I find myself desperately craving salt (sodium chloride) during manic and hypomanic episodes. Last night, I ate through two large bags of salt and vinegar crisps, and was still not satisfied. My mood stabilizer, Trileptal, can cause a salt deficiency but that problem has long settled. My cravings might be related to my BP (Your Personal Markers of Bipolar Disorder; http://www.wholepsychiatry.com/treat...rder-symptoms/), since this has been a life-long thing, and because I don't have a salt deficiency (according to regular blood tests).

Has anyone experienced this? Any explanations, and/or suggestions to control these urges? The quantities of salt that I'm ingesting cannot be healthy, and yet I think I'm going to go "crazy" if I don't keep eating it...

(I'm trying my very best to resist the urge to buy more salt and vinegar crisps. I don't know how long I'll be able to hold on though.)

To note: I'm not dehydrated. I take care of my diet and hydration very carefully, but this seems to have no effect on salt cravings during manic/hypomanic episodes.

My pdoc told me to increase salt intake when I took Lithium.

Originally Posted by rainyday107

My pdoc told me to increase salt intake when I took Lithium.

Did he explain why? I don't take Lithium, so I'm not sure if this applies to my case, as I have had these salt cravings my whole life.

[r010159]

I have had salt cravings on and off for just about my whole life. So I think it may have nothing to do with the Lithium. But we are talking about psychoactive substances. So all sorts of things are possible.

[tryinghard973]

I've been craving chocolate so much this week. Lol