Update on ECG

[Cockneyblue]

My dr rang me Tuesday as arranged, wanted to see me, as the ECG I had Friday was fine. I went to see him that night, had another ECG which showed an entirely different reading to the one I’d had on the Friday, heart rate was down to 40. Dr phoned the hospital, I was admitted that night. Apparently my heart is ok but potassium was lower than normal making the ectopics, which I know I have, go from say 1 in 20 to pretty much constant, making me dizzy and breathless etc. After an overnight stay in Cardiac Care Unit I am home again, as cardiologist said himself, hospital is not the safest place to be at the moment, as further tests can be carried out if I’m at home.

I was monitored overnight and had a potassium drip. And although I’ve still got symptoms I know some of the cause and so feel more reassured. But is the low potassium due to when I had Covid? Still unsure, is this a long Covid thing still unsure. I will ask these questions when I go back to hospital soon.

Thank you again for your reassurance on here, you helped me over a very scary time xx

[Rose54]

Hi I had dangerously low potassium which was caused by imdepride tablets not the correct spelling.

I was losing potassium as going to toilet to much stopped tablets and had meds to replace Potassium.

Only found out due to a trip to A and E with anxiety and funny heart beats

[Peony4575 in reply to Rose54]

And I got AF and was admitted because an anti inflammatory caused me to have too high potassium . Drugs can really upset electrolytes

[Cockneyblue in reply to Rose54]

I’m on Indapamide tablets, to control my bp. One of the symptoms is lowering of potassium, I’m going to speak to my gp about it. I’ve been on them a long time now. So thank you for letting me know.

[Rose54 in reply to Cockneyblue]

I had been on them for a year to control blood presure and thay worked fine .Since stopping them have had to increase Losartan from 25mg to 200mg .

I should add also had low Potassium 18 months ago when had HA and 25 years ago after having Gall Bladder removed .

[gladliz in reply to Cockneyblue]

I was on indapamide as well and ended up in hospital with episode of Afib caused by low potassium levels. Apparently I should've been having regular blood tests to check for this. -I wasn't. Spent a couple of days on potassium tablets and discharged. Think BP meds were changed to Doxazosin at that time but I now have blood tests roughly every 6 months to check various levels and functions.

[Alison_L]

Hi cb. When I had my HA in 2018, my potassium was very low. No idea why, but obviously not covid! I think it's fairly common with us hearties. Docs got levels back up with foul-tasting tablets while I was in hospital, so I never knew what they were. xx