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If you are taking hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), the diuretic, it may cause you to excrete potassium in the urine that must then be replaced in the diet to keep your blood levels normal.

Often doctors will suggest you include a high-potassium food each day, such as a banana or a glass of Orange Juice, or potatoes. If this does not keep your potassium blood level normal, then you may be prescribed a potassium supplement.

How much YOU need depends on YOUR blood test (because it depends on how much HCTZ you are on and what amount of potassium is normally present in your diet). Your doctor will adjust your potassium supplement based on monitored blood tests to keep your blood potassium level within normal range. You should not try to take an amount that you guess will work based on what someone else takes. This needs to be a prescription from your MD!

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15y ago

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Is Potassium citrate or Potassium gluconate better?

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Does antibiotics affect potassium?

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What lab value to assess prior to giving potassium chloride?

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What electrolytes should you check before giving digoxin?

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Many 'lite salt' products use a potassium salt instead of a sodium salt, and you are correct: your husband should not use these as his potassium levels could rise too high.


What can you eat to lower your potassium?

Thank you for the correction. See link and article information below. ------ Correction: I'm not sure, metabolically you have correctly answered this. I'm not a doctor or anything even remotely close but what I can tell you is that sodium and potassium do cause reactions but not as stated above. Low sodium levels cause High potassium and High sodium Levels cause Low potassium. If a person has be diagnosed with HIGH potassium then greater than 5.0 mg then they should go to their doctor. There are many things that can contribute to high potassium so I would verify this first. here are some articles to back my information: http://charles_w.tripod.com/blood.html http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/potassium-k-in-blood?page=2


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