Low potassium/sodium levels with Lyme?

My potassium/sodium levels keep dropping. My diet is excellent, full of potassium-rich foods. No other obvious reason why my levels might be low. I've been trying to understand why this might be - particularly because low potassium levels makes the risky side effects of my antibiotics even riskier. (Also - low potassium makes you feel extra-crappy).

My own detective work makes me think that I'm not absorbing potassium efficiently - that possibly the magnesium that the Lyme buggers feed on has robbed my body of a mineral that aids in potassium absorption. But I'm surprised I don't read about other LD sufferers with the same issue, nor was it obvious to my LLMD.

My own self-treatment is to add a magnesium/potassium supplement in the middle of the day (I can't take magnesium or calcium within 6 hours of antibiotics) and eat lots of potassium-rich food at that time.

Anybody else have this problem or have a solution?

Hi

Potassium and sodium are very easily absorbed from the diet/supplements. The primary problems with gradually, or rapidly, dropping levels are; 1. vomiting and or liquid stools, 2. poor re-absorption in the renal tubules due to low ADH from the adrenal glands (basically a weak adrenal gland situation, low kidney yin/chi)
http://www.lymeaid.net/Lyme-Treatment.htm

I have low sodium/potassium problems. At one point I was drinking salt water, eating salt out of my hand, and supplementing with a magnesium/potassium/calcium pill every day. It felt like I wasn't absorbing it. I have been recovering from mal-absorption the past few years because I have celiac disease, so I figured that with time my gut would heal and I wouldn't have problems. But that didn't happen and I got worse.

After a while I found that the more carbs & sugar I had in my diet, the quicker I got depleted of sodium which sent my potassium out of whack. So I started a modified candida diet and I stopped needing to drink salt water or eat salt. Then my naturopath put me on an adrenal support and that helped TONS and I only needed the mineral supplement once every few days! Then I discovered that eliminating EVERYTHING that I am reacting to as a sensitivity (in my case, multiple naturally occurring chemicals in food and plants) fixed my mineral absorption problems and my blood sugar problems and my yeast problems and I don't need my adrenal supports anymore (and feeling better than I did when I was on them... I was on them for 3 years!) AND it has helped in reducing the pain from the damage the lyme has done to my body so that I can manage it better.

It may be that your body cannot use the potassium that you are eating because you have a food sensitivity/intolerance or allergy? They can be subtle and difficult to identify sometimes.

Post Edited (MoralAnimal) : 12/26/2010 2:22:57 AM (GMT-7)

hello every body,

i have no idea what my mineral levels are. i do take a mineral complex...

one  dr. told me to supplement with sea salt, which i already do. 

but what speaks to me real loud, is my appeite for fried pototoes! with SALT!). since trying to be gluten and dairy free, i have lost 15 lbs (don't need to). sometimes it's hard to know what to eat.

it seems when this hits, and i satisfy the crave, i do feel stronger, and more nourished.  i believe in how our body speaks to us...

I thought I would resurrect this old thread.

A routine potassium test came up extremely low (2.2 on a 5). It was low enough to where I was admitted to the ER for IVs. This is the first time I've ever had any potassium problems, which have been monitored carefully for over a year now.

My question is, could a new antibiotic, specifically Ceftriaxone be causing this? Ive ruled out almost every other cause. My diet is perfect and contains an overabundance of high potassium produce and supplements. Last adrenal and thyroid tests were fine too.

Spring jeans. Tight muscles are a symptom of low potassium.

sweetpeaisme, the ER won't give you a potassium supplement prescription.

Several reasons but the most important is that too high of a potassium level is as dangerous as too low. The other is they don't want to become your primary care provider.

If you have a regular primary care doc, you should call them and tell them what is happening.

There are a few things you can look into. Are you on blood pressure medication?

Many of the first line bp meds are actually diuretics so they work by taking fluids out of your system. Some people call them water pills. But with the water comes minerals like potassium. If you don't replace the potassium by diet, then your numbers can get dangerously low. If you are on a diuretic, your doctor can just switch you to another type of bp med which is what I did.

If you are drinking a lot of water or are dehydrated for some reason, you need to replace the potassium that your body isn't absorbing. So if you are drinking lots of water, it dilutes the potassium you do have and the level drops. No matter the reason that you have increased your water intake you need to also add the potassium back. So I normally don't take a potassium supplement, but I have been pretty sick the last few months. Even water makes me sick, but in order not to get dehydrated I sip water frequently. I have also added in a potassium supplement on the days I don't eat anything. It's actually prescription that I have had for a while and keep on hand for emergencies (its actually to prevent kidney stones but I no longer take it daily and have the left over bottle), but I'm always careful never to take more than the prescription because I know that is a safe level.

