Does Low Potassium Cause Seizures
When considering nutrition, our thoughts often revolve around proteins, carbs, fats, fibre, iron, vitamin D and C, and our overall calorie intake. However, minerals, such as potassium, are often overlooked, and people usually aren’t aware of how critical balanced mineral levels are for their health.
Keep reading this article to learn about the function of potassium inside your body and what happens when potassium levels are low. The article will also answer the question: “Does low potassium cause seizures” and explain how low potassium is best managed.
The Role of Potassium
Despite often being overlooked, potassium is involved in a great variety of essential body functions. For instance, it plays a crucial role in electrical signalling in the nervous system, supporting the proper functioning of nerves and regulating neurotransmitters. It also contributes to the regulation of muscle contractions, most importantly, the heart muscle, and helps maintain normal blood pressure, kidney function, and pH levels. Finally, it impacts energy metabolism, transports nutrients in and out of cells, and balances fluid levels.
How Does Low Potassium Impact the Body
Due to its involvement in so many essential processes in the body, low potassium (hypokalemia) can create many issues for your health and presents with several uncomfortable, and sometimes life-threatening symptoms. If your potassium levels are low, you may experience muscle weakness, cramps, spasms, numbness, or tingling in your hands and feet. Other symptoms can include fatigue, an irregular heartbeat, constipation, bloating, and mood changes. Finally, increased urination and thirst, as well as severe symptoms like breathing difficulties or paralysis, can occur.
Does Low Potassium Cause Seizures?
After learning about the role of potassium as well as some of the consequences when potassium levels are low, you may wonder whether low potassium causes seizures. While the most common reasons for seizures include epilepsy, strokes or brain tumors, in extreme cases, especially when the mineral drops rapidly, low potassium can cause a seizure. However, this is rare, and potassium-related seizures are more commonly seen in hospitalized or critically ill patients.
Low potassium doesn’t actively induce seizures. However, by disrupting regular electrical brain activity and causing electrolyte imbalances, it can make a seizure more likely. Additional factors like low magnesium, dehydration, or pH imbalances can increase someone’s risk of having a seizure. This also applies to taking diuretics, having an eating disorder, or experiencing prolonged vomiting or diarrhea.
How to Treat Low Potassium
Before starting treatment for low potassium levels, it's essential to identify the underlying cause of the deficiency, such as vomiting, diarrhea, certain medications, or kidney disease. Your treatment will vary depending on such health conditions, medications you are currently taking and more. For example, your healthcare provider may adjust certain medications that deplete potassium, such as diuretics for lowering blood pressure or heart failure, and replace them with more suitable ones.
Apart from addressing underlying health issues directly, potassium levels can be raised using oral supplements, such as K-Dur and Klor-Con. While this can be effective in people with low to moderate potassium deficiencies, individuals with severely low potassium or those who can’t take oral medication may require intravenous potassium instead.
Some individuals will also benefit from supplementing low magnesium, alongside low potassium levels, to improve absorption and retention. Lastly, routine blood tests and eating whole foods rich in potassium, like bananas, sweet potatoes or avocados and using cooking methods that preserve nutrients can be beneficial.
