Causes of Low Potassium
- Unhealthy diet – although uncommon
- Excessive loss of liquid - may be caused by frequent urination, diarrhea or excessive sweating
- Kidney damage – use of water pills, laxatives and other medications (seek advice from your G.P. if you have any cocerns about medications you are currently taking)
Symptoms of Low Potassium
The symptoms of having low potassium (Hypokalemia) are generally quite mild but can include tiredness and fatigue, muscle tingling or numbness or muscle cramps that may affect mobility, mood swings and depression, vomiting or nausea and constipation.
Simple dietary changes may increase your potassium levels to within normal range; your G.P. will recommend the best course of action and may prescribe potassium supplements if dietary changes prove ineffective.
How to Treat Low Potassium
The following video identifies primary foods that are high in potassium and should be part of your diet if your potassium levels are found to be low.
From a dietary perspective, one automatically thinks of bananas; although bananas are a good source of potassium, baked potatoes are very high along with dried, fresh or raw apricots, cantaloupe and avocadoes. Tomatoes are also a good source, cooked instead of fresh tomatoes and tomato puree is particularly high.
See High Potassium Levels for an outline of basic high potassium based foods and their potassium content. Incorporating these foods into breakfast, lunch and dinner will over time increase potassium levels.
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