Potassium
Last issue, we talked on the electrolytes called sodium.
Today, let us learn about Potassium and its role in our body.
I had roller coaster days last week because my 90-year old father was hospitalized and was in the intensive care unit for 2 days. He had pneumonia with pleural effusion, heart failure and his electrolytes like sodium, potassium and calcium were low.
Potassium is the major intracellular cation and its body content correlates well with lean body mass. Potassium is critical for the excitability of nerve and muscle cells and for the contractility of cardiac, skeletal and smooth muscles.
Potassium is also important for the maintenance of cell volume.
We get potassium from intake of animal and vegetable tissues. Daily intake of potassium about 1-2 mEq /kg body weight is being recommended.
Hyperkalemia refers to the condition wherein the serum potassium level is 5.5 meq/ liter or greater. This could be due to:
1. Increase in potassium intake through parenteral route though this could only be transient since our kidney has a large capacity to excrete excess potassium unless the kidney is impaired.
2. In acute tissue breakdown from
trauma, major surgery, burns, cell lysis from cemotherapeutic agents
3. Severely ill patients
Hypokalemia refers to the state when the serum level is below 3.5meq/l. This could be due to:
– prolonged decreased intake
– increased renal excretion
– increased extrarenal losses like diarrhea, frequent enemas, chronic catharsis, protracted vomiting, billiary drainage, enterocutaneous fisulas, profuse sweating
Hypokalemia can produce serious neurologic symptoms like weakness, decreased bowel motility and tetany. There could also be paralytic ileus and gastric dilation.
Hypokalemia can also affect protein metabolism and diminishes growth hormone release thus children will have failure to thrive.
Like the adults, the children can also have imbalance in the electrolyte in the body if subjected to different conditions.
My father had to be observed and managed to correct the electrolyte imbalance. Praise God, he was well and was discharged from the hospital on my birthday. The best gift i got, my father’s big smile when he was told by his attending physicians that he can already go home.