The lack of potassium in the body badly affects the work of all muscles, including the heart. Dyspnea and pulmonary insufficiency are far from the most terrible complications that hypokalemia can cause, therefore the symptoms of this disease should be known to everyone in order to warn the danger in time.
Causes of hypokalemia
The hypokalemia syndrome practically never develops from the lack of a macronutrient in the food. This happens only in needy urban residents and hungry people. Potassium is contained in almost all products, therefore, under normal diet conditions, it enters our body in quantities substantially higher than necessary. Because of this, the kidneys are working hard to remove excess potassium. In those cases, if the body begins to work too hard, hypokalemia develops. The causes of this condition can be very different, but three main directions are distinguished:
- Potassium ceases to be absorbed by the body.
- Potassium is excreted too quickly.
- All the potassium entering the body goes to the structure of new cells.
Since this chemical element actively participates in the formation of new cells, in extreme cases, potassium from blood is used for this purpose, as a result, an analysis of the blood plasma will fix hypokalemia. In fact, it will be false hypokalemia, because once the growth of new cells ceases, the balance will recover.
Sometimes the cause of hypokalemia is disease. First of all, these are kidney, liver and endocrinological diseases:
- diabetic ketoacidosis;
- hyperglycemia ;
- growth of neoplasms;
- familial hypokalemic paralysis;
- increased excretory function of the kidneys.
Also, potassium is washed out from the body with sweat and other physiological fluids, so sometimes hypokalemia develops due to increased sweating, diarrhea, and other disorders.
The main signs of hypokalemia
Hypoglycemia affects the ECG. Since normal muscle contractions in such conditions are impossible, the heart also begins to malfunction. As a result, signs of hypoglycaemia on the ECG are noticeable better than even on a detailed blood test. The T phase and the U phase condense, the cardiac rhythm is severely impaired. If it is a case of severe glycemia, on the cardiogram, prolongation of the PQ interval becomes noticeable, and the QRS complex simultaneously significantly expands. But this does not mean that there is a direct relationship between the degree of hypokalemia and the nature of the heart rhythm, these indicators are individual for each person. Also, cardiologists pay attention to the fact that in some people even an easy lack of potassium can cause such diseases as ventricular arrhythmias, myocardial ischemia and left ventricular hypertrophy, and others even a severe deficit does not bring deterioration of well-being.
Symptoms of hypokalemia of a secondary nature are also quite unpleasant. It:
- myopia ;
- convulsions;
- decreased respiratory function;
- dyspnea;
- muscle weakness;
- increased heart rate;
- oppressed mental state;
- drowsiness;
- depressive states.
If any of these signs are found, blood from the vein should be donated to a detailed biochemical analysis and an ECG.
Correction of hypokalemia is quite simple, if this deviation is detected in time, you can restore the balance within a few days. This will prevent all possible complications. As a rule, the patient is prescribed drugs that reduce the activity of the kidneys and inhibit the formation of new cells. Beta-blockers and other drugs that help keep potassium in the body can be prescribed.