High potassium levels ..kidney disease

[Heyyouyou]

Hey, my hb got blood results from the doctor today and his potassium levels is high. 5.3 to be exact. He got his bloods redone today to recheck. He was diagnosed with a kidney disease at 16 but has never had any problems and only takes blood pressure meds (even though his bp has always been normal). What I want to know is where do we go from here if the the results are still high for the potassium? Does he need to go on to dialysis? How can this be managed? Thanks

I wouldn't even think about it until the repeat test's been done. Lots of things can tweak potassium up & down, including the tourniquet being on for a while to do the bloods!

Potassium levels can be managed through diet. His kidneys would probably need to be at the lower end of the lowest level of functioning (4?) for dialysis to be necessary, so if the potassium level remains high at the repeat tests then the current level of kidney function would need to be established. Following that - assuming there's agreed to be cause for concern - appropriate medical professionals would need to investigate and establish a prognosis. Chances are he's a long way off dialysis, although in certain cases functioning can deteriorate rapidly, but I'd imagine you'd have had other warning signs by now, not just a spike in potassium levels. Wishing him a postive outcome :)

Thank you both for your replies. His urine sample was all ok and everything else in bloods ok just the potassium. No other symptoms. Will find out results on Thursday. I just didn’t know what happens from here and google doesn’t help!

If everything else is fine it's probably spurious. Don't panic. Hope the repeat's reassuring.

Hey I thought I’d let you know results came back normal 😊

:-)

Delighted for you :)