High Potassium And Sodium

[Elron]

I have high potassium and sodium. Don't have the numbers yet, but they were high enough to mail me a letter saying I need to get an EKG done. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[ecstatichamster]

What is your thyroid function like, your morning temps

 

[Elron]

I feel cold in the mornings often, although last time I had my thyroid checked it all came out above the upper limit for normal people. I actually had my thyroid checked because I felt cold, thought it might be low. I was quite surprised

 

[ecstatichamster]

What is your typical diet.

 

[Elron]

chocolate milk, oats, milk are staples, and the rest is whatever is around the house. Typically, some type of meat and vegetables. I don't eat often, especially in the mornings. Usually after 12 hours, I start actually wanting food so I end up eating at least 1k cals at night. Another thing is I actively regurgitate food I have eaten, almost like my body is rejecting it. This happens quite often, although not usually at night oddly enough. There doesn't seem to be a consistent trend for it beyond before night. It even happens with coffee with milk in it...

 

[ecstatichamster]

Can you post your thyroid lab results?

Have you taken oral waking temps?

 

[Elron]

I don't have the previous ones (so helpful, sorry). No waking temps, will do if I can find a thermometer. I'll get all my bloodwork when I go to the next doctor's appointment, which is within the next week; I'm also going to schedule the EKG.

 

[InChristAlone]

So how many calories do you get to? sounds like there is some restriction going on.

 

[Elron]

Probably 2k, with around 150g of protein. I'm 5'9", 200 pounds, around 15% BF. Some days I do eat more than usually, but ya, I definitely eat less than I should because of my appetite.

 

[Mary Pruter]

Okay, going to try to get a reply here! Hope it works!!!!

My mother was in the hospital with 5 broken ribs. During her time in the hospital doctor decided to give her IV sodium because it was very low, also added potassium. I'm not sure why there was no blood work drawn at the nursing home but they kept her on the potassium and now, her potassium lever is 6, hemoglobin level is at 17.2. They are not telling me she needs water pills and are not listening to my request to have phlebotomy drawn and her thyroid checked.

They are coming to my home to do more bloodwork tomorrow but I was told it was going to be to have blood drawn off to help with her high hemoglobin. Now, they've changed it to just bloodwork to see if her potassium level has dropped over the past 2 days.

She also had a catheter placed inside her so she wouldn't have to get up to use the washroom while she was in the hospital with the five broken ribs because it cost her a lot of pain to do that and she had too much discomfort to try to urinate and a bedpan. Now she has bladder retention. Wondering if that could be due to this high level of potassium. They put her on a medication to try to bring her bladder back but had to stop bad after 6 days because of the severe dizziness and the severe diarrhea it caused which is one of the side effects.

She is 91 years old and he has dementia. I have type 2 diabetes and I am her caregiver so we have been doing the peat diet and supplements for about 6 months. It seemed her dementia was almost gone she was doing very well and wanted to go to her house where my niece was staying and would be able to take care of her so that she could be at home. Within a couple of days my mother decided that she did not want anyone living with her and began stressing, stressing so badly that I lost her all over again and she develop shingles which caused even more stress. I brought her back to my home she was doing well getting rid of the shingles but while on nature walk she fell and broke 5 ribs. The fall was not due to her or any dizziness. It was because she walked into a wooded area and stumbled on a little slope in the ground. I am at a loss as what to do for her because I have been treating her holistically for 4 years and now they're dumping all these medications and this potassium and sodium into her which is causing more problems. Something I've noticed over the past two weeks or so is that she was always cold cold to touch and cold all over. Now I can feel heat radiating off her body and I'm not sure why. Any help or advice is much appreciated.

 

[SQu]

Sorry I have so little to add, except, how long did she have that same catheter? It can block after a few days. Or be incorrectly inserted.
I don't know if this is helpful to you right now but I've been able to help my parents a lot both in hospital and back home by focusing on the basics. I still think with the elderly it's the basics that get you a long way and are often not handled well in hospital and then things get out of hand fast. Being back home is best for that so long as you are managing and her tests are normalizing. Can she return to you for now till you get things settled? If she'll be happier? Then it's enough food and nutrition and bowels working normally and in her case bladder too. It's movement, not lying in bed even though painful. They lose too much strength in bed. Even sitting and a few steps, regularly during the day. It's a lot of work for you I know. Best of luck with your mom

 

[Mary Pruter]

