Potassium in the human body is higher than normal. Increased potassium in the blood: causes and treatment

Potassium, potassium, found in cells, regulates water balance in the body and normalizes heart rhythm.

Potassium affects the functioning of many cells in the body, especially nerve and muscle cells. Biological role Potassium in the human body is high. Potassium promotes mental clarity, improves oxygen supply to the brain, helps eliminate toxins, acts as an immunomodulator, helps lower blood pressure and helps treat allergies.

The potassium content in the body depends on the balance following processes: potassium intake from food, distribution in the body and excretion (by the kidneys, sweat glands, intestines). There is no “depot” for potassium in the body, so even a slight deficiency of potassium caused by insufficient potassium intake from food can provoke many disorders in the nervous and muscle tissue, weakness, decreased reflexes, hypotension, intestinal obstruction, polyuria, water retention in the body. To avoid this, you need to include potassium-rich foods in your diet. Potassium is found in citrus fruits, all green leafy vegetables, mint, sunflower seeds, bananas, and potatoes. In addition, there are special drugs, allowing you to increase the potassium content in the body. But you can take such drugs only by following the doctor’s recommendations, having first done biochemical analysis blood for quantitative determination of potassium, since even 25 g of potassium above normal can cause toxic poisoning body.

Increased potassium levels in the blood:

This phenomenon is called hyperkalemia and is a sign of the following disorders in the human body:

• cell damage (hemolysis - destruction of blood cells, severe starvation, seizures, severe injuries, deep burns)
• dehydration
• acidosis
• acute renal failure (impaired renal excretion)
• adrenal insufficiency
• increased intake of potassium salts.

Typically, potassium is elevated due to taking antitumor, anti-inflammatory drugs and some other medications.

Emotional stress and physical overload can lead to potassium deficiency. Alcohol, coffee, sugar, and diuretics significantly reduce the effect of potassium. Drinking coffee can be dangerous to your health, since the fatigue you fight with coffee is actually often caused by potassium loss.

Potassium deficiency is typical for those with a sweet tooth and, conversely, for people who are addicted to diets. Weight loss may be accompanied by weakness and weakening of reflexes - and this indicates a significant lack of potassium in the blood.

It is possible to compensate for potassium deficiency with the help of proper nutrition by consuming more potassium-containing foods. Unfortunately, potassium deficiency is often associated with serious diseases in the human body.

Low potassium levels in the blood (hypokalemia):

• hypoglycemia
• dropsy
• intestinal fistula
• chronic fasting
• prolonged vomiting and diarrhea
• renal dysfunction, acidosis, renal failure
• excess of adrenal hormones
• cystic fibrosis
• magnesium deficiency.

In the body healthy person with a body weight of about 70 kg contains 3150 mmol of potassium (45 mmol/kg in men and about 35 mmol/kg in women). Only 50-60 mmol of potassium is in the extracellular space, the rest is distributed in the cellular space. Daily consumption potassium is 60-100 mmol. Almost the same amount is excreted in the urine and only a little (about 2%) is excreted in the feces. Normally, the kidney secretes potassium at a rate of up to 6 mmol/kg/day.

What to consider when assessing the analysis result

Serum potassium concentration is an indicator of its general content in the body, however, its distribution between cells and extracellular fluid can be influenced by various factors (impaired acid-base status, increased extracellular osmolarity, insulin deficiency). Thus, with a shift in pH by 0.1, one should expect a change in potassium concentration by 0.1-0.7 mmol/l in the opposite direction.

Physiological function of potassium

Main reason disorders of potassium metabolism in the body, including hyperkalemia, is chronic disease kidney

Hypokalemia is quite rare in patients and is usually caused by too low a sodium intake while taking diuretics.

A more common problem is hyperkalemia, which is characterized by a serum potassium concentration greater than 5.5 mmol/L.

Causes of hyperkalemia

In people suffering from chronic renal failure, as a result of decreased renal secretion, potassium removal through gastrointestinal tract. In such individuals, hyperkalemia is common.

I'll have to give up bananas...

