Hypokalemia Research Paper

Potassium works with sodium to regulate the body’s water balance. The kidneys help to control the blood pressure by controlling the amount of fluid stored in the body. Therefore, the more fluid then the higher the blood pressure is. The kidneys do this by filtering out the blood and extracting any extra fluid, which then is stored in the bladder as urine. This is done very delicately as both sodium and potassium pull the water across the wall of the cells from the bloodstream into a collecting channel that leads to the bladder. When eating to much salt, the amount of sodium in the bloodstream will be imbalanced compared to the amount of potassium and thus reducing the ability of the kidneys remove the extra fluid. Eating more fruit and vegetables, the potassium levels increase and can help restore the chemical imbalance. However, there is a possibility of too much potassium, also known as hyperkalemia, which can lead to other issues like renal failure.

The patient in “The Red Hat Hikers” scenario is suffering from hyponatremia. Hyponatremia is defined as a serum sodium level of less than 136mEq/L. Sodium is an electrolyte that is found predominately in the extracellular fluid, and it is the chief regulator of water in the body. Sodium is also important for muscle contraction, nerve impulses, acid-base balance and chemical reactions that occur inside the cell (McCance & Huether, 2014). Normal sodium levels in the body are maintained by the kidneys and the hormone aldosterone. Aldosterone is secreted by the adrenal cortex at the completion of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, and it helps stimulate the proximal tubules of the kidneys to reabsorb sodium and water. The anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) also indirectly affects sodium levels because it regulates water balance in the body (McCance & Huether, 2014).

4. Why does potassium concentration rise in patients with acidosis? What is this called? What effects does it have?

Ms. Brown is dehydrated due to decreased oral intake. Her sodium is elevated at 156 mEq/L, potassium is elevated at 5.6 mEq/L, chloride is elevated at 115 mEq/L and her blood sugar is also elevated at 412 mg/dl all due to her dehydration and diabetes. Due to her sodium and chloride being elevated, she would have an increase in her ADH secretion which would lead to a decrease in blood circulation, decrease in blood pressure, retention of water and increase of thirst. Because her potassium is so high it has caused her to have an insulin deficit and has lead to diabetic ketoacidosis. She would be experiencing vomiting, dehydration and confusion. She needs insulin to correct her hyperglycemia and IV fluids for her fluid loss. Her anion gap is 21

Acidosis occurs with a blood ph balance becomes less than 7.35 and cellular injury occurs in addition hyperglycaemia accompanies osmotic diuresis as the kidneys cannot absorb the glucose and its leaked into urine causing water to move by osmosis from blood to urine resulting in electrolyte loss of salt and water causing dehydration.

Importantly, an administration of 0.9% NaCl or hypertonic NaCl (3 – 7.5% NaCl) also causes corrected hyperchloremia since it contains significantly higher proportion of chloride concentrations compared to sodium concentration ([Na+] = [Cl-] in 0.9% NaCl) than physiologically normal serum concentrations ([Na+] > [Cl-]). Development of corrected hyperchloremia and subsequent metabolic acidosis is also exacerbated by KCl supplementation. For example, 0.9% sodium chloride supplemented with 20 mEq/L KCl has a final chloride concentration of 174 mEq/L ([Na+] < [Cl-]). Experimentally, chronic respiratory alkalosis causes renal chloride retention in dogs, and patients with chronic hypocapnia may be expected to develop corrected hyperchloremia leading to compensatory metabolic

Our bodies work in incredible and various ways. Especially when our body is affected by imbalances in our pH. PH is the concentration of hydrogen ions in the blood. Solutions with a high concentration of H+ have a low pH, unlike solutions with a low concentration of H+ have a high pH. The normal pH is between 7.35-7.45. Anything else that ranges either below 7.35 or above 7.45 is abnormal. With this being said, the pH tells you whether the person is in acidosis (pH < 7.35) or alkalosis (pH > 7.45). If the human body is too acidic/alakalitic, the body must expend energy to compensate for this; energy that would be better served in other areas of the body. This is known as homeostasis, a characteristic system that regulates its internal environment and tends to keep things constant. A good way of sustaining pH homeostasis is through a short term mechanism called chemical buffer system, which are bicarbonate, phosphate, and protein buffer systems. Buffer systems solution resists changes to its pH when a strong acid or base is added. Another system that manages severe changes of pH is the

Electrolyte imbalances occur as a result of dehydration and excessive loss of potassium and sodium levels from the body as a following purging or excessive use of laxatives.

