The following list of diseases or conditions have at least one component that may be attributed to an irregularity in cation metabolism and/or regulation.  To see at least one of the references making the connection click on the disease or condition, continue in your review of the pages on this site.

• Disease of the Brain - Alzheimers, Parkinsons's Disease,  Schizophrenia/Depression and other neurological diseases

• Cancer - cell replication dysfunction, deficient energy production (e.g. Prostate, Breast)

• Heart/CVS -  Arrhythmias, Hypertension, Pre-eclampsia/Eclampsia and other cardio-vascular systems (CVS) diseases including endothelial dysfunction

• Hypomagnesemia or Hypermagnesemia, other mineral disorders (Osteoporosis)

• Immune System - Auto-immune diseases (Multiple Sclerosis), Rheumatoid arthritis,   Juvenile (Type I) Diabetes.

• Metabolic Diseases - Diabetes - Type II

• Muscle diseases - Dystonias, Muscular Dystrophy, Pain and Spasms

• Neurology - Nerve/muscle interface dysfunction, transmitters, other control disorders 

• Nutrition - mineral deficiencies from water/diet

Specific indicators to be alert for when dealing with these diseases are the blood electrolyte levels.  If the Magnesium level is higher or lower than normal, that condition would be designated as either Hypermagnesemia or Hypomagnesemia respectively.  It may also be important to look for abnormal levels of Ca, Na, and K.  Often the physiological effects are not only level sensitive but also ratio sensitive.  Thus a low Mg may not be as much of a problem for some diseases if the Ca were also low.  Similarly, Mg/K and Ca/K and Na/K ratios are often good indicators of impending malfunction as much as the absolute levels, though the later are certainly important.

Mineral Utilization and Regulation

Diseases/conditions that contribute to lower or higher electrolyte levels in the blood and/or tissue are the following:

• Hyper Phosphatemia - phosphate is often chemically associated with divalent cations like Ca and Mg.  Thus changes in phosphate levels will potentially alter at least the free activity level of the Ca and Mg ions n the blood.

• pH changes as through the oxygen/carbon dioxide balance will also impact the extent to which Ca and Mg in particular are bound to blood proteins or are free to move across cell boundaries

• Hyper or Hypo Parathyroidism - changes in levels of PTH (parathyroid hormone)

• Carcinoma of Thyroid/Parathyroid gland - excess in PTH

• Surgical removal of Thyroid/Parathyroids - drop in PTH

• Chemical or radiation treatment directed at thyroid/parathyroid tissues - lowering of PTH

• Analogous conditions of the adrenal (suprarenal) glands that would impact mineralocorticoids (aldosterone et al.) synthesis and Na+/K+ regulation and ACTH (adrenal corticotrophic hormone)

• Analogous conditions of the anterior pituitary gland that may alter hormones levels such as ACTH,  PTH and Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH), et al.

• Analogous conditions of the posterior pituitary gland that may alter levels of antidiuretic hormone (ADH) which in turn influences the salt concentration in the blood.

Genetic conditions that may be pre-disposing to any of the foregoing conditions are yet to be evaluated. For further treatment of genetics see the Genomics pages.

Other Diseases
There are other diseases that may be influenced by electrolyte metabolism and regulation.