Potassium - Editor's Choice

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Eye Dryness

Posted by HisJewel (New York) on 12/03/2022
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

Potassium supplementation for Dry Eyes

If you have had to deal with any of the COVD colds these past few years check with the doctor to find out if your potassium level is up to par. Besides Vitamin C and Melatonin, Potassium was one of the earlier supplements that helped people recover from COVD. From what I understood that condition used up or drained the body's potassium.

I am adding this thought on potassium because lately I have been trying keep up with the daily recommendation for Potassium. Articles say 3,500–4,700 mg of potassium daily and that it is safer when taken in foods. This really is not hard if you love banana, spinach, prunes etc. . However, knowing that I do not have enough potassium rich foods on hand, I take potassium supplements. I noticed that when I wake up in the morning, my eyes feel much more normal. In fact, sometimes I forget it has been sticking.

I could not find much information to verify this, but what I did come up with is in this post. I found a post from PubMed that incudes what tears are made of in this statement"

"Methods: The model is based on mass balances of water and solutes such as glucose, sodium, potassium, and chloride."

Check it out the PubMed Article:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17453939/

Here is an article about potassium Deficiency and dry eyes:

https://healthfully.com/347415-potassium-deficiency-and-dry-eyes.html

I have always been concerned about seniors, and now that I am one, I see and feel what they are saying.

HisJewel


Severe Muscle & Body Aches

Posted by Bethany (San Diego, CA) on 03/13/2022
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

Please post to both Potassium and COVID recovery pages.

In July 2021 my family and I came down with Covid. My symptoms were severe headache, severe fatigue and entire body severe muscle aches and body aches. None of us lost smell or taste but I also developed a different symptom than what I have read about: I got a disgusting nasty taste in my mouth that no amount of tooth brushing or anything would remove. It made coffee, water and any food taste really gross. As a result I stopped eating much and stopped drinking much, except forcing myself to eat and drink a little bit to stay alive.

My husband and two teenagers all recovered within a few days & our 4 year old never got it, however I continued to be in constant intense pain with muscle & body aches all over. I also had lost my appetite and had (sorry TMI) diarrhea.

After a week and a half I was still in agony & my husband asked why haven't I gotten better? I was wondering the same thing so I looked up online “severe muscle aches and body aches” and out popped Low Potassium & your article explained why eating a banana doesn't afford immediate potassium. I realized that all the diarrhea probably exasperated the issue of low potassium.

So I sent someone to the store as I was no way ready to travel and the potassium couldn't arrive fast enough!

I took a few potassium pills (sorry I don't remember the exact number) and within an hour or so I felt SO much better! I think I took 2-4 potassium pills at 99mg for a few days.

I continued with then potassium supplements until I felt better . Also ate some bananas for good measure as I figured it couldn't hurt.


Low Potassium Symptoms

Posted by Ali (Wales) on 10/27/2021
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

As Dr. Berg points out on YouTube, a classic symptom of low potassium is hearing your blood/pulse whooshing or banging in your ears. I keep a pot of potassium citrate crystals by my bed & a quarter teaspoon in water gives me 300mg of elemental potassium, the amount in a small banana. As I don't want to be eating at night, I just pop some into half a glass of water along with half a teaspoon of magnesium citrate (magnesium helps the cells retain potassium, apparently), let it dissolve for a few minutes then drink it down. Stops the banging & calms me down within a few minutes. A level teaspoon of Cream of Tartar only seems to contain around 500mg of elemental potassium (the amount in a large banana), so shouldn't be an issue. A glass of coconut water contains a decent amount of potassium, so having some of that on hand is helpful too.


Gout

Posted by Stoney (Wallaceburg, Ontario Canada) on 01/06/2008
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

Hi Everyone, I've had the pleasure of suffering with gout for over 50 years. When I used to play rugby, after every game, both of my big toes felt like they were on fire. As you all have, I tried every remedy I could, trying to stay away from Allopurinol as much as possible. Finally, I came across a magic bullet - potassium supplements. I tend to be a bit of a carnivore so my diet lacks the proper levels of potassium. I was reading an article about arthritis (another legacy of 30 years of rugby) and they mentioned that low potassium levels contributed to the problem and in passing mentioned that potassium also appeared to dissolve Uric crystals. The next time I had an attack, I started taking potassium supplements and IT WORKED. Within a day, the pain was reduced to a dull roar and within 2 it was gone completely.What a relief! I can't recommend this approach enough. Good Luck. Stoney