Symptoms Of Low Potassium In The Elderly – What are electrolytes? Electrolytes are certain nutrients (or chemicals) in your body that have many important functions — from regulating your heartbeat to allowing your muscles to contract so you can move.

The main electrolytes found within the body include calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, phosphate and chloride. Because these important nutrients help stimulate nerves throughout the body and balance fluid levels, an electrolyte imbalance can cause a variety of serious negative symptoms, including some that can be fatal.

Symptoms Of Low Potassium In The Elderly

You get electrolytes by eating different foods and drinking certain fluids, while you lose them partly through exercise, sweating, going to the bathroom, and urinating. (1) This is why a poor diet, too little or too much exercise, and illness are some possible causes of electrolyte imbalance.

High Potassium Levels In Elderly Adults: What Do You Need To Know?

Electrolytes are found in body fluids, including urine, blood and sweat. Electrolytes are so named because they literally have an “electric charge.” (2) They separate into positively and negatively charged ions when dissolved in water.

The reason this is important is because of how nerve reactions occur. Your nerves signal each other through a process of chemical exchanges based on oppositely charged ions, both inside and outside your cells.

Electrolyte imbalance can be caused by a number of different factors, including short-term illnesses, medications, dehydration, and underlying chronic disorders. (3) Some common causes of electrolyte imbalance are due to fluid loss, which can result from conditions including:

Since electrolytes have many different roles within the body, an imbalance usually causes noticeable changes in how you feel very quickly. Depending on the type of electrolyte imbalance you have, a number of symptoms can occur including:

Don’t Ignore These Low Potassium Symptoms

To diagnose an electrolyte imbalance, your doctor can perform a few different tests to determine your electrolyte levels. Most likely, your health care provider will discuss your medical history with you, any recurring symptoms you experience, and will conduct urine and blood testing to identify any abnormalities.

It’s also sometimes necessary to have an ECG, ultrasound, or X-ray of your kidneys to look for severe electrolyte imbalances that can put you at risk for heart complications.

Your doctor will look for any noticeable changes in ideal electrolyte levels, including very high or low potassium, magnesium or sodium levels. They are usually fairly easy to detect because the body works hard to keep electrolyte concentrations within a narrow range. Levels are measured per liter of blood, and an electrolyte imbalance is diagnosed when you have a value above or below the normal ranges below: (4)

How do you know when it’s time to talk to your doctor about whether or not you have an electrolyte imbalance? If you can recognize the descriptions of electrolyte imbalance symptoms below, it’s a good idea to talk to a health care provider to talk about how to reverse the problem and prevent it from happening again. Here are some common signs of electrolyte imbalance and more about what can cause each:

What Causes High Potassium Levels In The Elderly?

The first step to correcting an electrolyte imbalance is to determine how it developed in the first place. For many people, a poor diet that is high in processed foods that contain a lot of sodium, but low in other electrolytes such as magnesium or potassium, sets the stage for a serious imbalance. In many cases, minor electrolyte imbalances can be corrected simply by making dietary changes and cutting down on fast foods, fast food, and restaurant foods, but cooking more fresh foods at home instead.

Focus your diet on whole, non-packaged foods, especially plenty of vegetables and fruits, which provide potassium and magnesium. Some of the best ones include leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli or cabbage, starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes or squash, bananas, and avocado. A diet rich in magnesium or potassium will likely be enough to resolve problems such as low potassium levels that can lead to blood pressure problems or magnesium deficiency that can contribute to anxiety, insomnia, and muscle spasms.

To prevent dehydration and restore electrolytes, focus on electrolyte drinks and these foods — which are some of the most hydrating because they are water-dense:

Another thing to consider is whether you are consuming enough calcium. With or without eating dairy products, it is possible to get calcium from leafy greens, other vegetables, beans, and legumes. To get enough calcium naturally without the need for supplements, consider adding high-quality, ideally sourced dairy products to your diet if you can tolerate them. Foods such as organic yogurt containing probiotics, raw cheese, and raw milk provide high levels of electrolytes as well as other important nutrients.

