Comments on: POTASSIUM supplementation–do you need to consider it?

By: Debbie

Debbie — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:40:39 +0000

Thanks Janie.

Does anyone have an answer? Are there other labs that run the RBC potassium levels? If so please let me know. Thanks.

Debbie

By: Debbie

Debbie — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:03:44 +0000

Thank you Janie for your reply. Are there any other labs that run this test? I don’t know if my GP will take info from a lab she isn’t familiar with.

(From Janie: I would suggest asking patients about this within good patient groups: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/talk-to-others )

By: Debbie

Debbie — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:27:58 +0000

I have tried to find out which lab runs the Red Blood Cell Potassium lab and cannot find one. My GP will generally run testing for me, but without it being listed on the labs she uses, this will lessen my chances of it getting run.

Thanks.

(From Janie: go to the following link, and see list of labs on left. You’ll see RBC Potassium: https://sttm.mymedlab.com/sttm-profiles/sttm-thyroid-complete For future reference, My Med Lab is listed on this page: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/recommended-labwork and is also on page 242 of revised STTM book.)

By: Heidi

Heidi — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 20:53:27 +0000

I have been struggling to keep my potassium up. I take up to 120M a day. I have been through all testing.been close to 2 heart attacks. I kept saying that my thryoid was the issue. I finnally found a WONDERFUL doctor that looks outside of the box. She started me 3week ago on Nature Thyoid and It has been like day and night. And yeaterday I had my potassium checked and it is up to 4.1 WoooHoo!! I am so excited!! I feel wonderful, I can breathe again,literally. I hope that my info will help others
Heidi

By: charlotte

charlotte — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:53:45 +0000

I’ve had unexplained episodes of potassium loss for the past 6-7 years that increased in severity and eventually led me to a nephrologist….then to an endocrinologist who found a goiter two days ago—and he’s thinking Hashimoto’s. I’ve been taking a potassium chloride supplement, but can barely get my K levels up to 3.6. My question is…even with hypothyroid treatment, will postassium remain a problem? And what’s the mechanism for the loss? Is it because of overworked adrenals? My cortisol was normal—but I’m wondering about other bloggers who have potassium issues. If our potassium is low, would that be a red flag for adrenal issues?

Charlotte

By: melissa

melissa — Mon, 31 May 2010 05:33:29 +0000

I have a question. I have been having a problem with my potassium. for quite a while it has been dropping and for some reason they could not find out why. they have not been checking rbc just serum. I get it around normal but I start feeling cramps in chest when it gets close to 3.0 and it has gone as low as 2.3 before. that called for potassium from I.V. as you could imagine. Is it possible that rbc is lower? Can it be lower than serum and if it does not go up at same rate, how does it get raised without getting serum too high? Of coarse, I have seen now about false high’s with pumping fists and tunicates on too long and etc in some articles so my potassium may have actually been lower than even the 2.3. But I have been searching and have not found hardly any information on if rbc is lower than serum numbers.
Thanks,
Melissa

(From Janie: Yes, RBC Potassium will be more accurate)

By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:11:25 +0000

My potassium has dropped from 5.2 to 3.4 since my TT in Oct. 2009. I have extreme dizziness, nausea, horrible muscle weakness, cramps and spasms, chest pain, intense muscle pain and left arm pain. I feel confused a lot of the time and I’ve been eating SO MUCH spinach, raisins and bananas, as well as taking potassium powder supplements. I can’t get it above 3.9. I will ask for the other blood test. Oh, I had a one time urine test to see if potassium was leaving through kidneys. My dr. shakes his head and says, wow, I’ve never seen anything like this. Maybe he should visit the internet once in a while?

By: Kim

Kim — Thu, 21 May 2009 02:30:02 +0000

Oh, my! I can’t believe this! Awesome. I just about gave up, thinking I can’t get any help. I tried alot of things with the adrenal issues and such…found out I can’t use cortisols, so I gave up on everybody and stayed away, in my own misery…..I would have never knew this happened about potassium except for your blog! I am going for testing and find out where I am at. I was the same as Val, 4.2. Interesting!

By: toriterese

toriterese — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:43:31 +0000

Yay! Thanks for this blog post…this comes at an all too familiar time, as I’ve just discovered my potassium is in the toilet, and I need to supplement. In fact Valerie and I were just posting on our Yahoo group about why kind to try, and how much. Thank you for always posting such relavent stuff…and lifesaving!