Anyone have experience of potassium deficiency?

[BernardoTeashop]

Hi there
My dad has been really ill for the last few months - no energy or appetite, occasional vomiting, repeatedly falling over amongst other things.
He has had X-rays and scans and they have found fibrosis in his lungs and some calcification around his heart.
But the most recent diagnosis is potassium deficiency and I wondered if anyone had any experience with this? Can the symptoms be this severe? Any ideas of how to improve things apart from eating bananas and oranges?
Thank you

I had it a couple of years ago. I had severe muscle weakness so that could certainly contribute towards falling.

I was firstly treated with liquid potassium in hospital, but it is the most vilest thing I have ever tasted in my life and actually made me vomit so was totally pointless. Was then moved onto iv for 3 or 4 days then a low level tablet supplement for a wee while.

Though too high levels of potassium can be dangerous so I wouldn't necessarily put him into supplements without the Drs approval first.

Hope he's feeling better soon

Sounds like You had a rotten time. Thanks for sharing your experience. It’s hard to get our heads round the fact that a mineral deficiency could be causing him to be so ill.
He’s been told to eat potassium rich foods and then back for a check up on 5th jan.

I have potassium deficiency, it's a recurring issue for me. I semi regularly have to get it treated in hospital with IV replacement, but have been managing better at home recently. It can definitely make you pretty unwell. I hope your dad feels a lot better soon!

Dd had severely low potassium levels when she was 16yo. She collapsed one day/was semi conscious when we took her to hospital. Chronicly malnourished due to an undiagnosed medical condition. She’d had bad muscle weakness, chest pain for months.

She was admitted for a week and was on IV potassium for a lot of that. They said she’d have been dead in a few days if she hadn’t had treatment but I think that was due to a combination of the malnourishment and low potassium. Low potassium can cause heart arythmia I think though.

I’m sorry that you have been affected by this so much. But it’s a big relief in a way to know that this could be the root of his issues. I hope that you keep well - thanks for sharing

@CovidCorvid that must have been very worrying for you all. I hope she is well now. I really am staggered by how badly this can affect people. I’m grateful for you all sharing your experiences

I'm in a similar position with my Dad due to sodium deficiency. He had been irritable for months and then one day became really confused. He went into hospital in October where it was diagnosed and the doctors advised that they had to raise his levels very slowly or his organs could fail. He spent several weeks in and was back on the mend but he's had to go back in to hospital in the past week. It's been really scary, especially as the hospital has banned visitors. He's only 56 so the memory loss and confusion have been a shock. There's not really much you can do other than follow the doctors advice on changes to diet and medication. Ironically my dad has to stay away from overly salty food and follow very specific guidance on how much salt he can have per day. Not easy for a man with the terrible habit of salting food before he's tasted it. I hope your dad is back on the mend soon!

Potassium is needed for the muscles to function including the heart which is a muscle. My DB has an issue with potassium which causes temporary paralysis if he has a severe attack. In his case his diet can have a big impact on severity of symptoms. If he eats certain foods especially high carb/ sugar/ salt it will cause an attack. Even bananas can cause problems apparently and he never eats them something to do with the digestive process and high sugar. I would ask his doctors for guidance on this as he probably would need specific supplements to help.

I might be totally wrong here but they need to think why has he got a potassium deficiency……because I think it’s unusual. Ime doctors sometimes concentrate on treating something and don’t always think about the ongoing, underlying reason.

So for some reason there’s a malabsorption issue of potassium. You say he’s vomiting. So is low potassium causing the vomiting or is vomiting causing the low potassium? And I don’t think low potassium causes vomiting. In which case why is he vomiting? Dd had a lot of vomiting, in her case it was coeliac disease, this caused vomiting and also vitamin and mineral malabsorption.

Yes, I agree with @CovidCorvid that the reason is important. It could be so many things though that I wouldn't worry too much. Mine is caused by a medication I'm on combined with chronic illness (these make it chronically low), and then when another medicine is added or I get more unwell, it can go acutely low.

It's really good they've identified this because now they can monitor it and immediately give him an IV if they need to at any point.

What's his renal function like?

Low potassium is a symptom not a diagnosis. I would try and see his GP with him if you can.

Thanks everyone - and you are right, the low potassium is definitely a symptom of something else -what, we don’t know yet but he’s been seeing his gp and is back to see her on 5th jan.

My son had it at 3 weeks old (39 weeks gestation - prem baby)
He was so sick that he couldn't have the surgery to repair his stomach for days until his levels rose via iv.
He was grey, malnourished, didn't move or cry and his breathing was shallow.
Thankfully the iv worked after 3 days, he had his surgery and hasn't looked back since.
He was potassium deficient due to not having any food as he was vomiting up every single feed from birth, so his was starvation related

My DH has to swig a couple of large glasses of Sando-K potassium solution every day because his specific type of hypertension and/or its treatment cause potassium loss.

Hope your dad gets a diagnosis of why in his case, and appropriate treatment.