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When you consume canned or processed foods, check sodium levels. Sodium is an electrolyte that plays an important role in the body’s ability to retain or release water, so if your diet is too high in sodium, more water will be excreted by the kidneys, and this can cause complications in balancing other electrolytes.

Here’s how sodium works within the body: Essentially, water follows salt, which means that if you increase sodium too much, water retention occurs as well. At the same time, the opposite is also true: sodium loss leads to water loss, which can cause dehydration and extreme thirst. Hypernatremia (the name of the condition that develops when you lose too much water or get too much sodium) is more common among older adults, people with diabetes, and those who eat highly processed diets. People can too

High sodium levels through diarrhoea, taking certain diuretics or laxatives, exercising at intense levels and overtraining without staying hydrated – all cause problems of their own.

Monitoring the amount of sodium you consume helps keep symptoms at bay, including bloating, lethargy, dehydration, weakness, irritability and muscle twitching. Drinking water and eating mostly whole foods (not the kinds that come in packages!) also ensures you get enough other important electrolytes.

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An electrolyte imbalance can occur when the amount of water in the body changes, causing dehydration (not enough water compared to some high electrolytes) or hyperhydration (too much water). Drinking enough water, without over-diluting your cells, helps prevent sodium and potassium levels from being too high or too low.

What is the right amount of water for you? It all depends on your specific needs. Do you exercise often? Do you live in a warm climate that causes you to sweat? Do you eat a lot of water-rich fruits or vegetables, or more processed foods?

Although “eight cups per day” has always been the standard recommendation, this is not necessarily the best amount for every person, since factors such as your diet, age, physical activity level and body size all determine how much water you need. A good rule of thumb is to drink enough water until you urinate at least every three to four hours, which equates to about eight to 10 eight-ounce glasses a day for most people.

If you do vigorous exercise (especially in warm/hot weather that increases sweat production), be sure to replenish your body with plenty of water and electrolytes (such as pre-made formulas that include sodium). If you are sick (including a fever that causes vomiting or diarrhea), keep in mind that you are losing fluids and should increase your fluid intake. If not, you risk developing symptoms of dehydration, kidney stones, bladder infections, urinary tract stones, and possibly even heart failure. This is why it is so important to protect yourself from dehydration. Pregnant or breastfeeding women also need extra fluids (about 10-13 cups per day) to stay hydrated and prevent deficiency, as do teenagers, who grow and develop faster than people of other ages.

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Is it possible to drink a lot of water? Over-hydrating is rare, but yes, it is possible. (6) The kidneys are unable to excrete very high levels of excess water, so this may mean that electrolytes in the blood can become diluted. The result may be low sodium levels, which is more common among endurance athletes (who often try to compensate for sweating by drinking lots of water) but is less likely to develop in someone eating the standard American diet high in salt.

Antibiotics, diuretics, hormonal pills, blood pressure medications, and cancer treatments can affect electrolyte levels. The most serious forms of electrolyte imbalance are usually seen in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Its symptoms can be very serious when not managed properly, and include high blood calcium levels or other imbalances that develop when cancer cells die.

Laxatives or diuretics also change potassium and sodium levels in the blood and urine. Some diuretics are considered “potassium sparing,” meaning they can cause potassium levels to remain too high while other electrolytes such as sodium, calcium, and magnesium can become too low. This results in anxiety, rapid heartbeat, digestive problems, and difficulty sleeping. Electrolyte imbalances are also possible due to hormonal interactions from antidiuretic hormonal drugs, aldosterone, and thyroid hormones. (7) Even high levels of physiological stress can affect hormones to the point that fluid and electrolyte levels become unbalanced.

If you’ve started taking a new medication or supplement and noticed changes in your mood, energy, heart rate, and sleep, talk to him about it.

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