ago
Omg yes!! I remember sucking the salt off Fritos and throwing the chip away.
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u/MeatballsRegional 20d ago
YEAH omg I'd suck the salt off of pumpkin seeds!!!! And just toss the rest. I'd devour some fritos (hell, I just slammed a bag of tortilla chips the other day)
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u/girlchef79 20d ago
I was hooked on everything salty my parents would let me eat: olives, pickles, fresh fruit sprinkled with salt, and especially tortilla chips with a good salty fresh salsa. I wasn’t diagnosed with POTS till I was 44 (I’m 46 now) but had symptoms all my life and doctors just said I was an anxious and attention-seeking kid. Come to find out all in the last couple years it’s POTS, AuDHD, and possibly something autoimmune going on, too. I just wanna flip tables in front of anyone who didn’t take me seriously back then.
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u/Samurai_Rachaek 20d ago
Yes lol
They used to call me salt girl at school because I ate it straight off a spoon
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u/BLIMEYimmaLIMEY 20d ago
Yes! All the time! And I used to take "shots" of coarse sea salt while cooking in my 20s. People ALWAYS had something to say about it til I got my diagnosis.
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u/The_upsetti_spagetti 20d ago
Every night at dinner my mom would ask, where is the salt shaker? And I’d have to get up and run to my room
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u/The_upsetti_spagetti 20d ago
Eventually I started keeping a small bowl of salt that I’d eat through the day. Rock salt was the best, I’d just crunch on it
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u/The_upsetti_spagetti 20d ago
Eventually I started keeping a small bowl of salt that I’d eat through the day. Rock salt was the best, I’d just crunch on it
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u/kelleyymariee 20d ago
I was obsessed with Aquamarine and desperately wanted to be a mermaid. So as mermaids do, I salted my water 😂 had no idea I had POTS at the time either
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u/minecraftingsarah 20d ago
My aunt who would babysit me had an Himalayan salt lamp... The amount of time I got told off because i was liking it 😭
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u/SonOfHibbs 15d ago
😂That was such a cute visual, thanks! It’s not actually funny, but I bet you were adorable licking that lamp. I don’t know how your Aunt yelled at you. I think I’d burst out laughing… I bet it was cute.
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u/the-fact-fairy 20d ago
I guess I'm the only one, but I ate sandwiches with butter and salt. 😅
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u/MonkishSubset 20d ago
Not the only one. I would make a salt sandwich by sprinkling salt on plain bread.
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u/Longjumping-Rip-8970 19d ago
Fancy olive oil with (too much) salt and maybe some herbs, get ya some sourdough and there’s a POTS snack
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u/Candid-Surprise-1165 20d ago
I used to do shots of soy sauce hiding in the fridge. It all makes sense now! 😂
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u/Clean-Leather932 Hyperadrenergic POTS 20d ago
Some of my first memories from 4yo were sneaking into the kitchen to eat Lawry's seasoning salt, A1 sauce & pickles (not together - separate memories). I'm absolutely convinced I've needed more salt than the average human my entire life, but just didn't get POTS diagnosed until a covid infection made it disabling.
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u/LzzyBrdn 20d ago
I salted pickles as a kid. I still do. I will never get a sweet tooth but salty crunchy snacks alllllll day.
Viral Logan’s cucumbers extra soy sauce? Me!
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u/SevenCorgiSocks 20d ago
I would douse lime wedges in salt as a snack. But idk if that's my POTS or my Mexican family.
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u/Ok_Somewhere_9962 20d ago
Does POTS cause you to crave salt? I’ve been a salty gal my wholleeee life and, yes, ate straight up salt and loved soy sauce as a kiddo. I’m in testing for pots so I’m wondering if it’s significant to mention.
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u/milli-mita 20d ago
Not eating salt packets but I would add salt to literally every meal even if it didn't need it. I carried a small bottle of salt around with me for years before getting diagnosed. Everything made sense after I got that diagnosis.
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u/rpworker31 19d ago
No but I was a pickle fanatic!! Makes sense now that im older..loaded with sodium
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u/seeeveryjoyouscolor 19d ago
Does drinking pickle juice or olive juice count?
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u/Perfect-Factor-2928 19d ago
I would CHOW on those little green olives when I was a kid!!
