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Potassium was 5.7 at noon

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Kidney Diseases & Disorders
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Posted 7/11/2019 1:36 AM (GMT 0)
My doctor sent me to the ER to retest and it came back 4.4.

It has been tested regularly recently as part of my cancer monitoring.
1/11/10 3.7
1/12/10 3.9
9/27/12 3.9
10/22/12 4.7
4/26/13 4.8
2/27/16 4.5
4/4/18 4.9
10/28/18 3.8
4/6/19 4.7
4/24/19 4.6
6/1/19 4.6
6/5/19 4.9
7/3/19 5.0
7/8/19 5.7 (noon)
7/8/19 4.4 (8pm)

The ER doctor told me I was fine and sent me home.

What is going on? It seems to me if there was a bad test it would have been teh 4.4???

Can it swing so wildly so quickly?
What should I do next?

How dangerous is 5.7?

I do have stage 3 Kidney Failure but it is barley stage 3 and remained the same for over a decade. I have never needed treatment for it.

Post Edited (mentor5959) : 7/10/2019 8:28:40 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 7/14/2019 6:12 AM (GMT 0)
Hello:

"Often a report of high blood potassium isn't true hyperkalemia. Instead, it may be caused by the rupture of blood cells in the blood sample during or shortly after the blood draw. The ruptured cells leak their potassium into the sample. This falsely raises the amount of potassium in the blood sample, even though the potassium level in your body is actually normal. When this is suspected, a repeat blood sample is done".

This is a surprise to me also but good to know. The normal level is 3.6 - 5.2. Over 6.0 is dangerous.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/hyperkalemia/basics/definition/sym-20050776

You can speak to your Dr. about this the next time that you see him/her. I'm glad that both you and I didn't actually have Hyperkalemia(high potassium).
Posted 3/5/2020 1:05 AM (GMT 0)
I had surgery 3 months ago to remove cancer mass from my kidney. Now I am at stage 3b kidney disease. Last week blood work showed high potassium at 5.7, just like you. So I stopped eating food with high potassium like potatoes, tomatoes, avocado. Will get retested next week to see if levels drop.
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