Our body requires a balanced electrolytes level to function well. One of the most essential electrolytes is Potassium (K+). It plays an important role in how nerves and muscles function, including our heart and lung muscles.
Hyperkalemia is a medical term for having a high level of potassium in the bloodstream, usually above 5.5millimoles per liter mmol/L (normal value is 3.6 to 5.2 mmol/L).
In normal conditions, our kidneys are responsible for excreting 90% of the potassium from the bloodstream. But what will happen if the kidneys are not functioning well?
People with Chronic Kidney Diseases (CKD) are at high risk of hyperkalemia, because their kidneys cannot remove the extra potassium from blood. The potassium will be accumulated, instead of leaving the body through the urine, it will travel through the kidney and go back into the bloodstream again.
High potassium level is usually hard to be recognized from the symptoms, they are usually mild and develop gradually over months but if symptoms appear, they include the following:
Hyperkalemia brings along symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea.
High level of potassium in the blood will affect the function of nerves. Usually, potassium helps our nerves to translate signals to our brain, but this becomes difficult when there’s too much potassium in the bloodstream.
Symptoms will appear as tingling in the legs, arms, and feet.
Hyperkalemia will affect your muscle function; it will limit your normal daily activity like walking and mild exercises.
A serious side effect of elevated potassium level in the blood is having irregular heartbeats, your heart beating too fast, too slow, or not in an even rhythm.
This happens because potassium plays an important role in the integral of the electric signal functioning the myocardium (middle layer of the heart).
above the normal level, potassium can interfere with the electric signals and leads to different types of heart arrhythmias. It will appear as:
Another serious complication of untreated hyperkalemia is shortness of the breath, this happens because the elevated potassium will affect the muscle function of the lungs, also due to decrease the ability of the heart to pump the blood the lungs won’t get enough oxygen to function.
This will appear as having difficulty in catching your breath or feeling a tightness in the chest. In severe cases, it might feel as if you are suffocating.
Hyperkalemia symptoms are mild and cannot be recognized, if you have a kidney disease you are at high risk and your nephrologist will advise you to do a regular blood test to monitor your serum potassium level (levels over 6.0 mmol/L are considered severe).
Your nephrologist may also ask for Electrocardiography (ECG) which is a device that is used to record the electrical activity of the heart, this examination is highly required especially in severe cases.
Although anyone can have hyperkalemia, there are some cases who are at higher risk for developing the condition, including people with:
People with kidney diseases should follow a low potassium diet plan to prevent hyperkalemia, and they should avoid bananas, oranges, mangoes, tomatoes, milk and dairy products because they have high levels of potassium.
Depending on your case; your doctor might prescribe medications to increase the urine output, to remove the excess potassium from the body.
They bind to the excess potassium in your bowel, and leave your body through the stool.
In severe cases your doctor might administer IV treatment.
Hyperkalemia, when potassium level is elevated in the bloodstream above 5.5 mmol/L. Hyperkalemia is usually asymptomatic and people with chronic renal diseases are at higher risk of this condition therefore they should do a regular blood test to monitor the potassium level in their body.
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