The best food to eat for potassium is banana if you like it. It's the B part of the BRAT diet (for when you are recovering from a stomach bug).

Two more things. Since this has happened twice, you need to keep in your brain what that feels like. If you are like me, you tell yourself you'll feel better if you just rest. But the problem is that your muscles need potassium to function.

Your heart is a muscle and very low potassium levels can cause the heart to stop. The first time I had this happen my level was at 2 and the er doc said any lower and I could have died.

Don't intend to scare you, but you need to follow up on this with your doctor because you want to make sure its not a medication you are on that is causing this to happen.

Kim

I have been having low potassium episodes as well. My muscles start to twitch and tighten, I feel a bit confused or light-headed, head aches, and then I start to shiver hard and have heart arrhythmia. My doctor did give me a prescription but he sent me to an endo who thinks it's all in my head because the tests are normal (between 3.6 and 4.0). She also said it was a thing for a kidney doc, not an endo, but the kidney doc won't see me unless I have a low enough test. He wants me to get tested when I have an episode but they usually are on the weekends or at night and when they come in the daytime, I don't feel safe driving myself the hour it takes to get to the lab and usually I don't have anyone to drive me... and I get scared and take the pill. Usually it takes at least 2 or 3 of the 1 gram pills to feel better.

The reason I knew it was low K is because many years ago I had such a spell and my naturpath gave me Potassium citrate powder. It usually only happened once or twice a year so I didn't think much of it until about a half year ago when it started happening every day. So I got myself 2 lbs. of potassium citrate powder from amazon, put a teaspoon in water and drink it throughout the day. That's a few grams, I think, but if I don't do that I get the spells again. Cheaper than the prescription anyway.

I'm not positive, since the results of the test were negative, but I've been sick for over 30 years with all the symptoms of lyme. Of course, it's all in my head, you know, but it's on these forums that I find the best advice that has helped me.

I see this is an old thread.

I tested positive for Lyme negative for Lyme antibodies.

So active Lyme here.

Just tested with low potassium first time in my life. I am over 50.

I started drinking water and gave up all my tea and juice which I prefer.

I have a cryptosporidium sensitivity.

I put Nuun tablets in my water they are like Gatorade they have potassium magnesium calcium Among other things.

And I eat many foods high in potassium. Avocados, bananas I eat well.

My GP wanted to prescribe potassium pills but I am waiting for my appointment with LDMD to do anything like that.

I am dead tired and sore all the time when my Lyme is active.

So ... just a guess that something to do with LD is eating my potassium.

Hope the input helps with information gathering.

My mom has this. Her LLMD limits her fluid intake to 60 oz a day. This includes all fluid in food etc. It is hard. She especially struggles because of all the meds. She drinks Smart water which is insanely expensive and probably a marketing gimick but for some reason keeps her out of the hospital.

Just had my first visit with an infectious disease dr. She claimed to have been an LDMD but she could not even read my test results.

I was so disappointed. She would not run her own Lyme tests. And told me I would already be dead if I had any co-infections that were parasites that I asked if I could possible have since 4 rounds of Doxy have not cleared my Lyme.

I am still test positing on at least 5-7 bands of IGG.

I am suffering in so many ways. I am going to go out of state to see a real Lyme Doctor.

Eating potassium high foods still. And I have not retested for that yet.

The doctors are refusing to run blood for things to do with Lyme at all.

The infectious disease dr said definitively that I had Syphilis.

Of course I allowed the blood test but not a chance. Let me tell you over 20 years of marriage here and we both blood tested by law to get married.

Giving her her inch I digressed. The results were negative. I believe my infectious disease dr. specialized in STDs so everything to her had to be an STD.

That was a months long let down.

On a Western blot test, bands 22 and 41 both indicate infection with a spirochete (which could be Borrelia or syphilis) so maybe that's why your doctor suspected syphilis. I have seen infectious disease doctors who claimed to be Lyme-literate but who instead very much followed IDSA guidelines. It's hugely disappointing, I know!

Garzie, can you say more about "all cause mortality" increasing with calcium supplementation? Is that perhaps just a correlation rather than causation because older folks tend to take calcium supplements, or is there more to it than that?