Jump to content

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Low Potassium

rache

By rache
in Related Issues & Disorders

Recommended Posts

rache Apprentice
rache
Posted

I just had blood work done and it came back saying my potassium was really low. I was prescribed K-DUR for 7 days, and im to go back for more blood work in one week. When i looked up the symptoms, i match all of them. I'm hoping maybe I've found a reason for my nausea, although ive been gluten-free for a year. Has anything else had low potassium? and what has your experience been like with it?

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


Guest BERNESES
Guest BERNESES
Posted

I've had low potassium in the past- not super low, but low. I never recieved treatment for it though- other than being told that I should eat bananas (which I hate :blink: ), potatoes with the skin on and orange juice. I wonder if you are not getting enough in your diet or for some reason are not absorbing it???

rache Apprentice
rache
Posted
  • Author

i had this before, couple yeas ago, show up in a blood test, but they never did anything for it. i'm allergic to bananas, but i do eat TONS of potatoes- theyre my favorite. i fry up the skins a lot- yummy. i take a multi-vitamin (w/ potassium) daily. my mom told me the other day my grandma had hypokalemia (low pot. levels). maybe ive always been this way?? i noticed a lot of the symptoms ive been having- still after being gluten-free- are the same as low potassium. im PRAYING that maybe theyve caught on to something and this will work b/c im so tired of feeling so sick all the time. cross your fingers for me!! but i am going to a new GI dr in a month. my luck with them hasnt been so great lately...

penguin Community Regular
penguin
Posted

Mine didn't test low, I don't think, but I have an inherited cramping thing caused by low potassium. Make sure to take calcium, also. I think it helps the potassium? Maybe I made that up, but I think I heard it somewhere. I know that having both potassium and calcium helps with charley horses.

Nothing like a full stable of charley horses :rolleyes:

jerseyangel Proficient
jerseyangel
Posted

Taking diuretics (water pills) can cause a low potassium level. Some blood pressure meds have these.

Ursa Major Collaborator
Ursa Major
Posted

I can't eat bananas either. I had very low potassium levels last summer. My homeopath told me that watermelon contains a lot of potassium, in fact an awful lot more than bananas! So, I ate lots of watermelons last summer, and my potassium level went to normal by the fall.

Guest BERNESES
Guest BERNESES
Posted

Watermelon- now you're talking! I think that you are supposed to take calcium and magnesium together because magnesium helps your body absorb calcium and it also helps prevent constipation (calcium is constipating). The two together definitely help with muscle cramping. I took a potassium supplement once (one day) and I had D like you wouldn't believe. :blink::blink:

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


rache Apprentice
rache
Posted
  • Author

ew watermelon. yuck... id rather suffer through an allergic reaction to a banana! and hopefully i dont get D from the potassium... just what i need!

Ursa Major Collaborator
Ursa Major
Posted

Check out these links for other food sources of potassium.

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

There, that should keep you busy and out of trouble for a while!

rache Apprentice
rache
Posted
  • Author

Thanks Ursula!! I'll start reading!

Guest BERNESES
Guest BERNESES
Posted
ew watermelon. yuck... id rather suffer through an allergic reaction to a banana! and hopefully i dont get D from the potassium... just what i need!

Rache- You probably won't get D. Ursula- you are the link queen- thank you!

Guest MyKidsMom
Guest MyKidsMom
Posted

Last fall I had a bad bout with the stomach flu and ended up in the hospital b/c of dehydration. Then they found out my heart was beating abnormally slow...they said my potassium was very low. I tried drinking gatarade which has potassium but it bothers me, so now I eat bananas, even though I hate the mushy taste. I will do just about anything not to be in the hospital for dehydration again...my veins kept collapsing and it was very painful!

aaascr Apprentice
aaascr
Posted

Ursula:

Thanks for the links! It seems that I get

a good bit of potassium in my diet, but a

friend scared me (she's new at nursing)

when she said too much potassium can

cause heart arrhythmia. It seems

that it's quite the opposite and since I have a

heart murmur and been feeling that

fluttering now and then - I had cause

for concern!

Now I know, at least that it's not the potassium.

whew!

Lauren M Explorer
Lauren M
Posted

I had low Potassium, and was prescribed some pill (prob the same as you) and routinely tested until I was normal. At this time, I also had very low Phosphorus levels and had to drink something called nutra-phos. I'm not sure if low potassium and low phos. go hand-in-hand, but do you happen to know if they tested your phos levels?

Pototoes are a good source of potassium - more so than bananas actually.

- Lauren

rache Apprentice
rache
Posted
  • Author

Lauren- did you notice any difference after doing the potassium pills and once your levels were up?

Lauren M Explorer
Lauren M
Posted

Well I guess I was just generally a mess, with my vitamins and minerals being off. Once I was back to normal blood levels, the main thing I noticed was more energy!

- Lauren

slpinsd Contributor
slpinsd
Posted

I've had low Potassium on 2 different blood tests. I believe it is from malabsorption. I'm also intolerant to bananas, if that means anything. At the time of testing I was eating bananas daily so I don't know why I came back low. My friend is a nurse and she says that Potassium, since it is an electrolyte, is something that is abnormal or more of a big deal if you are lower than the recommended range on the testing.

