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A member asked:
What are the long term effects of having low potassium? its been 6 months now. drs do not know why and meds not working,
3 doctors weighed in across 2 answers
Depends: It actually depends on how low. The body is very good at making sure that the potassium goes where it should. Most is within the cells and not measured by the blood. If it is very low then it could affect intracellular potassium and can result in cardiac arrhythmia and other muscle problems such as spasms but this is not very common. I would consider seeing a kidney doctor/nephrologist.
Answered 4/3/2013
5.2k views
Hyperaldosteronism: The possible causes of persistent low potassium are discussed on the wikipedia page called "hyperaldosteronism" (link below). The page does not discuss anorexia (self-starvation) as a cause. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hyperaldosteronism.
Answered 6/9/2013
5.2k views
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