Too much potassium in the blood: causes and symptoms of hyperkalemia

If you suffer from hyperkalemia, you have too much potassium in your blood. This disorder can be triggered by a number of causes and result in various symptoms. However, hyperkalemia can also be treated.

These are the causes of hyperkalemia

Hyperkalemia is usually a result of various causes that raise the level of potassium in the blood too high.

• If you are already taking medication that impairs kidney function, this can lead to hyperkalemia. The kidneys cannot excrete enough potassium. The same applies to kidney disease, which also affects the secretion of potassium.
  
• Eating a high-potassium diet or other treatments that use potassium can also increase blood potassium levels. Potassium is found in all unprocessed foods, but it is particularly high in vegetables, nuts, and whole grains. In completely healthy kidneys, however, these factors alone are not a reason for hyperkalemia.
  
• 98 percent of the potassium in the body is stored in body cells. If this potassium is released into the blood, for example due to cell damage, the potassium content can also become too high.
  

These are the symptoms of too much potassium in the blood

Hyperkalemia develops over a long period of time in most cases. Therefore, there are often no clear symptoms in the form of complaints or the like.

• Most often, hyperkalemia is only discovered incidentally, for example in the course of a blood count at the doctor’s.
  
• If there are symptoms, they usually appear in the form of gastrointestinal complaints and diarrhea. Other symptoms include confusion, restlessness and muscle weakness. These fainting spells can escalate to paralysis.
  
• In an extreme stage of hyperkalemia, it can also lead to cardiac arrhythmias that can result in cardiac arrest.
  

Too much potassium in the blood is often not detected by symptoms, but by a blood count from the doctor.imago images / Zoonar

How is hyperkalemia treated?

If you have symptoms of hyperkalemia or a history of high blood potassium, be sure to contact a doctor. Only he can make a clear diagnosis and order adequate treatment methods.

• You can counteract mild hyperkalemia yourself by avoiding foods rich in potassium and, if possible, by stopping medication that impairs kidney function.
  
• A diuretic increases potassium excretion because the drug has a dehydrating effect. However, you can only take this if your kidneys are functioning normally.
  
• A more serious disorder requires hospital treatment. Dialysis may be ordered to wash the potassium out of the blood. Calcium is also given to protect the heart and then treated with insulin and glucose, which lower potassium levels. A number of other treatment options can be used individually.