TO causes of hyperkalemia include:

• excessive intake of potassium in the diet in patients with renal failure;
• disorders of potassium excretion through the kidneys;
• disruption of intracellular potassium transport;
• massive release of potassium from damaged cells, crash syndrome;
• water-electrolyte imbalance;
• intense protein catabolism;
• tissue hypoxia;
• hemolysis.

The most common form of the disease is drug-induced hyperkalemia caused by taking medications that affect the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. Typically, these drugs are widely used in the treatment of hypertension, they block sodium channels in the kidneys.

Drug-induced hyperkalemia can also result from interruption of renin production through the use of ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Sometimes an increase in potassium levels in the blood can occur as a result of the use of potassium-sparing diuretics, such as spironolactone.

An increase in the concentration of potassium ions in the blood is also promoted by: dehydration, strychnine intoxication, treatment with cytostatic agents, hypofunction of the adrenal cortex (Addison's disease), hypoaldosteronism, constant hypoglycemia or metabolic acidosis.

Symptoms of hyperkalemia

Clinically, hyperkalemia is distinguished:

• light (5.5 mmol/l);
• moderate (from 6.1 to 7 mmol/l);
• severe (more than 7 mmol/l).

Symptoms of the disease often appear only with severe hyperkalemia, and include mainly disturbances in the action of skeletal muscles, central nervous system and hearts.

Symptoms of hyperkalemia also include muscle weakness or paralysis, tingling sensations, and confusion. Hyperkalemia also interferes with the functioning of the heart muscle and can lead to life-threatening arrhythmias - bradycardia or additional contractions, which can be easily determined based on the ECG recording.

You can often see on an ECG increase in T wave amplitude, as well as its wedge-shaped shape. In the case of a higher stage of the disease, the PR interval undergoes expansion, like the QRS duration. In addition, P waves become flatter and ventricular conduction is weaker. The QRS and T waves eventually merge and the ECG waveform takes on a sinusoidal shape.

In such a situation, there is a danger of camera flickering and, as a result, slowing down blood circulation. The diagnosis of the disease is made based on clinical picture and laboratory measurements of serum potassium levels.

Treatment of hyperkalemia

Treatment of hyperkalemia consists in eliminating its causes, for example, withdrawal of drugs that cause it, as well as taking drugs that reduce the concentration of potassium in the blood serum.

Potassium concentration blood serum levels are reduced by: calcium, glucose with insulin, bicarbonate, beta mimetics, ion exchange drugs, laxatives and hemodialysis. When no remedies are available, you can use an enema.

In the treatment of hyperkalemia, 10-20 ml of 10 percent calcium gluconate or 5 ml of 10 percent calcium gluconate is used calcium chloride. Calcium salt administration requires constant ECG monitoring. Glucose with insulin must be administered intravenously or used as an infusion.

Kidney disease is often accompanied by acidosis. If it occurs, taking bicarbonate brings many benefits. In order to avoid alkalosis, it is best to constantly monitor the pH level. Bicarbonate should not be given when a person already has pulmonary edema, hypokalemia, or hypernatremia.

Ion exchange resins are used orally or rectally, and the standard dosage is 25-50 g. They retain potassium in the colon, which leads to a decrease in potassium concentration throughout the body. The use of laxatives increases the volume feces. Thus, the amount of potassium released through the gastrointestinal tract also increases.

The use of a drug from the group of B2-mimetics is carried out through inhalation therapeutic doses salbutamol, which causes the transition of potassium into blood cells. If these treatment methods do not bring the expected results, and hyperkalemia remains high (more than 6.5 mmol/l), hemodialysis is recommended.

As you can see, there are many ways to treat hyperkalemia, and what will be effective in a particular person primarily depends on clinical condition patient. Prevention of the disease involves reducing the amount of potassium in the diet, stopping medications that increase potassium levels, and taking diuretics such as furosemide. The decision on one or another treatment method should be made at an appointment with a doctor.

