Symptoms of Low Potassium?

Question

My mother has incredibly low potassium. She has been struggling with trying to get it up for the last six months. In the last six months she has lost fourty pounds as well. She had surgery last December and since then, she is on pain medicine. She says that many days she just does not feel like eating. She sleeps all of the time. Do these sound like symptoms of low potassium or do you think she is lying? I am so worried about her I can't even do anything. I wish she would just quit her stupid factory job and go on disability and take better care of herself but I can't make her do it.

Answer 1

Whats important here is that she talks to her doctor--potassium is nothing to be fooling around with.  I think he would suggest a potassium supplement.   I had very low potassium as well with my kidney disease and i took the pills for a while. however, i did not want to take the pills so i stopped taking them and made sure i ate foods with alot of protien.  symptoms are these horrible muscle cramps, painful or not.  also, the person just feels not well in general

hope everything is well and good luck

Answer 2

There is always a reason for the low potassium. Symptoms include moderate muscle weakness to severe flaccid paralysis, loss of general sensations, irregular heart rhythm, confusion and disorientation.

Get a complete checkup.

Answer 3

Cramping is usually a common sign of a low potassium level. Weakness and muscle fatigue are also signs and symtoms. She should start eating bananas or go to her doctor and possibly start taking potassium supplements. if her potassium leevl continues to drop, she may start to develop heart problems as potassium is a major electrolyte of the heart functions. too much or too little potassium can cause the heart to stop.

Answer 4

Kaye, I have great empathy for your situation but I have no way to determine why her potassium level is low and just how low it is without formal blood work.  The symptoms of low potassium are rather non-specific and do include depression, muscle weakness and/or crampling, palpitations, digestive issues, e.g. constipation, nausea, etc.  In other words the symptoms by themselves don't really help figure out what's the underlying problem.  Essentially she'd need a formal workup including blood work to see just how low her potassium level is.  If it's quite low, then her physician will need to ascertain why she is having a problem maintaining a normal potassium level, and then the physician can proceed from there.  Without this data, we're really working blindly to figure out what's happening.  I don't imagine that she's lying, necessarily, I'd first encourage her to see a physician, be properly evaluated, determine which, if any underlying medical problems she's having and then proceed from there.  The description of what she's experiencing can only provide limited data.  She should see a physician to address her problems.

I wish you and her well.