Mechanism Of Hypokalemia (low Potassium) In Magnesium Deficiency

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Mechanism of Hypokalemia in Magnesium Deficiency

1. Chou-Long Huang
2. Elizabeth Kuo

"Herein is reviewed literature suggesting that magnesium deficiency exacerbates potassium wasting by increasing distal potassium secretion. A decrease in intracellular magnesium, caused by magnesium deficiency, releases the magnesium-mediated inhibition of ROMK channels and increases potassium secretion. Magnesium deficiency alone, however, does not necessarily cause hypokalemia. An increase in distal sodium delivery or elevated aldosterone levels may be required for exacerbating potassium wasting in magnesium deficiency."

This part is interesting, elevated aldosterone is needed with mag deficiency to lower potassium. I wonder if being sodium replete (to lower aldosterone) with magnesium deficiency would prevent the potassium wasting. I would like to see what effect sodium has on holding on to magnesium I have seen Peat say adequate sodium is beneficial for the calcium, potassium, magnesium etc

"It is estimated that more than 50% of clinically significant hypokalemia has concomitant magnesium deficiency. "

"Hypokalemia associated with magnesium deficiency is often refractory to treatment with K+. Co-administration of magnesium is essential for correcting the hypokalemia"

"To support this idea, Baehler et al.5 showed that administration of magnesium decreases urinary K+ excretion and increases serum K+ levels in a patient with Bartter disease with combined hypomagnesemia and hypokalemia. Similarly, magnesium replacement alone (without K+) increases serum K+ levels in individuals who have hypokalemia and hypomagnesemia and receive thiazide treatment.6 Magnesium administration decreased urinary K+ excretion in these individuals."

"Additional factors that would provide an unabating driving force for K+ secretion (i.e., prevent apical membrane hyperpolarization), such as an increase in distal sodium delivery and elevated aldosterone levels, are important for exacerbating K+ wasting in magnesium deficiency (Figure 3)"

I am not quite sure what that sodium reference means, elevated sodium in the presence of elevated aldosterone increases the wasting? Elevated aldosterone alone increases the wasting. I have seen sodium (as well as magnesium) can reduce aldosterone so I think adequate sodium and magnesium is required to lower the aldosterone. Perhaps a lot of the issues in this article can be caused by sodium deficiency as well.

 

[yerrag]

I've gotten interested more in magnesium lately, after reading some chapters on the book "Potassium Nutrition" by Charles Weber. He says that magnesium deficiency needs to be addressed as without it, potassium deficiency will not be addressed.

As an aside, I got interested in potassium deficiency because he believes that deficiency in potassium keeps phagocytes from being able to destroy mycoplasma bacteria. According to him, mycoplasma bacteria resides in the synovial fluid of the knee joint (and other joints as well), and that the bacteria is the cause of rheumatoid arthritis. I recently experienced low potassium as a result of ingesting too much raw garlic, and during this time, my rheumatoid arthritis in my knee felt worse, even with red lighting. When that happened, I was wondering why my knees took a turn for the worse. Reading the book, I realized my low potassium coincided with an increase in my knee pain, and that Weber may be on to something. I also have a recurring issue of either psoriasis or scleroderma on my scalp, and that had flared up as well during that time. A google search shows mycoplasma bacteria could be involved in my scalp condition as well.

I had tried to increase my potassium before, and it didn't budge. But my latest serum potassium is within range, but just barely. So, it is possible that my magnesium levels are low. But the problem is that serum readings of our electrolytes do not really say much about the actual electrolyte levels in our tissues, which includes muscles, organs, even the bones.

As far as sodium levels, I tried increasing my salt intake, in the hope that I would be able to increase blood volume and lower my blood pressure. It didn't lower my blood pressure, and I kept on urinating. This, to me, meant that the body is saying it can't take anymore sodium, and is urinating it. My guess is, it could be possible that the low magnesium levels in the body is keeping it from taking in more of the other electrolytes potassium and sodium.

