Freaky high potassium!
By Stu on Dec 27, 2005 in Dialysis
Well I nearly killed myself over Christmas!
Must have been something to do with the ridiculous amount of fruit-cup and potato chips I ate. Not bad for someone who’s had an article published about this very thing, and how to avoid it!
I woke up the day after christmas feeling a bit “odd”, and as the morning went on, I started to feel quite weak in the muscles. I called my dialysis unit, to ask the nurses what I should do, and they suggested I come in early (I was due to dialyse that afternoon anyway).
About half an hour later, I started to vomit, so my wife rang my renal specialist, who told us to call an ambulance, and get to the hospital as soon as possible. Not one to let pride get in the way of saving my life, I decided that we’d drive the 30 or so minutes to the hospital. So we dropped the kids off at my mums place, and hit heretofore unheard of speed on the way to the hospital. (I’m waiting for the speed-camera fines to start rolling in!)
Upon arriving at the hospital, bringing my heart palpitations with me, we headed for the emergency department, and were told to “take a seat, someone will be with you shortly”. I suggested to the triage nurse that they “might like to get some needles in me, and start dialysis, or I’ll probably drop dead where I stand!”
So down comes the renal registrar, who took some blood. When he had the results (which, surprisingly, only took about five minutes), he rushed me upstairs to the dialysis unit. (My potassium was over 7, apparently anything over 5.5 can be fatal!).
Once up at the dialysis unit (they took me to the acute unit, where the REALLY crook people go), they got the needles in and started dialysis. Needless to say, by this time I was feeling like absolute shit, and was finding it quite difficult to sit still. Thankfully there was cricket on the TV, and as the calcium I was given started to take effect, and the potassium levels in my blood started to subside, I started to feel a bit better.
After four hours, I was feeling much better, if not completely exhausted. We went home via my mums to pick up my gorgeous boys, and I dropped on the couch and promptly fell asleep, safe in the knowlege that a potentially fatal disaster had been averted, and we live to fight another day.
Alice | Jan 30, 2006 | Reply
You poor buggar! Stuart, what’s the calcium you referred to? Is that what I know as resonium?
cheers Alice
DiscoStu | Jan 31, 2006 | Reply
Hi Alice, I wasn’t really sure why they were giving me Calcium either. It’s not the same as resonium. (Which I’d never had access to as my previous doctor didn’t make available to me because I’d always had low potassium levels (7 mEq/L with toxic ECG changes), you need to shift potassium into the cells and eliminate potassium from the body. Therapies that shift potassium will act rapidly but they are temporary; if the serum potassium rebounds you may need to repeat those therapies. In order of priority, treatment includes the following:
* Shift potassium into cells:
1. Calcium chloride (10%): 500 to 1000 mg (5 to 10 mL) IV over 2 to 5 minutes to reduce the effects of potassium at the myocardial cell membrane (lowers risk of ventricular fibrillation [VF])
2. Sodium bicarbonate: 50 mEq IV over 5 minutes (may be less effective for patients with end-stage renal disease)
3. Glucose plus insulin: mix 25 g (50 mL of D50) glucose and 10 U regular insulin and give IV over 15 to 30 minutes
4. Nebulized albuterol: 10 to 20 mg nebulized over 15 minutes5–7 ”
……at this address: http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/112/24_suppl/IV-121
Cheers
Stu
eva | Feb 1, 2006 | Reply
has happened to us all. Don’t beat yourself up, learn from it!
Daisy | Jun 11, 2007 | Reply
Somebody suggested I need potassium but my potassium level seems to be withing the low end of normal.. I get knotted muscles at odd times and in odd places. I do recognize that when I exercise my legs a lot, I get the knotted muscles in the morning as I am waking up and it turns into complete agony. Sometimes it hits me in the middle of the night too.. having to get up and walk the knots out when the pain is so great it brings tears to my eyes. I tried taking calcium for this but the knots continue. I am wondering if taking potassium OTC would be worth a shot. Is potassium known for helping muscle spasms? Strangely enough, drinking a cup of cool water seems to help. I think I’m going nuts from lack of sleep and fear of sleeping and waking up in a knot from which I can’t get my feet on the floor to walk the knot out..
Phil Kuppersmith | Jun 22, 2007 | Reply
My Potassium level is 6.1 now. I drink approx. 3 glasses of red wine each night. Is this the reason why my level is high?