Hi I'm a nurse and I've never heard of using something like this before without it being put into a litre of water. I've heard of a patient using it (the salt and sugar remedy) at home (to good effect incidently but it was not prescribed by a doctor). If it was definitely meant to be prescrbed in the way that Tom describes, it makes no sense. The taste would be foul which would make the lady in question refuse fluids if she's being given something that tastes rotten. Also as a previous poster said the recommended level of salt is far less than what is in a teaspoon. I'd be quite interested in the outcome of this Tom.