Potassium crisis!

[Chantel 67]

I am scheduled for surgery on Tuesday and had my EKG and labs yesterday. Then, yesterday afternoon, my doctor's medical assistant called and said that my potassium is low and that it must be addressed before surgery. They wanted me to work with my PCP if possible. Called PCP and she is out until Monday. Nurse said she would ask the backup doctor, but they did not get back to me yesterday. And now, of course, it's a holiday. :-(

I'm hoping to get this sorted out tomorrow, but was wondering if this has happened to anyone else. How quickly can you get potassium back in the normal range? I'm in the middle of my 2 week pre-op diet, so I can't really go eat a bunch of high potassium foods. And I don't know how quickly that would work anyway...

I'm really hoping that my surgery won't have to be postponed. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[ppasjm 37]

Go buy some potassium tablets(Walmart, Walgreen's) and take them with your Protein Drinks. Not sure if there is sugar free Gatorade , but that has sodium and potassium in it. My sister just had surgery and she just had to eat high potassium foods for 10 days and hers came up enough for her surgery. If you could eat, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes and bananas all have lots of potassium.

[Mrs.FullerRN 189]

Monday ask for some klyte. It's a clear liquid effervescent. It is possible to bring it up in a day

[stacy03 50]

Potassium can be replaced quickly. Also, drinks like ensure and slim fast have a ton of potassium. Can you have those on your pre-op diet. I would avoid potassium pills...you can get too much potassium and cause other problems. Maybe drink a slim fast or two and wait to eat from your doc. Even if you don't hear from them until Monday, you'll be able to replace it by Tuesday

[Chantel 67]

^{Thanks, everyone. Just in case anyone else has this experience in the future and is looking for insight, I thought I would update this post. My doctor called in a prescription for me today. I have to take Potassium CL ER for the next 4 days. 20 MEQ tablet, 2 times per day. I believe that is equivalent to 3,000 mg (for the 2 tablets combined), but that's just based on internet research. Then, they will check my levels again before surgery. OTC potassium contains only 99 mg or 3% of RDA. RDA is 3,500 mg per day. :-)}