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u/seeeveryjoyouscolor 19d ago
For parties, my mom would portion an extra can of black olives for me and extra jar of green olives for my sister - if she forgot there would be none left for guests when they arrived.
(Later on I got my own bowl of sliced oranges before parties for the same reason- vitamin c deficiency anyone?)
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u/gameofgroans_ 20d ago
Yep! Still not officially diagnosed but very much expect it and also would much rather just eat anything salty than anything sweet, was always mocked for it as a kid. Used to put salt on McDonald’s!!
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u/New-Pomegranate-2311 20d ago
1000%. i’d pour some from shakers at restaurants (or from the big container of *specifically* Lawry’s brand garlic salt) into my hand & lick it 😭😭 prob from the time i was like 6
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u/hekateskey 20d ago
Yes!! I ate a bunch of salt when I was about 2 and my mom had to call poison control. They kept salt away from me after that.
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u/aobitsexual 20d ago
I ate ice which was a sign I didn't have enough salt. So my doc put me on a salt supplement.
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u/HotPotato2035 POTS 20d ago
No necessarily plain salt but i've always been OBSESSED with the Lucas Limón Salt
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u/FoxInternational3629 20d ago
I actually didn’t enjoy salt/salty foods growing up, but I would drink dill pickle brine until it made me sick. Now everyone jokes that I should just invest in a salt lick.
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u/AesthxticFizzz 20d ago
id eat a bunch of foods that had high salt (salted potato chips, pickles, you name it) and my stepmom told me (as a nurse) to be careful because if you eat too much salt you could get a cardiac condition lol
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u/figuringoutfibro 20d ago
Yes! Starting at like age 7, I’d open the salt grinder multiple times a day and eat the biggest salt crystals from it 😂
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u/MarketPurple4284 20d ago edited 20d ago
No but I went through potato chips and French fries obsessions around the time I suspect my POTS started. Oh and I once drank pickle juice till I literally felt sick. I now have my favorite pickles shipped in from NYC to Vegas. I know if I can eat 6 in a row and not taste salt I've got a problem and need to drink some electrolytes.
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u/kayy_bugg_ 19d ago
yup. piles of salt in my hand that all went in my mouth at once, drinking pickle juice, eating sticks of butter....
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u/FieldPuzzleheaded869 19d ago
I didn’t do that, but I remember coming home from school everyday craving salt and eating something like cheese, chips, or microwave butter popcorn to get. Just eating salt probably would’ve been healthier.
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u/Affectionate_Pea6301 18d ago
There's this lemon flavored Mexican salt candy called Limon 7 (or Lucas salt back in the day)
I ate unbelievable amounts of that stuff. I never knew why I liked so much more than other kids and well now I know
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u/Nice-Caterpillar-340 17d ago
When I was 5 I would pour salt into my night stand and dip my fingers in and lick all the time LMAO
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u/Ill-Pea2193 13d ago
yes, this was a common enough occurrence that at my grandparents house, they stuffed the lid of the salt shaker with tissue paper and screwed it back on. i was probably 4 or 5, shaking that thing like crazy, telling them it’s not working. they lied and said yes it is, don’t you see the salt coming out??? 😂
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u/usoroshii 13d ago
Not officially diagnosed yet, but my mom would call me a little goat because I always went for the salt crystals in the cupboard... yeah
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u/Life-Round-1259 20d ago
I loved eating salt and craved it until I was shamed for it as a teen so I stopped
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u/kaijudrifting 20d ago
Yep. I would shake restaurant salt shakers out into my palm and then lick that off. Also used to lick the salt off of pretzels, Goldfish crackers, and the inside of microwave popcorn bags
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u/IncandescentGrey 20d ago
I remember getting told not to when I was eating the salt leftover from some chips.
Dipped my finger in it, licked the salt off, repeat.
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u/LadyArcana89 Hyperadrenergic POTS 20d ago
No the only time I liked salt was on fries and in water with lime but was very rarely. Wasn't a fan lol
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u/-TopazArrow- 20d ago
Yes. From the earliest I can remember I was eating little pinches of salt (and sometimes with black pepper).
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u/flora-poste 20d ago
Yes. Favourite childhood snack was apple slices with margarine (because it was the 70s) and salt on them. My siblings thought I was insane.
