Potassium

How do you get yours?

Juicing fresh vegetables and mixing in some of the pulp.

Heart Healthy Campbell’s sirloin burger soup. It contains over 2000 mg of potassium per can. Also other natural foods such as bananas etc.

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smackman
Heart Healthy Campbell’s sirloin burger soup. It contains over 2000 mg of potassium per can.

Yumm...Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate

I’m flummoxed trying to create an electrolyte balance between my Magnesium, Potassium and Sodium.

I take 800 mg of Magnesium (Glycinate, Malate, Taurate) total, spread throughout the day. Some days more if Ectopics increase; Two cans of LS V-8 juice, one or two bananas and other vegetables. I figure I get enough sodium (or do I ?) hidden in other things and sometimes a few grains of pink salt.

So, am I ok? Or, what should I be doing differently?

As always, grateful for everyone’s feedback.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/2018 08:23AM by Catherine.

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jpeters

Heart Healthy Campbell’s sirloin burger soup. It contains over 2000 mg of potassium per can.

Yumm...Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate

I have no idea what you are talking about. If you are going to be a nutrition expert, I am assuming you eat nothing but vegetables,fruits or proteins you process yourself.
I lose respect for someone who comes across constantly as a negative individual who dwells on belittling individuals or is “A know it All”.
Have a nice day.

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smackman


Heart Healthy Campbell’s sirloin burger soup. It contains over 2000 mg of potassium per can.

Yumm...Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate

I have no idea what you are talking about.

Maybe read the ingredient label ?

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jpeters



Heart Healthy Campbell’s sirloin burger soup. It contains over 2000 mg of potassium per can.

Yumm...Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate

I have no idea what you are talking about.

Maybe read the ingredient label ?

Maybe you explain the death consequences of these particular ingredients?
I do not do stupid well so do not act stupid.

I eat as much of the fresh usual suspects as I can, and I supplement with low-sodium V8. Among these, bananas and about 4lbs of broccoli a week. While I'm somewhat consistent, no way I could do the warfarin thing, and when I was taking AC, I was extremely thankful for eliquis. I think we all have to make trade-offs and find trust when we can't completely verify the veracity of our supplements or maybe even sometimes our pharmaceuticals. And now that winter is here, I just may try the Heart Healthy Campbell’s sirloin burger soup. I could sure use another source of potassium in my diet - the LSV8 gets old, especially when it never has any vodka added.

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AB Page
I eat as much of the fresh usual suspects as I can, and I supplement with low-sodium V8. Among these, bananas and about 4lbs of broccoli a week. While I'm somewhat consistent, no way I could do the warfarin thing, and when I was taking AC, I was extremely thankful for eliquis. I think we all have to make trade-offs and find trust when we can't completely verify the veracity of our supplements or maybe even sometimes our pharmaceuticals. And now that winter is here, I just may try the Heart Healthy Campbell’s sirloin burger soup. I could sure use another source of potassium in my diet - the LSV8 gets old, especially when it never has any vodka added.

Agree especially with the Vodka. 😁

There are way better things to put in vodka than LSV8!

I personally take prescription potassium chloride at a dose of 10 mEq. Have ever since I wound up in the ER about 6 years ago with severe hypokalemia and muscle paralysis after a bout of gastroenteritis. I was down at something like 1.7 (I forget the units for serum potassium) but anything below 2 and you're at risk for fatal arrhythmia. They even parked the defibrillator in my room while the IV dripped all night long. That was fun. So that's how I figured out that I have a predisposition for shedding K+ based on family history. My mom and maternal grandmother are (were) both congenitally hypokalemic. So am I, it would seem.

On top of the 10 mEq I'll rehydrate after exercise daily with a LSV8 12-oz can. Also I prep the Waller Water and take 700 mg of magnesium glycinate daily (400 mg AM, 300 mg PM or vice versa depending how I feel). I'm still using the Dr's Best even though we figured out a year or so ago that it's Chinese. Haven't had any problems yet. Knock on wood...

I consume salt voraciously without any regard at all since I'm always sweating during 5 mile daily runs either outside or on a treadmill. It's a guilty pleasure I suppose exercise lets you get away with because you're losing so much Na+ through the skin. So I'm afraid I've got little advice to offer on sodium control.

The deal with sodium is to make sure to stay hydrated even if you’re not thirsty. I am prone to ectopics. Still, not easy creating a formula balancing all three.

Smackman...I agree. If you are on this site you want to know what things benefit others and how they might benefit you. Belittling someone's advice is just plain ignorant...and not necessary. We are all here to learn from each others remedies and results and to use them if we wish. If I wasn't a vegetarian I'd try your idea

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jpeters

Heart Healthy Campbell’s sirloin burger soup. It contains over 2000 mg of potassium per can.

Yumm...Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate

Smackman said:

I have no idea what you are talking about.

Maybe you explain the death consequences of these particular ingredients?
I do not do stupid well so do not act stupid.


Jpeters has a sense of humor, that is the way I take a lot of his comments, if one posts on any site, you will get comments that you may not like or agree with but that goes with the territory. There are better foods to eat than canned soup for potassium which was being pointed out.

My potassium level is usually good, I do eat fruit, berries, sweet potatoes, salads, sometimes yogurt and fruit juice. I know it is said that fruit juice has sugar which isn't good but I don't drink a lot.

The most effective and easiest is my prescription from Natale post ablation for potassium chloride m20 Er 20 meq. I take a half tablet about 3 or 4 days a week. I firmly believe it makes me feel better, helps pac's, helps to stabilize my heart.

