Vital Signs: Potassium Overload

Discover Magazine ^ | 4-6-2007 | Tony Dajer

[GOP_1900AD]

Yet another reason for my wife to ban me from eating durian! LOL!

[angkor]

I believe it’s just about to come into season.

[Spok]

Thanks. As a volunteer firefighter/EMT, I’ll put in for .5 hr. of training!

[AnotherUnixGeek]

My mom was taken to the emergency room for what turned out to be hyperkalemia last year - her kidney function was fine. She recovered fully, but it was very close and very frightening, and the only source of potassium we could find in her diet was the potassium-chloride salt substitute she was taking to reduce sodium in her diet. Bananas, tomatoes and such are off her diet now.

[Keith in Iowa]

ping...you might like this one.

[LaineyDee]

Nursing student here. I found the article very interesting. I’ve never heard of that fruit before. Good to know! (I want a CEU for this too!) LOL

[FairOpinion]

ping

[Riley]

Good, educational post. Filing info away on a mental 3X5 card....

[blam]

" Bananas, tomatoes and such are off her diet now."

I eat two bananas every day. Does anyone believe this could be a problem for me?

[Sen Jack S. Fogbound]

Shouldn’t be. Average person requires 2000 mg of K+ daily.
Average or medium banana contains about 400 to 500 mg of K+.

[blam]

"Shouldn’t be. Average person requires 2000 mg of K+ daily. Average or medium banana contains about 400 to 500 mg of K+."

Thanks.

[JimSEA]

Anything that smells that bad, does so for a reason. My wife, however, disagrees and believes the article was written by a subversive :)

[oyez]

No, as long as your kidneys are healthy. Dialysis patients have problems with retaining metal salts and phosphorus.

[Marie]

Nursing student here.

Here's an interesting puzzle for you (at least my PCM thinks it's cool): Doctor #1 is spinning because doctor #2 just discovered I that have BeriBeri with periodic episodes of paralysis due to hypokalemia. My son is anemic with B-12 deficiency, my mom is low on B-12, iodine and vit D, and my daughter is low on zinc (and probably something else). So what the heck happened to this family? (and my mom hasn't lived near us in decades... only a few vacations)

(yes, we know the answer)

[neverdem]

http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/html/appendixB.htm

[LaineyDee]

Either a genetic thiamine deficiency (Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome) or you all eat at McDonald’s too much.... :)

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping.

[GOPJ]

And the answer would be....

[dighton]

The prickly durian fruit has an odor like strong cheese . . .

Over all presided the fetid, exciting reek of durian, for this was the season of durians. Nabby Adams had once been to a durian party. It was like, he thought, eating a sweet raspberry blancmange in the lavatory.

Anthony Burgess, The Long Day Wanes: A Malayan Trilogy.