what potassium level is high?

[*kana*]

Be careful if you are a difficult  blooddraw like I am.  My clinic is terrible at blood draws and for 3 mths my pottasium has been 6.3 and this past clinic visit they were going to give me something to bring it down.  Mind you, I haven't had high potassium since I started D and force myself to drink tons of OJ to keep it up.  They noticed in my chart that I had repeat blood work at the hospital prior to my fistual surgery and my potassium was 3.2 only 2-3 days after their 6.3 draw.  If the blood draw is hemolized it will register higher then normal like in my case.  Good thing I didn't drink that stuff to bring it down or I would have died.   

[-Lady Noir-]

Yeap, they can get it wrong for sure. About 6 years ago Mike had to go into A&E with a supposed potassium level of 8.3 or something, turns out they got it wrong!

[lunadatura]

I was in the hosptial on the neph floor for an undiagnosised mystery illness that they never identified but whilst i was there they said my K was at 6 and they gave my a potassium binder. The docs/nurses said that was pretty high.

[kitkatz]

During my recent hospitalization my potassium was out of whack. In the ER they gave me everything they could to bring it down.  Terrible things, then they made me drink Kaexolate several times a day ( Can you say icky)  to keep it down. Heck, if they just dialyzed me regularly instead of waiting four days....

[-Lady Noir-]

Potassium binder??!! Really? What is this one called?
Not sure if we have one over here in NZ

[lunadatura]

Kaexolate= potassium binder - its a gross gray liquid that taste awful and gave me constipation - YECK!!

[cookie2008]

I have the opposite problem my is low my neph has me on meds and I can eat what ever has potassium in it, the meds upset my stomach and when I was in the hospital they put it in my iv I had them stop it, it burned and hurt so bad.

[texasstyle]

I think that more on the unsual side for a dialysis patient isn't it? The low potassium. Either way I do know that too high, or too low can be dangerous. Hope you get this straigtened out.

[Razman]

  Two years ago my level was up to 5.8  and I was given a perscription for  Kayexalate ( Sodium Polystyrene Sulfonate USP ) .  It is a powder and I take  2 1/2  tsp  per day (could take up to 16 ) and you mix with a glass of water.  Since I am not on dialysis I can take as much fluid as I want so there is no problem.  Quickly lowered my level to 4.2 .

[-Lady Noir-]

Kaexolate= potassium binder - its a gross gray liquid that taste awful and gave me constipation - YECK!!

Oh THAT! Haha.. real chalky & revolting, i remember now. Made Mike vomit most of the time.. 
No wonder they couldn't get his potassium down that much. They let him out of the hospital at 6.1 

[Bub]

For the 1 1/2 that I have been on dialysis my potassium has been less that 4.5 and has lately been 4.0 each time it was checked.  I have had problems with phosphorus, but do not have to worry about my potassium.

[-Lady Noir-]

Oh dang, Mikes potassium is 6.5 this month! Lately it's been sitting at about 4.0 - 5.0
 

[Darthvadar]

Mum's was 7.9...

Mind you, her GP phoned me, and told me to get her to the hospital quickly before she had a heart attack!...

She went on dialysis within days....

Darth...

[texasstyle]

 Latest results as of today were 6.9. It shows too high on the report. I can't believe they didn't say anything except that. To me, that's scary. WTHeck.....We will watch diet extra carefully this week. He's been taking better care of his diet lately.

[woodsman]

I take 8 teaspoons of Sodium Polystyrene Sulfonate mixed with water (tastes like sand and mud)  2xs a week to keep P down. No dialysis yet but it may be fast approching.

[texasstyle]

he drinks one bottle of the stuff in the middle of the week. If it doesn't start coming down I bet that'll be increased. He actually drinks it on Wed. instead of going to dialysis. Don't ask! LOL You can lead a horse to water...

[texasstyle]

How has the binder been working for you? I'm sorry you have to even go go through that.

[Rerun]

Mine has been 6.1 and 6.0 the last 2 months.  I'd better cut out the M&M's.   

[pdpatty]

Texas,I hope your husband is AWARE that dialysis isn't just for controlling the potassium level in blood. Remember it is an artifucal means of ridding the blood of all those nasties our kidneys used to remove.

I don't like my 3X a week but it HAS to be done. He really needs to be compliiant so he will live longer.

[Sax-O-Trix]

I am not on dialysis (yet), but tend to have higher than I should potassium levels, even when I was at 50% function.  Three years ago when I was at 28% function or so, I had an emergency appendectomy.  I was under the care of a surgeon and my GP.  Apparently my potassium levels were high and my GP ordered a flipping enema in the middle of the night.  I refused it!  No way, it wasn't going to happen.  The next morning the surgeon came in and told me I had probably saved my own life by refusing the stupid enema...  He said the enema could have burst the fresh sutures in my intestines from the appendectomy!  He reamed out the GP, I heard about from one of the nurses.  My GP never mentioned it...  Has anyone heard of an enema as a way to help get K levels down?

[Ken Shelmerdine]

My blood sample has to be tested almost immediately or it haemolyses and gives a false result (way to high) Now instead of the bloods being asessed at the D clinic they are sent to a hospital 12 miles away and by the time they are tested it is the day after.

 I have not had an accurate K reading for about 3 months. I'm going to have to see my GP to get an appointment to an NHS walk in clinic. They can test for potassium within minutes of the blood test. Before all this my K was always about 5.2. Now it reads 6.2 but it's either partly or fully haemolysed.

[pdpatty]

I have posted this link before,many times. You do need Acrobat reader  to access it (PDF) BUT it is the best list of foods and their potassium content per 1 cup(8 fluid ounces) measurments.

I have it in my favorites so I can access it any time I need too,which is quite often


http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR17/wtrank/sr17a306.pdf

[Poppylicious]

Wow, I wish this thread hadn't been bumped!  No wonder they wanted Blokey to stay in hospital (his potassium was 7.2 on Friday and is currently still too high; yikes!).  I would like to add that they're convinced it wasn't due to diet, but due to his Blood Baby* as a result of his op last week! 

(* he has a collection of blood in his belly where his tenckhoff was taken out, creating a rigid swollen lump which could take up to three months to disassipate ... he's already had to come off his warfarin because of it; i have far too much to worry about now and will go and stick my head in the sand for a while ...)

 

[texasstyle]

I knew someone on dialysis who was put in the hosp. for high K. What ever they gave him there gave him severe diarrhea. I think that was how the K got of of his system. I guess an enema would run along the same lines but I'm wondering about this because if it's in your bloodstream, how would that actually work? Hhmm... maybe someone can help us out with that one. Aww Poppy, I', sorry he's still in the hosp.You DO have a lot to worry about. We're here for you. PS: when a thread is "bumped", what does that mean? I don't want to make any errors.

[Stoday]

when a thread is "bumped", what does that mean? I don't want to make any errors.

With no posts to keep it active, a thread will become history and fall off the bottom of the visible page. If someone accesses it and posts, it will become active again and appear near the top of the list, i.e. it gets bumped to the top.