Chloride imbalance

Category: Illness or disabilities

Type

Involuntary

Introduction and description

Chloride helps preserve the body's acid-base balance and is an essential electrolyte located in all body fluids responsible for maintaining acid/base balance, transmitting nerve impulses and regulating fluid in and out of cells. Within the Physical nervous system the ion channels are permeable only to specific types of ions. Charge-carrying ions include sodium (Na⁺), potassium (K⁺), chloride (Cl^-), and calcium (Ca²⁺).

The names given for chloride imbalance - excess and deficiency are

• Hypochloremia
• Hyperchloremia 

Symptoms

Any imbalances in chloride may cause the following: 

• Muscle and nervous system problems - any deficiency or imbalance will cause nervous system problems and muscular problems such as muscle twitching or weakness. Cramp can be caused by a deficiency in chlorides.
• Heart problems - Chloride imbalance in the heart can cause arrhythmias.
• ADHD - In the central nervous system, the inhibitory action of glycine and some of the action of GABA relies on the entry of Cl− into specific neurons – both these are essentially calming relaxing neurotransmitters, as such a lack or imbalance of chloride may cause an over excited state 'nervousness' and hyperexcitability.
• Gastric problems and indigestion - The salts of hydrochloric acid contain chloride ions and can also be called chlorides. Hydrochloric acid is found in the stomach and used to process food.  Chloride is thus a chemical the human body needs for metabolism (the process of turning food into energy).
• Intestine problems - the intestines rely for their action on nervous system activity and thus diarrhoea or constipation along with dehydration and Oedema  – water retention can be caused by chloride imbalance

Causes

As the major input of chloride comes from salt - sodium chloride, the cause of imbalance is usually salt imbalance - not enough or too much.

The amount of chloride in the blood is carefully controlled by the kidneys, thus any kidney problems may also affect this balance.

Treatment

Address the cause.  See also Healing yourself