There are also several medications that may increase your potassium levels.
Only when you know why you havehyperkalemiacan youtreat itproperly and hopefully prevent recurrences.
Oftentimes, potassium levels are falsely elevated, a situation known aspseudohyperkalemia, because ofhow your blood is drawn.
Verywell / Joshua Seong
Your healthcare provider’s first task is to recheck your potassium level.
If your levels remain high, they may order the following tests.
Get our printable guide for your next healthcare provider’s appointment to help you ask the right questions.
Get our printable guide for your next healthcare provider’s appointment to help you ask the right questions.
This can lead to the build-up of potassium in the blood.
Other tests in the panel include sodium, chloride, bicarbonate, and glucose.
These lab values are used to calculatean anion gapthat, if elevated, indicates metabolic acidosis.
Acidosis can draw potassium out of cells and into the blood.
High glucose levels, as can be seen inuncontrolled diabetes, can do the same.
Lowsodium levelsin the face of high potassium levels can suggest a hormonal condition known as hypoaldosteronism.
A complete blood count can also be a helpful screening test.
The white blood count can be a sign of infection or inflammation in the body.
Low hemoglobin and hematocrit levels reflect anemia.
Medications That Can Cause Hyperkalemia
Digoxin is not the only medication that increases the risk for hyperkalemia.
It could also show diabetes that is uncontrolled.
If urine secretion of potassium and sodium are within expected limits, the kidneys are not to blame.
A non-renal cause ought to be investigated.
Testing for urine myoglobin can confirm a diagnosis of rhabdomyolysis (see above).
Cardiac Tests
Hyperkalemia can trigger life-threatening arrhythmias if your potassium levels get too high.
Each line on an ECG from PQRST represents activation or recovery of a different chamber of the heart muscle.
As serum potassium increases, ECG changes become more severe.
Starting at levels 5.5 meq/L and above, the ventricles may have difficulty recovering.
This may be seen as peaked t-waves on ECG.
Atrial activation is impacted at 6.5 mEq/L so that p-waves may no longer be seen.
At 7.0 mEq/L, QRS waves are widened, corresponding with delayed activation of the ventricles.
Cardiac arrhythmias tend to develop at 8.0 mEq/L.
This can include everything from sinus bradycardia toventricular tachycardia.
While an ECG does not diagnose the cause of hyperkalemia, it reflects the severity of the condition.
Cardiac arrhythmias require emergent treatment.
Other chronic conditions that can be a factor include amyloidosis andsickle cell disease.
Your doctor may look for other causes of hyperkalemia, like renal failure and hypoaldosteronism, as outlined above.
Hyperkalemia is too much potassium; it causes numbness and tingling, nausea, gas, and muscle weakness.
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National Kidney Foundation.Hyperkalemia (high potassium).
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Mount Sinai.Creatine phosphokinase test.
National Kidney Foundation.Know your kidney numbers: two simple tests.
Lehnhardt A, Kemper MJ.Pathogenesis, diagnosis and management of hyperkalemia.Pediatr Nephrol.
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National Kidney Foundation.Six steps to controlling high potassium.
In:StatPearls [Internet].Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing.