In addition to the disorders in the metabolism, patients with DKA experience a condition known as Hyperglycemia-Induced Osmotic Diuresis characterized by the intracellular and extracellular shift of increased glucose levels in the blood, and leads to electrolyte imbalance, increased serum osmolality, and dehydration. Affected electrolytes include sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus. Hypokalemia occurs as a result of absorption of potassium from cell to skeletal muscle (Gosmanov, Gosmanova, & Dillard-Cannon 2014). These changes may cause a false elevation of serum potassium levels (Sole et al. 2013).

Thank you for your insight on electrolyte imbalances on the nervous system. Electrolytes have a lot of roles in the body, but the nervous system is probably one of the most important it seems. If the nervous system of a body is not working properly, majority of the body will lack in its performance as well. Without the electrolyte balances in the nervous system more issues will seem to happen. It is nice that because of the problems are functionally and easily fixed and the body can return to normal, but because some of the functional problems can cause organ damage is the downside. Unfortunately, no electrolyte imbalance goes without effect on the body. Because the nervous system is so important to the body and cause the issues that you

Potassium is an electrolyte of significant importance to normal functioning of the human body. Normal serum potassium levels range from 3.5 meq/L to 5.0 meq/L. When serum potassium levels fall below 3.0 meq/L the patient experiences symptoms which are life altering and life threatening. Thus, correction of hypokalemia requires immediate and efficient interventions to normalize serum potassium

Acid-Base Disturbances is any condition which results in changes of the extracellular fluid pH from the normal range of pH 7.35 - 7.45. ... Because the blood pH and the ECF pH are almost always equivalent, disturbances of acid-base homeostasis are diagnosed by measuring blood pH. "When the pH is below 7.35, the condition is called acidosis; when the pH is above 7.45, it is called alkalosis". (VanPutte, 2013). Acidosis or Alkalosis states are categorized as being either metabolic or respiratory so the imbalance or condition maybe respiratory acidosis, or respiratory alkalosis, metabolic acidosis and or metabolic alkalosis. Because the body is always striving for or attempting to maintain normalcy (homeostasis), regardless of the etiological source all initial acid-base disturbances will result in an imbalance of the normal pH ratio. To combat the effects of acidosis and or

In the case study, two additional patients with low sodium concentration in their cells were also presented in order to serve as a comparison to the main case. The history of two Caucasian females, one 38 years of age and the other 24 years old were presented. The 38-year-old female drank 25,250mL bottles of water (6.25L total) whilst running a 64.4 km marathon. She suffered from confusion, headache, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, shortness of breath, as well as pulmonary venous edema. Initially, the patient had a sodium content of 121 mmol/l and a serum osmolality of 253 mOsm/kg. In order to treat the patient, a hypertonic saline, normal saline, and 40mg of intravenous furosemide, a diuretic, were administered after which her sodium content rose to of 125 mmol/l after 2.5 hours and 141 mmol/l after 48 hours with no acute damage to cells. The 24-year-old female underwent an appendectomy and received 5% dextrose infusion before and after

My client Mrs. Jones has hypokalemia with a serum potassium level of 3.0 mEq/L. I discuss with Mrs. Jones that eating bananas is a start to fixing her low potassium levels, but she is borderline mild to moderate for her potassium levels. Her water pill is a contributing factor in the loss of potassium from her system and just eating more foods with potassium in them will not get her levels back up to normal. I also explain to her that letting her potassium levels drop any lower can be dangerous for her health especially her heart.

Have you ever heard of an element named potassium? Potassium is an element in the 4th period and 1st group on the periodic table. Potassium is not free in nature. For example, exposing it to water can cause it to explode to purple flame. Potassium quickly combines in air and responds to give off hydrogen. Having low potassium levels can give you hypokalemia. Symptoms of hypokalemia are muscle cramps, irregular heartbeat, and weakness. Did you know that 2.4% of Earth’s crust is potassium?