People often experience elevated levels of potassium in the blood; the reasons may vary. Elevated potassium in the blood is called hyperkalemia. This diagnosis is made when the blood potassium level is elevated above 5.3 mmol/l. This pathology affects approximately ten percent of patients who are hospitalized in hospitals with diagnoses related to insufficiency of the system responsible for excreting urine. For recent years High potassium in the blood often occurs in people who are constantly taking medications for hypertension.

Potassium plays a role in the blood of women and men important role. It is a cation that has a positive charge. At the same time, sodium is a constant pair for it. The difference between potassium and sodium is that sodium is found mostly in the intercellular space, and potassium is found inside the cell. Due to this, it is created membrane potential, which allows muscle fibers shrink. In addition, sodium in combination with potassium allows nerve impulses to be transmitted. In the blood of a child and an adult, the cation takes part in enzymatic activation, maintaining balance in terms of the amount of water and salts, and the formation of acid-base balance.

Studies have shown that in the body of children and adults, several natural mechanisms are responsible for transporting potassium and maintaining its norm. The main role when the indicators are brought back to normal is played by the kidneys. The adrenal hormone aldosterone acts in this case. Active substance the process is performed in such a way that an increased amount of sodium is formed in the blood. This process is connected by the renal tubules, which differ reverse suction, which affects the potassium content in the blood towards a decrease, removing it along with the urine.

If the levers responsible for regulation do not work correctly, cell membranes lose their usual excitability, which can affect the functioning of the nervous, muscular and cardiac systems, including pathological changes. Magnesium is no less important in the blood. It is understood as a microelement that is present in the blood in bound state. Most often he component biological macromolecules. It is presented mainly inside the cell, and not in the intracellular fluid. Because of this, it is considered an intracellular ion. The normal magnesium level allows you to maintain normal cardiac activity.

The norm for women and men, when it comes to magnesium, should be in the range of 0.8-1.2 mmol/l. In this case, the indicator can be lowered or overestimated according to pathological reasons. Considering sodium, it is worth noting that it is the main ion of the liquid located outside the cell. Sodium normally in the blood of an adult should range from 123 to 140 mmol/l.

In this case, a factor in reducing the indicator in the body of a child or adult will be the removal of sodium through secretions. The body disposes of 90 percent of it in urine, the rest is divided between feces and sweat. Sodium is important in terms of osmotic pressure and blood pH levels. In addition, the work of the organismal systems already mentioned above cannot do without it.

If sodium in the blood is higher than normal, swelling may occur. Excess sodium concentrate in extracellular fluid leads to dehydration, and the presence of sodium in large quantities inside the vessels affects the volume of blood that circulates in the body, leading to an increase in blood pressure.

Reasons for increase and decrease

Returning to increased potassium in the blood, the reasons for this phenomenon can be distinguished. The exception to this is physical activity carried out with high intensity, since in this case, when increased content Potassium in the blood does not indicate any pathology. Speaking of any violations, increased potassium in the blood can be due to severe injuries, necrosis, hemolysis inside the cell or blood vessels. Normally, this process is performed on an ongoing basis. This is due to the completion of the life cycle of red blood cells, which “age” and are destroyed.

However, in a number of cases of an infectious, toxic, autoimmune or traumatic nature, the body begins to lose red blood cells faster, which leads to the fact that the blood test for potassium shows an increase.

Starvation, burns, disintegration of tumor parts and surgical interventions cannot be excluded from the list of reasons. The level of potassium in the blood increases against the background of shock, lack of oxygen in tissues, and metabolic acidosis. If we are talking about a patient with hyperglycemia, the norm of potassium in the blood tends to increase with insulin deficiency. Similarly affected by rapid protein and glycogen breakdown, the increased permeability exhibited by the outer cell membranes, which allows potassium to leave the cell. We cannot exclude a number renal lesions, disorders hormonal levels. In most cases, this is due to improper functioning of the adrenal glands.

The question of how to reduce potassium levels may also arise when excessive consumption preparations containing potassium. Some medications and dehydration resulting from polyuria have the same effect. Why might the rate be elevated in patients who have recently received a blood transfusion? This is possible when transfusion of old blood, in which potassium intoxication has begun to develop.

