Electrolyte Imbalance - Symptoms, Causes and Treatments

The body relies on important nutrients including calcium, chloride, magnesium, phosphate, potassium, and sodium to maintain effective function. These nutrients, known as electrolytes, are present throughout the body, bodily fluids and urine and are typically ingested through food, drinks, and supplements. However, certain disorders offset the balance of these minerals in the body, causing an electrolyte imbalance. Such an imbalance can be detrimental to an individual’s health and cause a number of issues.

While mild electrolyte imbalances or disorders cause few to no symptoms, more severe imbalances cause more extensive electrolyte imbalance symptoms. Typical electrolyte imbalance symptoms include dark urine (signaling dehydration), irregular heartbeat, fatigue, lethargy, seizures and nausea or vomiting. Additional concerns that may arise include bowel irregularities, abdominal cramping muscle weakness, and pain, changes in mood, headache, irritability, confusion, and depression.

Electrolyte imbalances are caused by several different factors. The most common cause of electrolyte imbalance is medication. Medications including the antibiotics used to fight infection in chemotherapy patients and corticosteroids utilized to reduce inflammation have this effect. Additional causes include trauma, disease such as cancer or thyroid disorder, intestinal illness, high fever, excessive sweating, kidney disease and hormone imbalance.

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