Can Hypopotassemia Be Caused by Impaired Renal Function

Some kidney patients complain of hypopotassemia. Hypopotassemia means your blood potassium level is lower than the normal range, which can cause muscle weakness, cramping and fatigue. Can hypopotassemia be caused by impaired renal function?

Improper diet intake

Diet is a great source of potassium. But when kidney function impairs, they can not remove waste products from the blood so that patients are often required to follow a restricted diet. Sometimes the patients may have exaggerated limits, resulting in the reduced intake of potassium. This is also a contributor of hypopotassemia.

To restrict the intake of certain food does not mean you should avoid its intake. In order to maintain the normal function of body, we should supplement potassium moderately. Now if you have hypopotassemia, you should eat some food high in potassium, such as bananas, kiwi fruits, oranges, potassium, celery, etc.

The use of diuretics

Diuretics are the common used drugs for kidney patients to remove excess fluid from the body so as to relieve edema. With increased urine output, potassium is passed out of the body, leading to hypopotassemia.

In such case, you should use potassium-sparing diuretics to supplement the lost potassium.

Diarrhea and vomit

Diarrhea and vomit are symptoms common to be seen among kidney patients. They may cause metabolic alkalosis, which stimulates your kidneys to discharge potassium. Besides, they can cause reduced blood volume so as to activate the secretion of aldosterone. Aldosterone can also make your kidneys remove potassium from the blood.

In such case, you should take treatment timely to stop diarrhea and vomit.

Other causes of hypopotassemia for kidney patients

Magnesium deficiency, alkalosis and too much adrenocortical hormone may also lead to hypopotassemia. In addition, when your distal convoluted tubule can not reabsorb enough anion, potassium in blood also reduces.

Can hypopotassemia be caused by impaired renal function? Yes, it can. Space limited, so we do not list all the causes of hypopotassemia here. The fundamental way to improve hypopotassemia is to repair the damaged kidneys and improve kidney function. For more information, please contact online doctor or leave a message below.