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low in potassium

Freema

Expert
Messages
7,346
Location
Denmark
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
have any of you going very low carb experienced to become low in potassium when changing your diets from before to the lchf -diet ?

I used to eat lots of fruits and have a very low blood pressure, but now as I have changed my diet my blood pressure the lowest number seem to be rising rapidly from about 70 til about 95 ...

and I have been wondering why, and then I read somewhere that being low in potassium gets ones blood pressure up...

and then well I do not eat potatoes anymore and hardly any fruits.. some berries 2 times a week or so...
what is your experiences ?

maybe some diabetics with too high blood pressure could benifit from taking a small daily amount of potassium
 
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That makes sense. Sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, bananas, avocados, dairy products, leafy greens seem to be the way forward!
 
asparagusp said:
That makes sense. Sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, bananas, avocados, dairy products, leafy greens seem to be the way forward!
Click to expand...

green leafy vegetables and avocado I do eat a fair amount of... but maybe I need even more because of my shift to high level training from doing nothing at all...

I think I´ll supplement for a while .. maybe only the days I do heavy training...
But bananas I only eat for a seldom occasion for me there is way too much carbs in them ... and sweet potatoes even though my vegetarian daugther loves them , I actually find the taste not interesting at all.. melons well they are also only for seldom occations for me... milk products YES my nails have lost their strength, so I have added more milk-products to my foods Again...

thank you for looking up all these foods for me asparagusp sweet you
 
I adore bananas but I prefer them slightly free which of course means less sugar. Yes I ahve cut down on them. I buy small ones, cut them in half so just to eat one half but end up eating both in one go!
 
asparagusp said:
I adore bananas but I prefer them slightly free which of course means less sugar. Yes I ahve cut down on them. I buy small ones, cut them in half so just to eat one half but end up eating both in one go!
Click to expand...

good idea... and I think I´ll still use them ocasionaly for smoothies. they are perfect for smoothies
 
I get some weird 'potassium stuff' sometimes, but I genuinely don't know whether it is related to my low carbing (since it predates the very low carbing I am doing now) - although I do also supplement with magnesium and salt (in broth) because I find they ARE affected by my LC.

I will explain.
A while back (15 years?) when I was lowish carbing, in a fairly consistent way, I started to get sore throats. always in the morning on waking. Always on one tonsil. Sometimes very painful. Occasionally I would get an incredibly painful white lump in one place on the tonsil.

The sore would always clear up within an hour or two of eating my breakfast

I got these sore throats every morning for about 3 months. Thought I was fighting off a virus, but when it went on too long, I went to the doc. No interest. No advice.

Eventually I settled down and did some Google Fu.
Finally found a single reference to potassium deficiency causing sore areas in the mouth, which cleared up on eating something with potassium in it.

Aha! I thought, and went and got a cheap Potassium supplement from the nearest Holland & Barratt. And took one.
Miraculous.
No sore throat the next morning.
In fact, no sore throat for AGES, with just one poxy little tablet a day.

Then, of course I kept forgetting the tablets, and after a while, the sore throat came back... Still does actually, if I forget them.

There are other symptoms of deficiency, of course, but the one that always flags it up to me is the sore throat.
My doctor's blood tests always come back 'normal' for potassium, so I can only assume that if I wasn't taking the supplements they would come back 'low'.
 

okay very interesting.... ..... okay I´ll remember that also for others that often have a sore throat...
 
Hi Freema, I have Conn's syndrome and have to keep my sodium intake down and potassium up. When sodium goes into tissue potassium is lost and bp goes up. Please ask your gp for a u&e test to see if your bloods are OK. Your diastolic bp is indicative of potassium below 3.6 . If you have Conns you will be very salt and potassium sensitive. regards Derek ps. steady as you go with potassium supplements it is dangerous to overdose.





 
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@Freema, a simple blood test will show if your potassium levels are within the accepted normal range. This could be included in your diabetic review blood tests.
Last week my potassium levels were shown to be high, and I will be having a repeat blood test for potassium this week, as sometimes damage to the blood vessel from the needle taking the blood can give a false high reading.
Despite the high potassium level I am having very high blood pressure readings too. If your BP is high, get it checked by GP and follow advice to reduce it, rather than guessing at it being due to potassium levels.
 

thnk you very much for your information, I´ll meditate a bit on it , because I never used to have any troubles with either sodium or patassium... but when diagnosed with diabtes my sodium was very low... maybe also because I used to get a lot of potassium from my favorite foods ...I do not know of having conn´s syndrome but tomorrow when I am not tired I´ll look into that subject... I have bought potassium tablets today and taken two tablet...

I would be interested in how you keep your levels up... but actually I am peeing so much every night up 2-3 times a night it started right after I started metformin...... well makes me speculate a bit...
I have started having swollen small areas under my eyes which I never had before...but many my age have had that problem for ages... just thought something was wrong with my electrolytes....
 