Well, she stays with me all the time. Her BM is like sand in the bottom of the toilet bowl, had surgery in 1992 for removal of a large portion of her intestinal tract due to diverticulitis. So has had basically explosive diarrhea that looks like water with particles of food in it every since then. No gallbladder. And yes she basically has been in bed since this past April. Had a bout of the shingles and refused to move but now I have her up every day she is now sitting on my back porch with me. But the medication they gave her to try to jump-start her bladder cause severe dizziness by the sixth! So, 10 day of being off the meds, which by the way the doctor claims did not cause the dizziness or the diarrhea, but I have never seen a dizzier person in my life! She called me to her bedroom and asked me to shut the ceiling fan off because she could not handle the way it was jiggling while it's fun. The ceiling fan wasn't on! Called me the other night to come into her bedroom and was laying flat on her back and the middle of the bed and saying I'm falling off the bed. She had diarrhea every 10 to 15 minutes for 3 hours the other night and she has always taken Imodium for her diarrhea three of them. So I gave her three Imodium in fear that she was going to get dehydrated AGAIN! I'm not sure about just what Basics you were talking about. I am now able to get her up everyday to sit up in a chair in the kitchen while I make breakfast or sit outside and my porch in a rocking chair and also go for some short walks. Her diet is good but her appetite is almost gone, yesterday she ate a few bites of each meal and that was it

 

[Mary Pruter]

And now as I see foods that are high in potassium it looks like I need to change our diet! We love brussel sprouts, artichoke hearts, green beans, asparagus, watermelon and potatoes. I only use purple potatoes in small amounts so I'm not sure about that one. I also see that we need to avoid our supplements, it doesn't say what type of supplements it just says to avoid supplements. I am now lost!!!

 

[Mary Pruter]

And they went to start her on a water pill. I should have never let them start her I'm anything. At least I was able to get her off the beta blocker they had her on. And the nurse tried to tell me that her hemoglobin is 17.2 wasn't really high. I have a friend that had one over 27 and another friend whose was around 89 but she has some severe health issues and was able to get it straightened out by taking her hormones. The doctors told her that they have never seen a Human Being Alive with a hemoglobin level at 89 so they double-checked it and it was 89. But I still think 17.2 is very high and maybe the reason why my mother is always so tired.

 

[tara]

I have high potassium and sodium. Don't have the numbers yet, but they were high enough to mail me a letter saying I need to get an EKG done. Anyone have any ideas?

How much water are/were you drinking? Are you drinking to thirst? If you haven't been drinking enough, I think you can get high sodium and maybe potassium.
If this applies to you, you could try drinking half a cup of water every half hour (or one cup an hour if you can't manage that frequent) during the day for a few days. Or if this brings your blood sugar too low, then you could drink something sweet, but not something with high sodium or potassium.
And see if that solves the problem.

 

[Mary Pruter]

Moms lab came today, did another blood draw and called ME a little while ago. They said, it's potassium lever is down now, 4.5 from two days ago at 6

 

[Mary Pruter]

Also, since she has a catheter in for the past month-and-a-half do to her bladder retention she is developing UTIs. The hospital had her on three prescriptions in a roll of an antibiotic. Since I can tell as soon as she starts getting a UTI I give her a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and some water a couple times a day. I haven't had do this for the past 3 days. So I was wondering why the sudden drop in her potassium level and I checked the back of the bottle of apple cider vinegar and it says that it has 11 mg a potassium in it. Is that a high amount of potassium? Could this be why her potassium level went up so high?

 

[tara]

I checked the back of the bottle of apple cider vinegar and it says that it has 11 mg a potassium in it. Is that a high amount of potassium? Could this be why her potassium level went up so high?

11mg potassium is not very much. Most people get at least 2000 mg a day, and 100g baked potato can have over 500mg (Potato, baked, flesh and skin, without salt Nutrition Facts & Calories). I think supplementary potassium pills are typically 100mg.

 

[ecstatichamster]

11mg potassium is not very much. Most people get at least 2000 mg a day, and 100g baked potato can have over 500mg (Potato, baked, flesh and skin, without salt Nutrition Facts & Calories). I think supplementary potassium pills are typically 100mg.

3000 to 5000mg or more per day is what I think is healthy.

 

[Mary Pruter]

Oh, okay. I thought for sure this was what caused it. Maybe it was the combination of the pill for the doctor and the ACV. Good news though! She took her catheter out one night while I was sleeping and she has been peeing on her own every since then!