Such an unusual disease as familial periodic hyperkalemic paralysis cannot be excluded. It is transmitted through an autosomal dominant pathway. This phenomenon is very rare, so you can rarely find it on the list of those that change the normal potassium level.

Generally speaking, all of the above can be divided into two groups. Potassium increases due to:

• cell breakdown;
• reduction of potassium excretion by the kidneys.

In the first case, the question of how to lower potassium arises against the background of its excessive release, in the second it plays a role renal pathology or other causes related to the urinary system.

Of course, there are many factors that reduce potassium. The indicator may be low due to a diet that excludes large amounts of this microelement and an increased need for potassium in the body, which is often observed after surgical interventions.

Mothers also face such a decrease during and after childbirth. In the same way, cranial injuries, thyroid problems, stress and shock affect. A decrease can be caused by insulin overdose, taking a number of medications, dehydration, fistulas in the stomach and intestines.

Symptoms of manifestation

Since potassium is an integral part of any organ and system of the human body, clinical symptoms its disadvantages are presented in large numbers, so it makes sense to list them in conjunction with manifestations from the outside different groups organs.

How severe the symptoms of hyperkalemia appear depends on how high your potassium levels rise. The higher the indicator, the more strong signs will have to face. One of these is muscle weakness. This occurs against the background of cellular depolarization and its reduced excitability. Increased quantity potassium negatively affects the heart rate. If potassium levels are too high, paralysis of the upper respiratory muscles can occur.

An increase in potassium to critical levels threatens cardiac arrest, most often occurring in diastole. Negative influence on the cardiac system is easily distinguishable on the ECG. The changes cause ventricular fibrillation and asystole. However, using a cardiogram as a correct diagnostic method impossible.

Sometimes, when receiving their tests, a person notices that potassium, chlorine or another component is increased in the blood. In this case, it is important not to make a diagnosis yourself. Chlorine, potassium, sodium can increase against the backdrop of the most different problems, so it is important to consult a specialist. In addition, microelements such as chlorine and potassium can be considered harmful in terms of analysis. It's about that incorrect venipuncture and further processing of the sample taken lead to inflated false indicators.

Like chlorine, potassium can be reduced under the influence of certain factors. This has already been mentioned above. This will manifest itself in drowsiness and weakness, trembling of hands and increased muscle tone. Speaking about breathing and the heart, we can note a decrease in the pulse rate, an increase in the size of the heart, in which noise is recorded. At the same time, the strength of contractions also decreases, and electrical processes in the heart muscle are disrupted. Dyspnea and wet wheezing are recorded.

Potassium deficiency also affects the gastrointestinal tract. We are talking about lack of appetite, flatulence, vomiting and intestinal paresis, which can sometimes lead to intestinal obstruction. We must not forget about hormonal imbalances. We are talking about glucose intolerance and malfunction mechanism that is responsible for normalizing renal blood pressure. speaking about the kidneys directly, an increase in potassium usually leads to copious discharge urine.

Necessary treatment

Elevated chlorine, potassium or sodium must be treated. Moreover, taking into account the fact that other diseases affect the level of microelements, treatment consists of finding the root cause and eliminating it. Therapy should consist of mineralocorticoids to combat metabolic acidosis. The patient is prescribed a diet that is low in potassium.

It is worth noting that if the potassium level exceeds 7.4 mmol/l, then this condition already poses a threat to life. In this case, the patient requires the first medical care. We are talking about the immediate abolition of potassium-containing drugs. To protect the heart muscle, they are used intravenous injections 10% calcium gluconate. Loop and thiazide diuretics and cation exchange resins can play an important role in helping to remove potassium from the body.

Doctors consider hemodialysis to be the most effective of all methods. This method should be used for patients with renal failure in its acute or chronic form against the backdrop of the ineffectiveness of the measures taken.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that patients who take potassium-sparing diuretics for a long course should be aware of the threat of hyperkalemia, especially if renal problems are present. Therefore, when taking such drugs, it is important to exclude potassium from your usual diet.

