Too Much Potassium?

[jbrohlr]

Hello all,

I've been implementing the eliminations (stage 1) diet strictly for almost four months now with good effect gut-wise (also a little weight gain!). How ever I have had persistent problem with muscle fatigue. I have been eating a lot of bananas (at least 5 a day) along with at least one sweet potato a day and lots of pork - all high potassium foods I believe.

I did not have any bananas the prior two days and my fatigue/weakness symptoms seemed to improve. I did not make a connection and just thought I'm having a couple of good days but then today I had two bananas in the morning and a few hours later the fatigue came roaring back.

I'm just wondering if maybe I am getting too much potassium. I know a couple of symptoms of excess potassium is weakness and numbness. Can I actually ingest too much potassium - I always thought you had to have an additional problem such as kidney disfunction or diabetes in order to have excess potassium in your bloodstream. Has anyone else had this issue come up?

Anyway, I plan on laying off of the bananas for a while and maybe cut down on the sweet potato and see if the muscle fatigue lessens.

One other thing, I am taking D3 and magnesium (topically and small amounts orally).

Thanks for any input on this issue.

John R.

[tex]

Hi John,

I doubt that it's possible to get too much potassium from your diet normally, however, as you point out, diabetes or kidney issues can cause hyperkalemia and so can congestive heart failure, excessive alcohol use, and a few other issues. So unless you're absolutely certain that you don't have any of those issues, it's probably best to err on the safe side, and cut down on some of the dietary sources of potassium. Lucky you, I can even eat one banana without having histamine problems.

This is the opposite to the problem that most of us have early on. Many of us wind up in the emergency department and discover that we're anemic and low on potassium, because of all the diarrhea. I don't recall anyone else here ever reporting a problem due to too much potassium in their diet. Please keep us posted if you notice any new developments. This appears to be an interesting turn of events.

Tex




Addison’s disease.
Alcohol use disorder (alcoholism).
Burns over a large part of your body.
Congestive heart failure.

[Gabes-Apg]

two thoughts I have

histamine
if the banana's are under ripe or over ripe that can have excess histamine.
the body uses magnesium to moderate histamine.
this maybe the reason for low magnesium leading to muscle aches.

aches
I only get joint aches if
a) I have contact with trigger foods/items
b) I am low on magnesium
if are you certain you are not having contact with trigger items (whether that be food or other item) I would try to increase use of topical magnesium.

hope this helps