Guest Robbin
Guest Robbin
Posted

I had low potassium problems which the dr. told me was caused by the D. If you don't eat a lot of carbohydrates, this can cause it too. Orange juice is good to make a banana smoothie. Just freeze a banana and put it in a blender with a cup of orange juice. It helps if you don't like the taste of bananas.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):


  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      132,397
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    Megannnnn
    Newest Member
    Megannnnn
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.5k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):


  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • Scott Adams
      Coeliac UK Research Conference 2025

      By Scott Adams · Posted

      Thanks for sharing this!
    • Scott Adams
      Shingles - Could It Be Related to Gluten/ Celiac

      By Scott Adams · Posted

      I had the same thing happen to me at around your age, and to this day it's the most painful experience I've ever had. For me it was the right side of my head, above my ear, running from my nerves in my neck. For years before my outbreak I felt a tingling sensation shooting along the exact nerves that ended up exactly where the shingles blisters appeared. I highly recommend the two shot shingles vaccine as soon as your turn 50--I did this because I started to get the same tingling sensations in the same area, and after the vaccines I've never felt that again.  As you likely know, shingles is caused by chicken pox, which was once though of as one of those harmless childhood viruses that everyone should catch in the wild--little did they know that it can stay in your nervous system for your entire life, and cause major issues as you age.
    • trents
      Blood tests low iGA 4 years later digestive issues

      By trents · Posted

      Keep us posted.
    • Clear2me
      Gluten free nuts

      By Clear2me · Posted

      Thanks for the info. I recently moved to CA from Wyoming and in that western region the Costco and Sam's /Walmart Brands have many nuts and more products that are labeled gluten free. I was told it's because those products are packaged and processed  in different  plants. Some plants can be labeled  gluten free because the plant does not also package gluten products and they know that for example the trucks, containers equipment are not used to handle wheat, barely or Rye. The Walmart butter in the western region says gluten free but not here. Most of The Kirkland and Members Mark brands in CA say they are from Vietnam. That's not the case in Wyoming and Colorado. I've spoken to customer service at the stores here in California. They were not helpful. I check labels every time I go to the store. The stores where I am are a Sh*tshow. The Magalopoly grocery chain Vons/Safeway/Albertsons, etc. are the same. Fishers and Planters brands no longer say gluten free. It could be regional. There are nuts with sugar coatings and fruit and nut mixes at the big chains that are labeled gluten free but I don't want the fruit or sugar.  It's so difficult I am considering moving again. I thought it would be easier to find safe food in a more populated area. It's actually worse.  I was undiagnosed for most of my life but not because I didn't try to figure it out. So I have had all the complications possible. I don't have any spare organs left.  No a little gluten will hurt you. The autoimmune process continues to destroy your organs though you may not feel it. If you are getting a little all the time and as much as we try we probably all are and so the damage is happening. Now the FDA has pretty much abandoned celiacs. There are no requirements for labeling for common allergens on medications. All the generic drugs made outside the US are not regulated for common allergens and the FDA is taking the last gluten free porcine Thyroid med, NP Thyroid, off the market in 2026. I was being glutened by a generic levothyroxin. The insurance wouldn't pay for the gluten free brand any longer because the FDA took them all off their approved formulary. So now I am paying $147 out of pocket for NP Thyroid but shortly I will have no safe choice. Other people with allergies should be aware that these foreign generic pharmaceutical producers are using ground shellfish shell as pill coatings and anti-desicants. The FDA knows this but  now just waits for consumers to complain or die. The take over of Wholefoods by Amazon destroyed a very reliable source of good high quality food for people with allergies and for people who wanted good reliably organic food. Bezos thought  he could make a fortune off people who were paying alot for organic and allergen free food by substituting cheap brands from Thailand. He didn't understand who the customers were who were willing to pay more for that food and why. I went from spending hundreds to nothing because Bezo removed every single trusted brand that I was buying. Now they are closing Whole foods stores across the country. In CA, Mill Valley store (closed July 2025) and the National Blvd. store in West Los Angeles (closed October 2025). The Cupertino store will close.  In recent years I have learned to be careful and trust no one. I have been deleberately glutened in a restaurant that was my favorite (a new employee). The Chef owner was not in the kitchen that night. I've had  a metal scouring pad cut up over my food.The chain offered gluten free dishes but it only takes one crazy who thinks you're a problem as a food fadist. Good thing I always look. Good thing they didn't do that to food going to a child with a busy mom.  I give big tips and apologize for having to ask in restaurants but mental illness seem to be rampant. I've learn the hard way.          I don't buy any processed food that doesn't say gluten free.  I am a life long Catholic. I worked for the Church while at college. I don't go to Church anymore because the men at the top decided Jesus is gluten. The special hosts are gluten less not gluten free. No I can't drink wine after people with gluten in their mouth and a variety of deadly germs. I have been abandoned and excluded by my Church/Family.  Having nearly died several times, safe food is paramount. If your immune system collapses as mine did, you get sepsis. It can kill you very quickly. I spent 5 days unconscious and had to have my appendix and gall bladder removed because they were necrotic. I was 25. They didn't figure out I had celiac till I was 53. No one will take the time to tell you what can happen when your immune system gets overwhelmed from its constant fighting the gluten and just stops. It is miserable that our food is processed so carelessly. Our food in many aspects is not safe. And the merging of all the grocery chains has made it far worse. Its a disaster. Krogers also recently purchased Vitacost where I was getting the products I could no longer get at Whole Foods. Kroger is eliminating those products from Vitacost just a Bezos did from WF. I am looking for reliable and certified sources for nuts. I have lived the worst consequences of the disease and being exposed unknowingly and maliciously. Once I was diagnosed I learned way more than anyone should have to about the food industry.  I don't do gray areas. And now I dont eat out except very rarely.  I have not eaten fast food for 30 years before the celiac diagnosis. Gluten aside..... It's not food and it's not safe.  No one has got our backs. Sharing safe food sources is one thing we can do to try to be safe.        
    • Mmoc
      Blood tests low iGA 4 years later digestive issues

      By Mmoc · Posted

      Thank you kindly for your response. I have since gotten the other type of bloods done and am awaiting results. 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.