Hello all.
I'm not sure if you can help but I have a young friend in urgent need of a second opinion from a good nephrologist about his extremely low potassium levels. Does anyone have any suggestions of a good consultant you or some one else might have seen?
Thank you in advance xx
Has the doctor investigated the reason? Does he have a thyroid problem as well? Can he get and you post any blood test results?
There seem to be a lot of possible causes of low potassium. One I didn't know about is low magnesium. Does he have a good diet, including dairy food?
Hi. After 2 years of not being able to keep food down he's been diagnosed with rumination syndrome. Everything else been checked over that time but they don't know whats causing the low potassium. I have no blood results to share of his I'm afraid. But he's under the nephrologist. He's also having problems with his heart now. So was looking for a nephrologist with a good reputation that he might get a second opinion from xx
Sorry, never heard of rumination Syndrome. But I looked it up.
Surely the low potassium would be caused by inability to digest normally. And in turn cause damage to other organs including kidneys.
Would a kidney specialist help in that case?
Wish I could help more. Maybe someone on here knows someone, but of course this is a thyroid forum.
Yes hopefully. Thank you xx
It seems our food sources are depleted of minerals all over the world. I was in the ER (emergency room - US) with heart palpitations and the doctor, after a very long conversation, told me to drink 16 oz of coconut water a day to bring my potassium up, which could be the source of my periodic strong palpitations.
The cardiologist I saw afterward told me that blood tests for potassium are not true, because they only show the amount of the mineral in the blood, and the cells where potassium needs to be stored, can't be tested. The cells need potassium and if it is low in the blood, the cells are depleted and this can cause heart issues.
Potassium supplements are very hard on the digestive tract so eating foods rich in potassium, like potatoes is best. Look online for potassium-rich foods. But then you say your friend can't keep food down. Can he tolerate liquids? Like coconut water that is high in potassium.
Magnesium is also very important for the heart, but you state that your friend's problem is hypokalemia, so I focused on my experience with the problem of low potassium. Hope this helps a bit.
Yes that could be very helpful thank you very much x
Hi there are muscle channelopathy conditions related to low potassium. The link below lists the conditions and you can click to make a referral.
ucl.ac.uk/centre-for-neurom...
I suggest that you look up the symptoms of Hypokalaemic periodic paralysis. If it looks a likely diagnosis then the team at MRC Centre Queens Square are excellent.
That's fantastic thank you very much I will pass that on to him x
My father has low potassium and a heart issue. If the potassium drops to a very low level it is considered serious and could be an emergency and should go to A &E because it changes the heart rhythm. My father fell and passed out 2 times, in his case it was an emergency. In my opinion your friend should be seeing the Heart doctors and not Nephrologist.
Your friend must eat min 2 bananas a day to boost their potassium
Hope this is helpful
Yes my young friend only 23 is on and out of hospital constantly. His potassium keeps dropping extremely low 2 point something and he ends up in there again put on potassium but he can't seem to retain the levels. He's under a heart consultant as it's affected that as well and he's had several heart attacks. But they can't seem to get to the bottom of why hes losing potassium. He can't keep any food down to get the benefit from the potassium which is a real issue. X
I understand this condition very well because of my fathers condition. It is a vicious circle. It is to do with heart disease and also if they are on heart medication are at greater risk of having unstable potassium levels. Diuretics for treating heart failure can lead to low potassium levels because they advance mineral excretion through urine. Your friend must be monitored by the doctors specifically why he cannot keep food down as this has a huge impact on his health overall.
When doctors cannot get their heads around to determine what's going on, it is worth to seek a second opinion from a Consultant. Sometimes we need to do this to ensure we are getting the best treatments available.
Thank you. It is good to hear from someone that knows something of this condition. He's had so many problems. The hospital seem pretty useless and all they do now is take him in and put him on potassium and then send him home but he's in hospital for this every week now. I'd just like to try and help but I don't understand enough about this particular condition. If it was a thyroid issue I could help but not this. X
Some years back my mother-in-law began having problems keeping food down and lost enormous amounts of weight. The doctors didn't seem to understand what was wrong with her. Finally, she was hospitalized. Very week. Did not recognize some family members. I brought my 5-year old son in to see her and she called him by the name his father was called at that age. The family was frantic. We suspected maybe she had stomach cancer and the doctors were just keeping that from us. As it turns out, the cause was fairly simple. She was extremely hyperthyroid. They gave her radioactive iodine. Her recovery was rapid and seemingly miraculous.
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