Doctors warned about the risks of replacing table salt with sodium bromide

Reducing salt intake can have a beneficial effect on health, but replacing sodium chloride with sodium bromide can cause acne, involuntary muscle spasms, and psychotic disorders. This was reported on August 14 in the journal Popular Science.

According to the newspaper, a 60-year-old patient recently found himself in a three-week compulsory treatment in a psychiatric clinic after he started using sodium bromide instead of salt, following the recommendations of artificial intelligence (AI).

The man, who had no previous medical or psychiatric problems, went to the emergency room, claiming that he had been poisoned by a neighbor. Initially, he did not report taking any medications or supplements, and the examination revealed no abnormalities. Later, the patient confessed that he follows a strict diet, distills water himself, and is afraid to drink what is offered in the hospital.

"In the first 24 hours after admission, he expressed increasing paranoia and auditory and visual hallucinations, which, after trying to escape, led to involuntary psychiatric confinement due to serious disability," the doctors noted.

The Sleepy Reason: Why Our Nights Turn into a Nightmare

Doctors told us how to get rid of terrible dreams and what they are related to.

Additional tests and consultation with toxicologists suggested that the cause of the condition was bromism — poisoning with sodium bromide. The patient said that he decided to completely eliminate chloride from the diet and, after consulting with ChatGPT, began to replace it with bromide. According to doctors, he could have misinterpreted the AI's recommendations, or the program offered bromide for unrelated purposes without warning about the health risks.

It is specified that the doctors conducted a course of intravenous therapy and replenished the electrolytes, and also prescribed an antipsychotic drug — the symptoms disappeared, and after three weeks the man was discharged.

Experts recalled that at the beginning of the 20th century, sodium bromide was used as part of over-the-counter medications for anxiety, insomnia and hysteria, but it often caused poisoning. Up to 10% of psychiatric hospital admissions at that time were related to bromism.

Expert Maria Molostvova spoke on July 21 about the impact of sleep quality on brain health. She noted that chronic sleep disorders can cause serious harm to brain function, including an increased risk of cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.