This is the recipe that I use for my homemade electrolyte mix. I find it takes the edge off my POTS and reduces how frequently I need to pee (water just seems to run straight through me!).
It is based on the WHO's Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS).
Standard recipe, per litre:
Glucose is available in bulk from home brew stores as dextrose. PwME tend to eat low-carb diets and so may not like the idea of consuming this much sugar. However, the glucose improves salt absorption, and I noticed it was much less effective when I left it out. Also, it doesn't seem to mess with my blood sugar the way sucrose or other simple carbs do.
I use iodised sea salt to make sure I get enough iodine in my diet. This works out to roughly 100ug of iodine per litre. Depending on how refined the sea salt is, it may also provide a bunch of other elements (notably magnesium).
In some countries, potassium chloride is available in supermarkets as a salt replacement. Not so in Australia, so I buy it from iherb or an online bulk powders supplier. You can substitute with 2.0g/L potassium citrate.
Trisodium citrate is only available from online bulk powders stores, which is annoying. The WHO says you can substitute it with 2.5g/L of sodium bicarbonate, which is much easier to get. The downside of this is that it makes the mix alkaline, rather than neutral. I have stomach acidity issues so I figure the less I mess with my stomach pH the better.
I make up 20L worth of powder at a time using kitchen scales, which lasts me a few weeks. Each teaspoon (5mL) then makes up one cup (250mL) of solution. I find one litre per day is enough for me, but people with worse POTS might benefit from more. Though if you do, be careful not too consume too much total sodium or potassium.
Balanced potassium version
There might be long-term issues with consuming more sodium than potassium, and PwME already have low potassium. I've adjusted the ORS recipe so that the sodium:potassium ratio is 1:1, rather than the original 2.2:1, while retaining the same osmolality. It seems to work just as well.
Cost
The cost of the standard recipe works out to 27 cents per litre. This is based on salt at $3.25/kg from my local wholefoods store, dextrose at $5/kg from the homebrew shop, potassium chloride $41/kg and sodium citrate $45/kg, both from BulkSupplements.com.
This compares to 80c/L for BulkNutrient.com's Electrolyte Blend powder (which has no glucose, but has magnesium and calcium and much less sodium).
Other recipes
LMNT DIY recipe - 5:1 Na:K, some Mg, no sugar. Very similar to Sodii.
