How to Lower High Potassium Level for ESRD

Potassium is an essential mineral that helps keep our overall well-being. Both high and low potassium level can cause severe complications. For people with end stage renal disease, high potassium is very common, so how to lower high potassium level for ESRD attracts many patients’ attention.

Generally, the healthy kidneys keep potassium in the body ranges between 3.5 and 5.5 mEq/L, and potassium level won’t raise higher than the normal until nearly all of kidney function has lost. We call high potassium in the blood hyperkalemia. To get rid of excess potassium, a diet low in potassium and some kidney repairing or replacing treatment are needed.

Arrange a healthy diet

Because the potassium in our body mainly comes from the foods we eat, avoiding the foods high in potassium is very necessary to correct the elevated potassium level. Avocado, banana, kiwi, mango, orange, dried fruit, honeydew, artichoke, dried bean, pumpkin, potato, spinach, milk, yogurt, chocolate, etc, all belongs to high-potassium foods. If you have slight hyperkalemia, a healthy diet may be enough to correct this abnormal symptom. However, if it is severe, the following medical treatments may be indispensable.

Choose a correct treatment

Dialysis is one choice, because it has an outstanding benefit of removing excessive potassium. However, for most people with ESRD, it is too early to begin dialysis. We know once patients start dialysis, it is dangerous to stop it without kidney repairing treatment, so no one want to live with dialysis if they have other choices.

Immunotherapy is another choice that can not only help eliminate excessive potassium from the body but also repair damaged but not necrotic kidney cells. The more kidney cells recover to work, the better patients’ overall health. As a natural remedy, this therapy may need a little longer time to play its effect successfully. Therefore, if you want to use this treatment to reverse your condition, you need to be more patient.