Needing Special "K"

[IrishEyes]

I'm asking for your input on this because I know that you guys can always give me some sound information. :D

 

I have a very good friend that is in the hospital, again. It seems that her body is having a difficult time absorbing potassium. Basically, she's got very little of the Special K left in her, and she's been hospitalized. The docs can't seem to figure out what is wrong with her, and this has been going on for about 2 years now. As is typical in the medical field, they check her blood for the K level, find it low, admit her to the hospital, run a few tests, shake their heads in puzzlement, and send her home. The process is usually repeated at least once a month.

 

She modified her diet to include K-high foods. She does her best to get rest. She's not under an unusual amount of stress.

 

I've done lots of internet homework on possible causes, but none seem to fit. So I'm wondering if anyone else has ever dealt with anything similar or not. If so, what was the cause and the cure????? :)

 

As worried as I am about her, I'm even more concerned with her oldest son. He is having a very hard time dealing with his constantly ill mother, especially when there is no name to go along with the symptoms that take her from home and leave him resoponsible for the house and other kids. Having some sort of disease or syndrome might help. Does that make sense?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Tormod]

Uhm...what is Special K apart from a Kellogg's product?

[IrishEyes]

Uhm...what is Special K apart from a Kellogg's product?

Name: Potassium

Symbol: K

 

Sorry, I didn't realize that I was being ambiguous. I put in :

It seems that her body is having a difficult time absorbing potassium.

just in case, but I guess I wasn't clear enough.

:)

[Turtle]

___I did some searching, but I frankly don't have the chemistry background to analyze the result. Nonetheless, here is a site with tons of articles on "potassium metabolism disorders".

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Search&db=pubmed&term=potassium+metabolism+disorders&tool=fuzzy&ot=potassium+metabolsim+disorder

___I hope I haven't repeated your efforts. :)

[IrishEyes]

___I hope I haven't repeated your efforts. :)

Turtle, you're a gem!

And honestly, that's what I was hoping for. The reason I like to ask questions here, even if I've already done a mountain of research, is because everyone has a different way of looking at things. I can't even count the number of times that I've googled something, only to ask it here and have someone (usually C1ay:) ) return with totally different links. Not to say that I didn't do enough digging, but I've learned that when playing the Google-game, it's often best to get two or three people searching, because they will normally use different key words/pharses.

All that to say that I hadn't even thought to include 'metabolic' in my search.

Thanks for the new direction! :D

[Tormod]

Irish, I meant no disrespect of course! Should have been a clown emotikon up there.

 

I'd love to be able to help but this is something I know nothing about. :)

[IrishEyes]

Irish, I meant no disrespect of course! Should have been a clown emotikon up there.

Damn computer screens. All they do is show what was written. Why don't you get alex and Killean to figure out a way to impart tone of voice in things that we type?? (something other than having to do the silly _sarcasm_ thing...)

[Turtle]

Irish, I meant no disrespect of course! Should have been a clown emotikon up there.

 

___Time to get cereal about this! :D :doh:

 

___I actually didn't start with "metabolism" but rather I searched "potassium uptake" first. A lot of articles on yeast with that, but I saw the term "metabolism" in one of them & modified the search. That gave a lot of results too, but it started looking more human with mention in titles of insulin & menopause. If either of these conditions (or others mentioned in titles of search results) applies, I would start another search which adds such a term to the original search entry. Divide & conquer. :)

[UncleAl]

Hypokalemia is usually due to kidney excretion. It is almost impossible not to absorb potassium. A broad spectrum of dugs - especially blood pressure meds - cause selective potassium loss. Is there hydrochloric acid in her gastric juice? Hypokalemia from pathology has well-defined medical connections and will often be tied to other ion imbalances like calcium.

 

It is entirely possible she has an idiosyncratic problem. It is entirely possible she does not have the brightest doctor. Try an entirely different medical group and hospital.

[Biochemist]

Hypokalemia is usually due to kidney excretion. It is almost impossible not to absorb potassium. A broad spectrum of dugs - especially blood pressure meds - cause selective potassium loss...

UA is correct, althought I suspect that hypokalemia from antihypertensive diuretics is pretty unlikely. That is the first thing any (competent) internist would check. There are some potassium sparing diuretics (e.g., spironolactone) that actually elevate potassium, but I suspect they would have tried that.

 

There are a relatively small number of folks with neurogenic syncope that have a hard time retaining salt of any sort. You usually treat that by upping salt intake (a lot). I suspect she could do well on potassium supplements. FYI, low-sodium salt is WAY high in potassium, and tastes a LOT better than potassium supplements.

[Fishteacher73]

Could it be a thyroid issue? K being a fat soluable vitamin...Perhaps the storage mechanisms are out of whack (leading me to think possible thyroid issues...) Just a thought, I'm not an MD or anything..

[Biochemist]

Fish- We were on the topic of Potassium (K+), not vitamin K. That is waht Irish eyes gets for being cute and naming the thread aftger a cereal.