What Can High Potassium Levels in Blood Indicate?
High blood levels of potassium, or hyperkalemia, may indicate problems with the regulation of potassium in your body or a high intake of potassium through foods. Regulation problems may be demonstrative of kidney diseases.
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Potassium Function
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Potassium is necessary in the body to assist in muscle and nerve communication as well as to remove wastes from cells.
Regulation
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The cortex of the adrenal glands produces aldosterone, the hormone responsible for the regulation of potassium. High potassium levels may indicate problems with the adrenal cortex's production of aldosterone.
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Kidney Problems
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High levels of blood potassium may indicate problems with your kidneys. Kidney failure is one of the most common reasons for potassium problems.
Other Causes
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Some medicines, loss of red blood cells, alcoholism and drug use, as well as taking too many potassium supplements may cause high levels of blood potassium.
Treatment
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If your hyperkalemia is associated with kidney failure, a kidney transplant (the general treatment for kidney failure) can fix the problem of high blood potassium.
Symptoms
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Hyperkalemia normally presents no symptoms, but some in cases, symptoms associated with it are an irregular heartbeat, nausea and a slow or absent pulse.
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References
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Andrew Kuznetsov