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thanks for your response , I never before have had any really high blood presure, except when being very very ill a few times in my life... my blood pressure is 132/95 but it is usually 117/70 and I just wondered why it has changed so much, the nurse wasn´t worried at our last meeting... but I have started to worry.... I´d rather solve the problem before it gets serious... I have enough of serious deseases already
 
I will not overdose potassium only take a very little dose maybe every second day.. see if it changes nything.. like 150 mg or 300mg a day which is only15% of daily recomondations for the total amount
 
I used to put in one banana, 1 avocado, 1 kiwi, 1 mango, spinach, yogurt, blueberries, and either water or coconut milk or some juice and protein powder in to my machine. This made 6 big glasses of smoothies that hubby and I shared over 3 days. So it wasn't really a lot of say banana... Just 1/6th....

I was able to eat a very small salad then as well. That was my food for the day. Salads were olives, avocado's etc. My portion sizes are very small though. All food with a knife and fork for one day fits on a tea plate (probably 1/2 a tea plate, but I spread it to look more). And walnuts.

Anyhow, just that qty of food put my potassium above target range for the first time ever but BP stayed perfect.

So, now I have a smoothie every other day. I'm not having the qty of salad anymore just 50g broccoli and 100g bunt squash is my staple veg with either 1 or 2 teaspoons of salmon, 2 teaspoon homemade curry sauce or white fish or tuna. Levels of potassium have returned to bang in the middle of target range. BP is still brilliantly good.

Changes in diet can really affect your bloods. Due to not being able to eat meat my iron levels dropped to being anaemia. Now on GP advice of including broccoli (or if I get really fed up with it 30g of rice crispies) I'm still low but not anaemic.

I take enough vit tablets let alone adding another one for potassium-lol....

I would advise anyone that if you could have a frank discussion with GP about trying to help self and being very aware of how foods can affect health that you would like full blood count done with the essential vitamins of B12, folate, D3, calcium, potassium and magnesium.

My Gastro consultant and GPS and diabetes teams always say that I am a role model for caring about helping myself and knowing every ounce of every food and vitamins that I eat or take etc. They have absolutely no problem giving me tests when I have asked for them. My GP was very knowledgeable too when anaemia became a problem, she immediately rattled off vegetables and a low fibre cereal I could try to see if I could eat.

Tell them you would like a starting point to know in detail where you can make improvements in your diet. If you start mentioning to them about it affecting BP etc they may poopoo the tests or they may actually be interested, but I would sort of see how the land lies first....
 
I pee 4x times per night but have done for many years. I'm 77! I have a 30mm tumour on my right adrenal that produces 20x the normal amount of aldosterone. This causes loss of potassium and retension of salt(sodium) and high bp. To block the affect of aldosterone I take the potassium sparing diuretic Eplerenone. It is expensive and Spironolactone that does the same blocks sex hormones as well but is cheap. My bp is controlled but I could be cured by having my right adrenal removed but I may not survive the surgery! regards Derek QUOTE="Freema, post: 1288864, member: 329519"]thnk you very much for your information, I´ll meditate a bit on it , because I never used to have any troubles with either sodium or patassium... but when diagnosed with diabtes my sodium was very low... maybe also because I used to get a lot of potassium from my favorite foods ...I do not know of having conn´s syndrome but tomorrow when I am not tired I´ll look into that subject... I have bought potassium tablets today and taken two tablet...

I would be interested in how you keep your levels up... but actually I am peeing so much every night up 2-3 times a night it started right after I started metformin...... well makes me speculate a bit...
I have started having swollen small areas under my eyes which I never had before...but many my age have had that problem for ages... just thought something was wrong with my electrolytes....[/QUOTE]
 
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Sounds like What I would apreciate really delicious , I do know Some of What nutrient there is in many foods , I used to be high in iron .My b12 is okay and folate too and vitamin D . My iron has lowered a bit But it was very high before . And I have stated to take a multivatamin and mineral pill again But NOT with iron as it used to be almost too high and also take magnesium and And eat more yoghurt for calcium
 
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@lindisfel I have Gitelmans Syndrome, which is a potassium wasting disorder, and it causes low BP to go with it. This is due to an inherited genetic defect, but I manage well with a high dose of prescribed spironolactone, magnesium and potassium. @Freema A low carb diet will also cause a loss of electrolytes, so definitely need to keep an eye on them. A simple serum renal panel test at the doctors can tell you your levels.
 

Yes I'll maybe need that But I really do NOT want to diskuss my low carb diet with the GP because in Denmark doctors Think it is iresponsible to go on this diet and I am afraid it Will make them Think I am a crazy fanatic
 
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