In order for the organs, systems and cells of our body to function correctly, the body must constantly maintain a stable amount of nutrients. And any deviation from them normal level(both increase and decrease) is fraught with the emergence unpleasant diseases And serious problems with health. One of the extremely important elements for our body is considered potassium. It is necessary to maintain proper functioning of the heart, regulate certain processes in the brain and in a number of organs digestive tract. An increase in potassium in a person’s blood is fraught with disturbances in the functioning of these organs. Therefore, we will discuss its increase, causes and symptoms on this page “Popular about health” in a little more detail.

As practice shows, a high level of potassium in the blood is most often a consequence of serious conditions that negatively affect the functioning of the entire body. But sometimes this phenomenon is explained quite natural causes, and can be corrected without much difficulty.

Causes of increased blood potassium

So, most neutral reason An increase in the amount of potassium in the blood is considered to be a diet rich in a significant amount of potassium-containing products. This disorder is considered transient - it goes away quite quickly on its own after optimizing the diet.

Also natural increase in the blood of this element may be due to particularly strong physical activity, which also applies to transient pathologies.

There are a number of diseases that can affect the increase in the amount of potassium in the body. These include severe injuries, necrosis of various locations and burns. Thus, an increase in potassium ions in the blood is observed during fasting, after surgical interventions and as a result oxygen starvation fabrics.

Sometimes this condition is a consequence of intracellular and intravascular hemolysis, which is normally continuous and represents the final stage of the life of red blood cells - their destruction with the parallel release of hemoglobin into environment. But with a number of ailments that can be infectious, toxic, autoimmune or traumatic in nature, hemolysis accelerates, which results in an increase in the amount of potassium and an increase in its content in the blood.

In addition, an increase in potassium in the body can be observed during the disintegration of tumor formations, during shock, metabolic acidosis, insulin deficiency due to hyperglycemia, with active breakdown of proteins or glycogen. Another similar situation can be provoked pathological change permeability of the outer membranes of cells, due to which potassium leaves the cell (typical for anaphylactic shock).

Sometimes an increase in potassium in the blood is a consequence of reduced excretion of potassium ions by the urinary system (in acute and chronic renal failure, which is accompanied by a decrease in diuresis). Also, a similar problem can arise in patients with hormonal disorders, namely, with impaired functional ability of the adrenal cortex.

Among other things, an increase in potassium levels may be a consequence of the use of certain medications (captopril, indomethacin, potassium-sparing diuretics, muscle relaxants), dehydration (with polyuria), severe glycoside intoxication, etc.

In general, doctors say that an abnormal increase in the amount of potassium in the blood in most cases occurs due to the breakdown of cells, which is accompanied by excessive release of this substance from them, or with reduced excretion of potassium ions by the urinary system. Much less often, other causes underlie the pathology.

Increased potassium concentration - symptoms

Manifestations higher level potassium levels in the blood largely depend on the degree of increase. Basically, the symptoms of this disorder become obvious when the disease is particularly difficult character, and a blood test for potassium levels shows data of more than 7 mmol/l. In such a situation, patients complain of weakness in the muscles of the limbs and may even lose the ability to fully move independently. Classic symptoms of increased potassium in the blood are tingling, numbness, and crawling (feelings of paresthesia). Such unpleasant symptoms usually concentrated in the fingers or toes.

High level Potassium in the blood negatively affects the functioning of the nervous system and causes a feeling of lethargy. Patients exhibit impaired response to exposure external stimuli, mental (mental) activity also noticeably deteriorates. If the amount of potassium in the blood is particularly high, consciousness may be impaired.

High levels of potassium in the blood impair activity cardiovascular system. This may increase or decrease blood pressure, it is also possible to experience a feeling of palpitations and a feeling of shortness of breath. Quite often there are violations of the full heart rate, represented by paroxysmal ventricular tachycardia, asystole, ventricular fibrillation. Similar conditions may cause fatal outcome.

If there are suspicions of symptoms of high potassium in the patient’s blood, he needs to be hospitalized and undergo adequate treatment under the supervision of qualified specialists.