Low Potassium

       

What Does Low Potassium Mean?

       

Potassium is a mineral in the body that is essential for cell, nerve, and muscle function. Low potassium means there is an insufficient amount of it present in the body for those functions to occur as they should. Low potassium is also referred to as hypokalemia, and for most people it’s not an especially dangerous condition. However, severely low levels may be very hard on the nervous and digestive systems. People experiencing them are often unaware of having a long-term potassium deficiency.

       

What Causes Low Potassium?

       

Low potassium will be attributable to either diet, medical conditions, or medication use in the majority of cases. For dietary causes, it is related to not eating enough potassium-rich foods. Hyperaldosteronism is one of the medical conditions that can cause low potassium, and other ones are osmotic diuresis, chronic kidney disease, mineralocorticoid excess, Cushing’s disease, thyrotoxicosis, and renal tubular acidosis. Eating disorders like Bulimia may contribute to it too.

       

Medication use can factor into low potassium when people are using certain medications:

       

           
• Insulin
           
• Antimicrobials like penicillin and gentamicin
           
• Beta2-receptor agonists like epinephrine
           
• Diuretics and thiazides like Diamox and Zaroxolyn
           
• Mineralocorticoid / glucocorticoid medications like fludrocortisone and prednisone
       

       

The use of diuretics for treatment of pulmonary edema, congestive heart failure, and high blood pressure is the most common diagnosis case for low blood potassium levels.

       

Low Potassium Symptoms

       

Low potassium symptoms are often only seen for people when the mineral shortage is very pronounced. In these cases, people will have symptoms that may include constipation, fatigue, muscle damage, muscle cramping or spasms, heart palpitations, or tingling and numbness in the extremities.

       

People with poor heart health may have cardiac arrhythmia because of low potassium levels, and this is especially true for anyone with cardiac ischemia.

       

Low Potassium Treatment

       

The most conventional approach to low potassium treatment is to supplement with oral potassium. This may be in the form of potassium chloride (K-Dur), potassium phosphate, or potassium carbonate, and the affected individual’s doctor may recommend one over another based on other mineral balances determined from blood tests. For severe cases of low potassium, an IV may be required and this will be administered under medical supervision.

       

Doctors may direct people with low potassium to get an increase of certain foods in their diet to treat low potassium. Foods like potatoes, lima beans, spinach, bananas, avocado, and pomegranate juice, among others.