Could Red Bull Be Causing Hypokalemia?

TheSir

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Joined
Jan 6, 2019
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1,952
I have noticed that whenever I drink Red Bull or two, the days that follow I'm plagued by muscle twitches and heart palpitations. Sometimes it gets so bad that whenever I get even a little exhausted, I get so many palpitations that I have to sit down for a while just to make sure my heart doesn't stop for good. Salt and magnesium don't seem to affect the twitches and palpitations, so I'm thinking it could be potassium.

By googling around, I found a couple of similar cases:

The curious case of energy drinks & hypokalemia

Lowest ever recorded potassium concentration – a case report

Profound hypokalaemia due to Nurofen Plus and Red Bull misuse. - PubMed - NCBI

What can I do to replenish my potassium stores effectively? I have salt that is made of potassium chloride, does this work at all?
 

tara

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Joined
Mar 29, 2014
Messages
10,368
Drink juice or milk instead of sugar water?
That way a litre can give you 1-2 g potassium.

If you haven't already, you could run a couple of days of your typical diet through cronometer or similar and get a rough estimate of the nutrition you are getting. It will tot up estimated potassium. See how it looks. If you are not meeting the recommendation, you can try modifying diet to include more fruit and veges ad otehr sources of K till it comes up. While you are at it, check other minerals.

Personally, I don't fare so well if I drink too much sugar water. I think it displaces food and minerals.
 

Cloudhands

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Joined
Jan 11, 2019
Messages
988
Things like caffiene and sugar can increase the magnesium burn rate. Pair that with extra sugar sources and a large amount of calcium and youre youre magnesium deficient. Magnesium bicarbonate will change your life, but other magnesium supplements are worth it to a lesser degree
 

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