Another reason for high postassium

[raina]

When I first got sick I was could barely keep any food down and I had really, really high potassium.  After much internetting I discovered that high postassium can be caused by the body eating its own fats, which esp in kidney patients are high in potassium.  This, I recon, could really cause a problem, it nearly killed me.  They kept telling me to eat less and less of my favorite foods (mostly tomato based) which caused me to burn more and more body fat and my potassium kept creeping up.  After I got the attitude of "oh well, I'm going to die, just make me spagetti.."  I perked right up and my potassium has been ok since, except a few unforunate incidents.

I've also heard that high postassium can be caused by common dialysis drugs, like lisinopril and lasix.

[Chicken Little]

Hmmmm. Sounds familiar.  I'm eating practically nothing and having trouble keeping it down.  I just opened a paper copy of my last labs, where my doctor wrote WATCH YOUR POTASSIUM!!!     
Head meet Wall.     I'm also taking both Lisinopril and Lasix (now and then).

[raina]

or as needed.  how do you know when you need it?

both can cause high potassium.  i took lasix for a while after I stopped peeing and it did nothing for me then except screw up my potassium.

[Chicken Little]

or as needed.  how do you know when you need it?

When my ankles disappear and my shoes don't fit.     I get dehydrated if I take it every day.   I would assume dehydration is what causes the elevated potassium.

[raina]

Doesn't the lasix encourage people who have kidneys to pee?  So ifyou don't pee.. what do they do?  How do they get rid of the water? 

Theres lots of other options other than lysinopril.  I like my feledopine or atenanol.

My potassium was high for the 2 months I was on lysenopril.

Did you know during the trials for lisinopril they fed high doses of it to some rats and nothing special tosome other rats. The lisenopril rats lived literally years longer.  Weird.

Too bad we are not rats.

[jbeany]

Too bad we are not rats.

Can you send that memo to the medical establishment?  I'm not sure they know that yet.   

[kitkatz]

I am a lab rat, a big white lab rat.

[Chicken Little]

Doesn't the lasix encourage people who have kidneys to pee?  So ifyou don't pee.. what do they do?  How do they get rid of the water? 

I still have my pee powers!   

[Rerun]

Yes, Lasix (a diuretic) only works if you have kidney function.  It works with your kidneys to pull fluid out of the blood stream.

[shivashankerprasad]

well i m on PD dialysis since last two years and never in these two years i had high potassium level.
i eat seasonal fruits,tomatoes and sometimes salty potato chips as well.
when i enquired this with my neph he told me that since i have  still 10% residual renal function left and it being conserved in PD i m gettting rid of potassium ,phosphorus and excess salt more easily.
i m taking Frusenex as diuretics and it is also helping me to get rid of potassium and salt.
my potassium is 3.15 mmol/L{it is always just below normal irrespective of liberal diet.}

[raina]

pushing them to work like that.  I'd rather have fluid retention, myself.

I took lasix for months after I stopped peeing because the doc told me to... it did nothing but made my potassium high.

[Zach]

my potassium is 3.15 mmol/L{it is always just below normal irrespective of liberal diet.}

Remember, a low potassium is just as dangerous as a high potassium.  Both could lead to cardiac arrest.

[mallory]

I had very, very high potassium levels in 2005, before they even know that my kidneys were failing.  I was taking Lisinopril and my doctor took me off it and started me on Cozaar, because he said Lisinopril can make your potassium levels go up.

As soon as I switched to Cozaar, my potassium level went back down.  Here's a link regarding Lisinopril, it says people with higher grade renal impairment should take only low doses of Lisinopril:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisinopril

[shivashankerprasad]

yah i know low potassium is dangerous.

[Panda_9]

High and low potassium are much the same thing, and both can cause death.
When I was on conventional hemo I barely ate a thing and my K was always high. I saw the dietition a million times and it definitely wasnt my diet. They think it was pretty much to do with the potassium rebound effect post dx. What happens is your body reacts to the short run of dialysis and afterwards your K level shoots up. By the next day you need dialysis (or resonium and other treatments) to bring it back down. It got to the point where I was eating pretty much nothing. I only drank water or cordial, and was living on honey on toast and other unhealthy things that have negligable potassium. Since starting nocturnal hemo I dont have a problem with potassium and I can eat whatever I want. Before I couldnt even look at a tomato, now I can eat a whole tomato in one sitting and have no problem. My pre K levels are around 4.5 - 5.0.

[shay_pcb]

I've had LOW potassium since I started dialysis. I have to take potassium salts to keep it in the normal range. I guess it's bc I still have kidney function and I get dialyzed every night on PD.

[Panda_9]

pushing them to work like that.  I'd rather have fluid retention, myself.

I took lasix for months after I stopped peeing because the doc told me to... it did nothing but made my potassium high.

No offense but your doctor is an idiot!

[shivashankerprasad]

well lasix is a diuretics and it make u urinate.
sodium,potassium and ammonia are excreted via urine when u take lasix{frusemide}
i was having hyponatremia {loe sodium}due to excess use of frusemide.