For reference, 20 mEq of potassium is about 783 milligrams. Again for reference, the suggested daily intake of potassium from food is 4500 milligrams or 4.5 grams.

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tsco
The most effective and easiest is my prescription from Natale post ablation for potassium chloride m20 Er 20 meq. I take a half tablet about 3 or 4 days a week. I firmly believe it makes me feel better, helps pac's, helps to stabilize my heart.

Are you certain the formulation is ER (extended release)? If that's the case, there may be some danger in cutting the tablet in half. I would ask for a 10mEq dosage instead. I believe prescription potassium chloride goes down even to 5 mEq, so you can modulate the dosage with decent granularity if you wish.

What wolfpack said. You can't be cutting extended release tablets. And taking 10 mEq 3-4 days per week is a waste of money. A glass of orange juice has more potassium than that.

Some ER Tablets are scored such as Metoprolol ER tablets.

If they're scored, sure, that indicates it's okay to split. But an ER tablet that's not scored should never be split.

Uh oh!!!!! These are 20 s and I do break them in half......is that dangerous somehow......????

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tsco
Uh oh!!!!! These are 20 s and I do break them in half......is that dangerous somehow......????

No, it's not dangerous. It likely turns your extended release tablet into a rapid release tablet, which means it will probably be absorbed and then excreted quickly, doing very little for you. The dosage is so small to begin with I don't know why you're splitting them. What do the instructions say on the bottle? I would recommend doing whatever they say since that's what Natale prescribed for you.

Thank you. I only split them because at first I thought it was a significant enough dose to possibly cause a problem. He prescribed them after an ablation a cpl years ago I just started taking them on my own and when I asked him this past summer he said it was fine to take them.
Everyone acts like potassium is so damn dangerous i.e. 99 mg max otc. I guess it had me wondering or being overly cautious
Thank you Carey

The potential danger comes from bolusing yourself with too much potassium at once. Mechanically fracturing a tablet defeats the cellulose coatings in various thicknesses that effect the slow release. That being said it’s very tough to overdose orally and 20 mEq isn’t that much to begin with.

I would not recommend grinding a tablet into a powder and snorting it. I would also not use one as a suppository.

Lol....thanks neither thought has Ever crossed my mind! Thanks Wolfpack

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tsco
Everyone acts like potassium is so damn dangerous i.e. 99 mg max otc. I guess it had me wondering or being overly cautious

Oh man, I could tell you stories about the potassium paranoia among medical professionals. For two years the only thing that could control and terminate my flutter-from-hell was potassium (250 bpm). Based largely on articles found here in the archives, I purchased a potassium meter, learned to use it, and dosed myself daily with large amounts of potassium. If an episode broke through, I also discovered I could cardiovert myself with 4 grams of pure potassium chloride dissolved in water. I was warned repeatedly by my EP, his NP, my PCP, my sister the nurse, and everyone else that I was absolutely, positively going to kill myself. Well, having that meter meant I could actually see what various doses of potassium did to my potassium levels, and I quickly learned that healthy kidneys will remove excess potassium very quickly. And that was a problem. I had to keep my serum potassium at or above 4.5 in order to avoid flutter, but my body's natural set point is around 3.9. So that meant doses of K+ every few hours. So I went to my EP and asked him to prescribe potassium-sparing drugs. I knew I'd have to make my case to him, so I came prepared. I validated my meter against lab results, and I kept records of doses and K+ levels for several weeks. In the end, I was able to convince him. We tried various drugs, including combinations of ACE inhibitors and ARBs (a no no), ACE inhibitors and ER K+ supplements (a big no no), and eventually K+ supplements plus spironolactone (a huge no no). My PCP refused to cooperate with any of this despite a letter from my EP explaining his rationale. I even got dire warnings from the pharmacist.

Anyway, the take away message is that hyperkalemia is actually a very difficult state to achieve if you have normal kidney function. Even if you do make yourself hyperkalemic (and I did so routinely, reaching as high at 7.0 on one occasion), you won't stay hyperkalemic for long. Your kidneys will jump into overdrive to remove the excess. Now, if you don't know that you have normal kidney function, or if you're diabetic or are taking potassium-sparing drugs, I would avoid excess potassium.

And because of the way healthy kidneys remove excess K+ so quickly, supplements other than prescription ER tablets are a complete waste of money. A measly 99 mg of potassium chloride won't do diddly for anybody. And if your doc won't give you K+ supplements (and he probably won't), the best way to get your own ER K+ is to eat it. High K+ foods are virtually always healthy foods, and high K+ diets are virtually always healthy diets. So if you want higher K+ levels, fruits, leafy greens, potatoes, and a bunch of other tasty things contain far more K+ than any supplement on the market.

I concur with what Carey says. Getting a lot through food is excellent.

You can, however buy potassium citrate & bicarbonate powders and get quite a bit larger dose. For example, potassium bicarb is used in home brewing and can be purchased through those channels.

A large dose at once is not effective. Dissolving a set amount in a jug of water is one way to consume a relatively steady dose over the day. Also, the body will adapt farily quickly to larger intakes of potassium so starting low and increasing is a good plan (again, spreading the intake over the day).

A Cardymeter is a great idea, if you really want to track it.

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Carey

We tried various drugs, including combinations of ACE inhibitors and ARBs (a no no), ACE inhibitors and ER K+ supplements (a big no no), and eventually K+ supplements plus spironolactone (a huge no no).

I hope you avoided shopping for a bra!

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wolfpack
I hope you avoided shopping for a bra!

LOL! I did, thank goodness!