Low Potassium = Waking up early?

[alice111]

Just a thought, you might need calcium? I just read someone else's post on here - they said they started K, then need mag, then need calcium http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/balancing-of-electrolytes.34290/

 

[Butydoc]

@Butydoc My desire to take potassium stemmed from getting great energy and also bad side effects from just 200mcg methylfolate. Dr. Lynch writes that low electrolytes cause methylfolate side effects that can go away with K & Mg supplementing.

Freddd wrote that 'most people need between 2000mg and 3000mg of K'

I tried going towards these doses and initially felt great, then awful the next day

Hi Sherpa,

I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable recommending supplemental potassium without measuring your serum level. When treating hypertension with certain diuretics, potassium supplement are given to prevent hypokalemia. Generally the physician will measure the serum potassium levels to see if the proper dose of the supplement is sufficient or too generous. I would think this would apply to your situation. This blood test is inexpensive. Guessing concerning the appropriate amount of supplement without monitoring could be dangerous.

Best,
Gary

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

I agree with Gary that I would not want to make any recommendations on using mineral supplements without a good reason based on blood levels. To be honest I am alarmed by the suggestion that anyone with ME/CFS should be taking these minerals on the basis of recommendations that are not based on well conducted trials. Someone recently mentioned Adelle Davis in a thread and I discovered this was a nutritionist who recommended potassium supplements and a child died because the parents had taken her advice - or so the story goes. Food contains a lot of potassium and the doses mentioned in this thread may not be a problem, but if so, why not eat a few oranges? We know they are safe. If it is more than a few oranges then I would be wary. Potassium overload is extremely dangerous. And unless you have a specific kidney or endocrine disease or are taking potassium wasting drugs potassium deficiency is vanishingly rare.

 

[Aidan Walsh]

I eat bananas every day I had a Doctor call me one day say my levels were too low she said eat tomatos & bananas I recall the day she called I was so ill it was the first bad episode of chemicals were tripping me off so badly 60 seconds is all it takes for heart to stop with these low levels...

 

[xrunner]

To prevent cardiac arrhythmias and possible cardiac arrest, the Potassium level must be within a relatively narrow range.

That's what happened to my dad. Following a hospital infection he suffered arrhythmia which improved with treatment and went away when his K levels got normal. In the process, they gave him a medication to help with K retention. Then he felt unwell again, blood tests showed his K was too high. He hasn't had a problem since his K levels have been in range, without supplementation.

Dr. Lynch writes

I haven't looked at that site for some time but my recollection of it is that most of what found in there seems hypothetical and based on guessing.
It may be not a coincidence that some people who write about the wonders of methylation tend to avoid the hard facts of simple testing except perhaps for those unproven tests that back up their theories.

that low electrolytes cause methylfolate side effects that can go away with K & Mg supplementing.

People with MCS, intolerant to many things, can sometimes find some relief from using alkaline salts. I used them myself to dampen adverse reactions (my ME/MCS dr at the time explained to me how they help in such instance but I can't remember).
But bearing in mind that in MCS and sensitivities at large there may be a problem with histamine and that this amino acid can affect sleep, that could be a possible explanation of why alkaline salts, or bananas for that matter, may help with sleep and relaxation.
So alkaline minerals may be addressing a deficiency or they may be helping by reducing reactions to something people are just oversensitive to. But without testing how do you know for sure.