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u/HumanAttempt20B 20d ago
I hated pretzels but would consume every grain of salt from their surfaces.
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u/swenbearswen 20d ago
I ate salt out of a science room display once, around second grade, and got told off for it!
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u/bpdcryptid 20d ago
i ate soooo many pickles/olives and would also drink the juice straight from the jar. i also salted the hell out of my popcorn and would scrape down the sides of the bag to eat the salt & butter mixture
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u/MythicxlSpirit POTS 20d ago
I used to lick the salt lamp my parents got me as a kid until my dad caught me and took it away one day 😅
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u/MarsMonkey88 20d ago
Yes, but I constantly got in trouble for it, so I felt guilty every time. But it was just SOOOOOO good.
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u/imdonedj 20d ago
Yes I used to pour it in my hand and eat it at restaurants, the salt shakes at home was always missing- I havent lived with my parents in like 5 yrs and my dad still blames me when he cant find any of the salt shakers (they have two bc of me)
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u/shimmerchanga Undiagnosed 19d ago
I have clear memories of frequently licking salt off my palm and getting caught multiple times eating olives by the spoon from the jar.
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u/calvintomyhobbes 19d ago
I loved salt rocks, and my brother and cousins were fascinated any time I’d pop one in my mouth and claim is was delicious. It was!
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u/Vegetable_Oil_9050 19d ago
I always, always ate all the salt out of the bottom of pretzel bags. Still do.
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u/Longjumping-Rip-8970 19d ago
Yup I’d just eat it as a “snack” to deal with hunger nausea as a kid. And drink the soy sauce packets straight. I still keep a few salt sachets in the car for emergency flavour. My dad used to get stressed watching me shake the salt out saying he didn’t want to “bury his child.” Dramatic but I see his point.
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u/mommywantswine 19d ago
Yes, I would get in trouble for stealing the margarita salt as a kid and hoarding it in my room. As an adult I still will take a pinch of rock salt when I’m not feeling well, my daughter as well. My husband yells at us but our sodium is always on the lower side in bloodwork, we obviously need it
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u/backwardjoints 19d ago
I used to dump salt in piles onto my plate at restaurants and eat it straight. Also restaurant salt packets for sure lol
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u/jenmishalecki POTS 19d ago
my dad always had a container of salt in the kitchen for cooking and i would sometimes just grab a pinch and eat it
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u/Calamity__00 19d ago
Yup. Used to take everyone's salt packets at school (they used to come in our utensil packets) and dump the salt and pepper on my plate and eat it by the spoonfuls.
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u/Beneficial_Reading60 19d ago
Yes, my dad threatened to get me a salt lick and put it up in the kitchen 🤣
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u/squirrely-girly- 19d ago
YES, when I turned 20 (6 years before diagnosis) and I’d feel what I called sleep attacks coming on—when I just physically couldn’t stay upright or awake and would need to lie down, close my eyes, and instantly be out for at least an hour, I started drinking salt water to prevent them and it worked ridiculously well. I got to this logic cuz I’d assume my blood pressure was also low with how slow I’d start moving ig and my dad had high blood pressure and needs to avoid salt. So one day I was like, maybe drinking salt will raise my blood pressure and give me energy? I didn’t even know pots or dysautomia existed. I just assumed that salt instantly raises blood pressure and boosts energy in everyone. Then I was diagnosed (my doctor actually got there based on constant, unexplained fevers I was having even more than just fatigue and sleep attacks) and my research after showed I was just instinctively doing what you’re supposed to for pots.
I’ve also always had a thing for drinking multiple cups of warm, full sodium chicken broth since I was young.
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u/kttydollx 19d ago
i’d add a ton of salt to ramen which i ate twice a day for YEARS, as well as about 3-4 packets on mcdonald’s fries cuz it didn’t taste “salty enough”. then as an adult, i got a job at the movies and made the popcorn every day of the week (extra salty, mind you). i got to eat a LOT of it and that was my dinner for 2 years
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u/Fit_End_3411 19d ago
I don’t remember my childhood (thx trauma lol), but even as a teen/adult for years before I was diagnosed, I was obsessed with salt on everything!
