Sign-in to Ask A Doctor - 24x7
OR
Sign in with Google
Suggest Dosage Of Potassium Suplements
Question: I take no more than 500 mg of potassium a day in fruits and veggies. I am aware that for overall well being, at least 4,700 mg should be taken daily. For quite some time, i have lots of low potassium symtoms. Im not really a fan of fruits and veggies. What type of potassium pills do you revommend since there are a lot of variety of potassium in the market and how many mg per day?
Brief Answer:
minimum dose to avoid hyperkalemia
Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic
The normal range of potassium is 3.5 to 5.2 though labs may have some small variation on these values.
It is important to remember that there are complications associated with high potassium particularly heart related complications. High levels of potassium can cause: (1) XXXXXXX muscle paralysis
(2)shortness of breath
(3)palpitations because it affects the conduction of the 'signal' in the heart
(4)chest pain
(5)nausea, vomiting
(6)abnormal sensations
If you are considering the use of potassium supplements, it would be best to first determine your starting blood level of potassium to see if it is normal and also you may want to have something in place where you would occasionally have blood levels of potassium done to make sure that they are not too high.
Its levels plays an important part in normal heart rate and rhythm.
There are different supplements, if you are not able to have your potassium level checked beforehand then you would want to use the lowest dose possible so to decrease the chance of hyperkalemia (high blood potassium).
You may want to use half of the normal dose for persons who are potassium deficient and see if it affects your symptoms.Normally 16 to 24 meq is used for replacement of loss.
You can use 10 meq daily and monitor.
The supplements are normally carried in the local pharmacy.
You can consider Klor-con potassium supplements. Each of these contain 600mg to 750mg of potassium which is equal to 8meq to 10 meq.
One of these a day can be used.
If this particular tablet is not available then you can use one with similar strength.
Remember, it would be best to have the levels checked first and if possibly at some point while using the tabs.
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
minimum dose to avoid hyperkalemia
Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic
The normal range of potassium is 3.5 to 5.2 though labs may have some small variation on these values.
It is important to remember that there are complications associated with high potassium particularly heart related complications. High levels of potassium can cause: (1) XXXXXXX muscle paralysis
(2)shortness of breath
(3)palpitations because it affects the conduction of the 'signal' in the heart
(4)chest pain
(5)nausea, vomiting
(6)abnormal sensations
If you are considering the use of potassium supplements, it would be best to first determine your starting blood level of potassium to see if it is normal and also you may want to have something in place where you would occasionally have blood levels of potassium done to make sure that they are not too high.
Its levels plays an important part in normal heart rate and rhythm.
There are different supplements, if you are not able to have your potassium level checked beforehand then you would want to use the lowest dose possible so to decrease the chance of hyperkalemia (high blood potassium).
You may want to use half of the normal dose for persons who are potassium deficient and see if it affects your symptoms.Normally 16 to 24 meq is used for replacement of loss.
You can use 10 meq daily and monitor.
The supplements are normally carried in the local pharmacy.
You can consider Klor-con potassium supplements. Each of these contain 600mg to 750mg of potassium which is equal to 8meq to 10 meq.
One of these a day can be used.
If this particular tablet is not available then you can use one with similar strength.
Remember, it would be best to have the levels checked first and if possibly at some point while using the tabs.
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
Note: For more detailed guidance, please consult an Internal Medicine Specialist, with your latest reports. Click here..
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
Get personalised answers from verified doctor in minutes across 80+ specialties
