Potassium

[Whamo]

My nutritionist said you can eat more potassium with PD.  How much more? 

[justme15]

interesting, because my dietician implied the same thing.  i say imply because she wasn't exactly clear about whether I should eat more, or just continue eating the amount I have been.  Then my PD nurse said no, you don't eat more potassium...

[cassandra]

If you come from hemo you can eat 3,000-4,000 mg of potassium a day, that's about a third more than on hemo.

good luck Cas

[Grumpy-1]

How much more is dependant on the labs and how low or how high your potassium levels are.  Some months I low and told to eat more bananas, other months I'm high and told to cut back on foods that have higher amounts in them.  Grumpy

[billybags]

grumpy, you are so right, it is dependant on the labs and how low or how high your potassium levels are.  My husbands potassium has been low for a while and they worry about his, heart because the heart needs potassium. He has to eat melon, bananas, mushrooms and I've just introduced him to asparagus. His levels are gradually getting up. So yes you do have to go by bloods.

[amanda100wilson]

also dependent on your residual function.

[MaryD]

I assume you have monthly labs.  Ease gently off your potassium restrictions (maybe have a banana each week or a luscious tomato sandwich or what ever tickles your fancy).  Check your labs next time and ease in which ever direction you need to.

On PD your potassium is being gently removed all the time - along with everthing else.

Did you get told you must keep your protein intake WAY up?

[Willis]

Before going on PD I was on a potassium restricted diet for years and always hovered near or over the upper limit. After starting PD I was told that more or less I didn't have to worry about potassium any more. So without watching out for potassium rich foods at all now I have always been under the threshold requirement without doing anything special. (I do tend to be on the high side, but still much lower than pre-PD.)

What PD doesn't do a good job of controlling is phosphorus. So most PD patients need to watch their phosphorus levels carefully and take binders with every meal. I still eat a bit of chocolate or ice cream occasionally, but always wait to treat myself until after my monthly labs. 

 

[Joe]

My potassium numbers are typically ok with little attention being paid to my diet. What does suck are my Phosphorous numbers. I'm to the point that I'm taking 5 renvella and 1 Phoslo binders with every meal. Hopefully, my labs this month will show an improvement.

[Whamo]

My potassium numbers have been in the correct range for six months, at least, on my labs.  My phosphorus rate has hit the problem level the last two labs.  I gave blood for November's test yesterday, so I'll be hearing about that soon, and I'll go from there.  I've stopped drinking 8 oz. zero cokes and stopped eating slices of cheese in breakfast sandwiches.  I hope that helps.  I've been reading bad things about too many antacids (TUMS) which I use for binders.  But I prefer them to pills. 

[travbug]

My Potassium was low so Dr. gave me potassium pills, which disagree with me, so now I am on liquid potassium.   Had high Phosphorous number so now take renvella with meals   

[smcd23]

When my husband did PD, he ate anything he wanted on the potassium list. The phosphorus was another story...

[Whamo]

My November labs came through, and everything was A-OK, with my potassium number in the middle of the range.  More importantly, I got my phosphorus number down.  I stopped drinking zero cokes and slices of cheese on sandwiches.

[natnnnat]

That can be hard to do, Whamo, to stop drinking cokes and eating cheese.  Good on you.
Gregory has cut down on diet coke, and his phosphate was alright last week too, but it's not that easy for him to do.

[Whamo]

My labs for early November came out good, nothing out of the range, with potassium in the middle of the range.  More importantly, my phosphorus number went down. 

[Scotty]

What if you get your protein from whey protein powder?  Powder is really very low in potassium (87mg) and phosphorous (47mg) ... per serving (serving is 30 grams or about 1 ounce) ... that gives you 24g protein ... or about what you get in 1oz steak. ... of course you might likely eat a 4 oz steak.   One ounce  = 24g of steak gives you something like about 200mg Potassium and 300mg Phosphorous per ounce.     Now I just have to figure what to mix the protein in to make it taste good.  Milk is out!

[smcd23]

What if you get your protein from whey protein powder?  Powder is really very low in potassium (87mg) and phosphorous (47mg) ... per serving (serving is 30 grams or about 1 ounce) ... that gives you 24g protein ... or about what you get in 1oz steak. ... of course you might likely eat a 4 oz steak.   One ounce  = 24g of steak gives you something like about 200mg Potassium and 300mg Phosphorous per ounce.     Now I just have to figure what to mix the protein in to make it taste good.  Milk is out!

Strong flavored fruit juice of some sort?

[treesx4]

Potassium’s most important job is to keep the heart and other muscles working. When you’re on PD you will likely dialyze every day, deeming it necessary to eat high-potassium foods to maintain normal potassium levels.

[Joe]

What if you get your protein from whey protein powder?  Powder is really very low in potassium (87mg) and phosphorous (47mg) ... per serving (serving is 30 grams or about 1 ounce) ... that gives you 24g protein ... or about what you get in 1oz steak. ... of course you might likely eat a 4 oz steak.   One ounce  = 24g of steak gives you something like about 200mg Potassium and 300mg Phosphorous per ounce.     Now I just have to figure what to mix the protein in to make it taste good.  Milk is out!

I mix things into Cranapple juice. It works well for me.

[tito]

Treesx4:

You really cannot and should not generalize like that. The amount of potassium you can eat depends upon labs. And, the labs depend upon PD clearance. Clearance has a lot to do with whether a person is a slow or rapid transporter.

For example, I am a slow transporter. My clearance hovers around the minimum, no matter how much I may increase PD. We have tried longer dwells, shorter dwells and everything in between. Therefore, my potassium depends upon how much I ingest. I watch what I eat and drink, choosing juices that are lower in potassium and staying away from certain foods. This is the opposite of what some have said in this thread, namely that a person can have more potassium on PD. It depends on the person, the membrane, etc.

It is misleading to tell people that just because they are on PD they can have more potassium. Please do not do this. I tend to take a lot of information on this board with a grain of salt and instead go to my dietician, nephrologist, etc. Grumpy and Billibags are correct.

[billybags]

Thanks for that Toto, hubby had bloods taken last week and whooooooooo potassium has gone sky high in just a week. We are lucky because we get our blood results on line the day after they are taken. \so it is , no melon, and we think it was the tomato juice he had just started to take that has whammed it up, so no more tomato juice. Apparently tomato juice is really saturated in potassium, nice to know. Its a juggling game, bloods tell all.

[treesx4]

Each person is different. I had no issues with in on PD or Hemo. I found that info on the Devita site..
http://www.davita.com/kidney-disease/diet-and-nutrition/diet%20basics/potassium-and-chronic-kidney-disease/e/5308

There is always Kayexalate if it gets to high as well.

[natnnnat]

MyNetDiary counts potassium I think, and Phosphate.
http://www.mynetdiary.com/index.html
I used it a bit to work out where Gregory was getting his K from.  Useful, it works out how much potassium calories etc was in what you ate/plan to eat and keeps a running daily total.

[M3Riddler]

My nutritionist said you can eat more potassium with PD.  How much more?

Whamo,

This is not necessarily true.  Everyone handles dialysis differently. Until you are actually on dialysis and seeing how good your peritoneal cavity is wihile doing PD, there is no real way to tell how much potassium you will illiminate.  I was on PD for 13 years and had to watch my potassium intake at times.   Some have issues while some do not.  But to say you can eat more potassium is misleading.  Have you talked to a renal dietitian ?    Are you on dialysis yet?

[Whamo]

I don't watch my potassium, and my labs are fine.  I do have phos issues once in awhile, but that's a different matter.