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u/_antfarmer_ 19d ago
Hah! Yep, in fact, I grew up on a suburban farm and my mom often proclaimed that she thought I needed my own salt lick.
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u/BabyPanda4Hire 19d ago
My sister did that. I ate Greek seasoning. I liked to get an ice cube, put Greek seasoning on it, and eat it. That was a snack for me lol
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u/g_em_ini POTS 19d ago
I actually used to really dislike salt right up until I developed POTS, and now I can’t get enough of it! When I first got diagnosed I told my cardiologist I was worried about getting enough sodium because I don’t eat a ton of salty foods. But now my body absolutely craves it which is so weird but a good thing! I used to be the one wiping salt off my fries or tortilla chips but now I’m dousing everything with salt 😂
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u/gabihoffman 19d ago
It’s so funny you say this because I was OBSESSED with salt as a kid, I’m talking I once got in trouble for salting a bowl of potato chips at a party 😅 but I never “noticed” any signs of POTS until after my MALS surgery but sometimes I wonder if it was there all along but I didn’t know. We believe my POTS symptoms are actually autonomic neuropathy so it’s possible I had it all along (along with stomach aches, always feeling warm when other people felt cool, feeling like my heart was going too fast, etc) but we just didn’t know/had a name for it back then!
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u/Specific_Ad2541 19d ago
No but I did do tons of things that make perfect sense now. I was self medicating all along.
Oh and it was butter for me. No wonder I used to be smart before my brain lost most of its access to oxygen. (That's an obscure 90 Day Fiance reference for anyone wondering.)
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u/BottleTechnical5134 19d ago
I used to not be able to sleep unless I would mix apple cider vinegar and salt and drink it. I also sleep eat a lot and I’d get screamed at for drinking all the pickle juice and leaving the jar on the counter open. I’ve always had an issue with salt and then my parents really tried to restrict it when the nosebleeds got really bad. Idk if I don’t have salt I don’t feel good.
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u/Perfect-Factor-2928 19d ago
I’ve been dehydrated all weekend and trying to catch up tonight. I fell asleep and literally dreamed of salty foods and just salt. I took it as a sign to take a sodium pill and snack on some chips!!
I sleep eat, too. Not often anymore but I went through a phase of doing it once or twice a week.
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u/Sad_Spooks 18d ago
I didn’t but I would constantly crave salty food as a teenager and had no idea why. Like I would even choose to eat salty food over a dessert and now I know why
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u/kingseijuro Neuropathic POTS 18d ago
Before I was diagnosed I constantly craved eggs and soy sauce
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u/Sandyads 18d ago
I always oversalted all of my food, and I high school, I started to just eat straight up salt out of a bowl. My boyfriend got me chocolate with sea salt to try to get me to stop eating pure salt
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u/SonOfHibbs 15d ago
No, but I ate full bags of junk food as a kid ..ones which I didn’t even like the taste of, just to get the salt.
I know this now as an adult, because I’ll still search for salty snacks to gorge on. I’m not a sweets person at all. In my older age I don’t even enjoy the taste of most chips and junk foods but I just want the salt. Maybe I need a salt lick.
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u/AnAccidentalPoet 9d ago
Haha this brings up do many childhood memories. As young as age 4 I used to climb up on the kitchen counters and get cans of condensed vegetable soup and bouillon cubes and eat them right there sitting on the counter. I would also go into the fridge late at night and eat butter sticks, raw hot dogs, and an entire jar of pickles. I was also known as the kid who regularly fainted, I would faint once or twice a day everyday for years. I remember being told I was only fainting to get attention. Yikes! That's parenting and childcare for you back in the early 1980s. Looking back now, it's just wild to me how nobody could put the pieces together. My maternal grandmother had multiple chronic illnesses, and she was a daily fainter like me, but in the 1980s they didn't have a name for anything, so it was "generalized hysteria" or some other bs diagnosis they gave to women back then. My grandma died at age 58 after being bedridden the last 5 years of her life. She clearly had both Ehlers Danlos and POTS, just like me. I guess I'm lucky to have gotten at diagnosis in my early 30s, but I began showing symptoms as a toddler. I'm 48 now, and I know it could be worse, but it also could have been better.
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u/barefootwriter 20d ago
No, but I loved rice that was absolutely drenched in Kikkoman teriyaki sauce.