I can't recall the exact figures, but serum magnesium comprises only a small fraction (5% or less) of our total magnesium, so it really isn't indicative of whether we are magnesium deficient or not. So, really, there's no way we could tell if we have sufficient magnesium. My plan is to take enough magnesium bicarbonate water daily, enough such that I'm close to having diarrhea. This would be my dosage. I will be doing this for the next 6 months, as based off the book, restoring magnesium levels could take as long as 6 months. During that time, I will be taking foods rich in potassium, and would be adding more salt to what I eat. This should increase my potassium and sodium levels as well.

I will be observing my arthritic knee (and left middle finger as well) for relief from pain, my scalp for abatement of sores (a continuous condition of scales developing that never resolves), and my blood pressure, which is really the reason I went this deep into magnesium. @burtlancast has shown me a few links about magnesium being able to remove heavy metals from the kidney, and that is what led me to looking into magnesium. It turns out that magnesium is very central to our health. Considering that all my life I haven't paid attention to supplementing or eating anything that is remotely rich in magnesium (leaves, coffee, what else is there?) I just can't see there being any chance that I won't be deficient in magnesium. This to me means that I have a lot of catching up to do as far as getting my magnesium levels quite up to par to the body's needs (And maybe it's not just me).

Am I jumping the gun here? Is there a way to properly tell if our body has sufficient magnesium? I really would appreciate knowing so, because magnesium excess could kill as well, according to haidut in an episode of the Generative Energy podcast. As per haidut, the good thing though is that we usually have diarrhea when there is an excess, and that keeps magnesium poisoning from happening. But I'm still concerned about the effects of 6 months of to-the-max magnesium supplementation, as to whether it could lead to some dangerous level of toxicity or not. Probably I would get some warning signs, such as arrhythmia, who knows? That remains to be seen.

I could start with this experiment on myself as soon as I get my carbonation setup going. Dan Wich shows how magnesium bicarbonate water is made here: Magnesium bicarbonate supplementation - Toxinless . I'm getting my carbonation setup going and it will take a while though, as I still have to get a heated CO2 regulator* from the US, and have it shipped to me. I won't know how much elemental magnesium I could be able to get in a liter of DIY magnesium bicarbonate water, but once I know dosing will be easy to figure out.

* I don't really need a heated CO2 regulator if I were just using it for my carbonation setup , but I'm running the carbonation setup off the same CO2 tank I'll be using for a Carbogen bath and Carbogen breathing device. The Carbogen applications require a continuous stream of CO2, and there is a good likelihood that without a heated regulator, the CO2 coming off a highly pressurized state would turn into ice and block the passage in the regulator. I have a manifold set up so the tank and regulator can be shared, and that would save me some money and space.

 

[yerrag]

(5% or less)

It's actually just 1%

 

[TreasureVibe]

I think potassium is more important than they're telling us, and our diets barely provide us enough.

 

[burtlancast]

I think potassium is more important than they're telling us, and our diets barely provide us enough.

Actually, potassium is one of the 3 ingredients of industrial fertilizers NPK: there's ample evidence for an excess of potassium in industrial vegetables, rather than a deficiency.

 

[TreasureVibe]

Actually, potassium is one of the 3 ingredients of industrial fertilizers NPK: there's ample evidence for an excess of potassium in industrial vegetables, rather than a deficiency.

Hmm, I based my observations on the remarks of this Dr, it's worth watching:





Let me know what you think of this Dr's observations.

Also, check out this article: 98% of American Diets Potassium-Deficient | NutritionFacts.org

 

[InChristAlone]

It's always something, get more potassium rich vegetables, or it's get more calcium from diary, or it's rub mag oil all over your body, or it's eat teaspoons of salt a day to lower adrenaline. When in reality the human body is pretty efficient at operating regardless of how much of each as long as you don't get dehydrated in hot weather and sweat out all your minerals or vomit and poop it all out. My kids eat a pretty low potassium diet and have never experienced hypokalemia.

 

[burtlancast]

Let me know what you think of this Dr's observations.

Also, check out this article: 98% of American Diets Potassium-Deficient | NutritionFacts.org

The article merely reminds people they aren't eating enough vegetables. The doctor seems disengenious.

Here's an ultra-rare book by french agronomist Andre Voisin titled "Grass tetany" which explains the catastrophes that afflicted animal farmers when the NPK fertilizers were introduced to them. It's mainly the excess potassium that caused these ravages.

Courtesy of soil and health australian library.