High blood potassium is a common problem in kidney patients. Excessive blood potassium may cause heartbeat slowdown or even cardiac arrest, so high blood potassium must be taken seriously by kidney patients. The causes of hyperkalemia are related to food, fruits and some medications, and the timely treatment of hyperkalemia is also very important. This article introduces you to the progress of treatment of hyperkalemia. Lao You suddenly fainted at work yesterday and was taken to the hospital after the doctor said, “The company came early near the hospital, any later and the situation would have been very dangerous.” He was found to have a creatinine level of more than 400 and a potassium level of 8.1 mmol/L. The fainting was caused by a slow heart rate due to hyperkalemia, and if not treated in time, cardiac arrest was likely to occur. In fact, Lao You found out two years ago that his creatinine level was a bit high, but his blood pressure was higher, so he put all his attention on lowering his blood pressure and used low sodium salt every day to reduce his sodium intake. In addition, he heard that eating bananas is good for lowering blood pressure, so he often bought some bananas to eat as his daily afternoon tea, and the opening scene appeared right after the afternoon tea. Let’s analyze from a dietary point of view, what would be high blood potassium in Lao Yu? Bananas are high in potassium, as we all know, and low sodium salt is used to replace some of the sodium chloride with potassium chloride, so the potassium content is also very high. The banana he ate before fainting was just the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Abnormal blood potassium – extremely dangerous Potassium ions have various physiological functions in the body, such as stabilizing blood pressure, maintaining acid-base balance in the body and normal nervous system function. Whether the blood potassium is too low or too high, potentially life-threatening conditions can occur. High blood potassium makes our nerves less likely to be excited and the nerve response in the body slows down, mainly in the form of muscular and cardiovascular symptoms. In the early stages, there is numbness in the limbs or around the mouth, muscle pain, weakness in the limbs, slowed heart rate, and in severe cases, asphyxia, severe arrhythmias, and even sudden death if not treated in time. Low blood potassium, on the contrary, allows our nerves to become excited at lighter stimuli, resulting in muscle weakness, tachycardia, loss of appetite, constipation, and in severe cases, alkalosis and even heart failure, which can be equally life-threatening. The kidneys are an important organ for metabolizing potassium. Why is it difficult for kidney patients to control their blood potassium stability? It has to do with the metabolic pathway of potassium. Potassium is a water-soluble substance, and more than 80% of potassium ions need to be metabolized by the kidneys to be excreted in the urine, while kidney patients with kidney problems and long-term consumption of foods with high potassium content are prone to hyperkalemia. If you are a chronic kidney disease patient with normal kidney function and normal urine output, you do not need to limit potassium as long as you do not eat foods with high potassium content like Lao You. In addition, some patients who are polyuric or undergoing abdominal dialysis treatment may also have low potassium levels, which can lead to hypokalemia if they blindly limit potassium, which is also not conducive to a better quality of life and treatment for kidney disease patients. Simple judgment – the lower the water content, the higher the potassium content Potassium is mainly found in fruits and vegetables, so if we want to limit potassium from food, the most important thing we should pay attention to is the vegetables and fruits we eat every day. In case of high blood potassium or reduced urine output, doctors will remind us not to eat bananas because of their very high potassium content. In addition to bananas, foods with high potassium content include avocado, pineapple honey, etc. All these foods have a common feature – they contain less water, while watermelon and pears, which are water-rich fruits, contain very low potassium. If you need to limit your potassium intake, you can use the water content of food to make a simple judgment. However, this method does not work every time, so if you want to eat a lot of food for a long time, it is recommended to check in our nutrition database. Blanching – a potassium remover In addition to avoiding foods with high potassium content, we can also reduce the intake of potassium by blanching. This is because potassium is soluble in water, so if we blanch the food before cooking or eating it, the potassium ions in the food will diffuse into the water, and then we will consume less potassium ions from the food. In addition some vitamins are also soluble in water, if this is done for a long time it may lead to vitamin deficiency, so kidney patients can take oral vitamin preparations under the guidance of doctors and dietitians to avoid vitamin deficiency. Low-sodium salt – a big potassium content Many patients with kidney disease have high blood pressure, and doctors require patients with high blood pressure to have no more than 3g of salt per day, so many people buy low-sodium salt or low-sodium soy sauce instead of ordinary salt and soy sauce. In the previous example of Lao You, it has been said that low sodium salt is actually very high in potassium. Although moderate intake of potassium ions is also beneficial to relieve hypertension, it is not suitable for kidney patients who need to limit their potassium intake. Therefore, kidney patients must not choose this kind of low sodium salt or low sodium soy sauce for consumption. However, there are some low-sodium condiments on the market designed for kidney patients, such as Marushima brand reduced-salt soy sauce which is not only low in sodium, but also very low in potassium and phosphorus. 35ml of soy sauce is only equivalent to 3g of salt, which is perfect for kidney patients who need to control salt. The staple food we usually eat will also contain potassium ions, and the consumption of staple food is relatively large, if the staple food is rich in potassium ions, it is easy to consume too much potassium ions, so kidney patients who have high blood potassium levels choose staple food with low potassium content is better. Using low protein grown rice from Love Kidney as a staple food can consume 150mg less potassium per day than ordinary rice, which is a good choice of staple food.