Low Potassium Florinef

[andybonse]

Hi,

I have been on florinef for 2 weeks now .1mg, my potassium was stable on lower doses but got my blood results from last Monday and its 3.2 normal 3.5-5.0. I have been drinking an oral supplement of K 12Meq per day, eating lots of potassium foods etc so I'm concerned my GP is ringing me this afternoon but they dont seem well up on florinef and low potassium etc so im hoping they will give me a supplement?

Does anyone know what type of Meq is usually need for it so I can speak to my doctor about it? Pretty concerned about low levels!!

[looneymom]

Hi Andy,

Your postassium level is in the low range but that's still good. It's hard to know how much to supplement with pills but food intake is better and safer. At one time, I had my son's levels up to 4.3 and I was doing this through food sources with my son. Our cardiologist did not want us to take the pills because the potassium levels can build up more quickly than with food sources and cause the body more problems. Many POTS patients body's are doing good just to regulate food nutrients. An overload with food and supplements can be dangerous, especially if you have a body that may not be regulating very well. So supplementing with the pill can be dangerous unless you are having the blood work done weekly. Hope the flornif is helping and keep up the good diet habits. All I can say is it's a lot of work but really does help your body function better.

[andybonse]

Thanks, well I have been trying with food, 1 pint of milk per day, fresh orange juice, tomatos, powerades, a banana a day, veges etc. It was around 3.6-4.1 but maybe .1mg lowered it? Or maybe I need to eat more?

Anyways I get weekly tests, so I might do the supplement just for one week get it to a more normal range and retest a week after, so the differences etc,

My concern is I want to go up to .2mg florinef so if its already low, cant allow it to go even lower!!

One thing to the next I swear

[looneymom]

The florinef must be helping. That's great. My son was on a .2 of florinef at one time. He is no longer on it. His doctor took him off of it because he though it was causing some of his worse symptoms. The funny thing was his symptoms remained but blood pressure was just as stable as ever. So he had my son stop the florinef. However, anything that will help you function better is worth keeping in your system. You might ask your doctor about Taurine. Its an amino acid that is good for the heart and will help balance the electorlytes in the system. It might be of some help. I posted some research articles about it in an early post. My son is on it because the antibiotic he takes is bad about messing up electrolyte levels. However, this supplement also seems to be helping with some other problems. My son still alternates water and gatorade throughout the day. Wishing you the best with florinef.

[YolaInBlue]

When I was on 0.1mg of florinef my doctor prescribed 8meq potassium to take with it, but I tested low several times, so he went up to 20meq and weekly blood tests for a month, my potassium stayed at 3.9-4.2 level. I am currently down to 0.025mg of florinef a day(1/4 pill) and I cut my potassium pill into quarters, too. I haven't checked my level since February, but last time I was at 4.2.

Some people are able to get all potassium from food, I know I can't. I have days when I'm too nauseated to eat much at all. The safest way is to check weekly at first to figure out if you need supplementing and how much, especially if you need to go up on florinef. If you are able to get it just from food you have to be consistent with what you eat every day. I've learned that potassium level can drop quickly. Last year, when I was hospitalized during a flare, at first they tried to give me more florinef, so I was up to 0.15mg but they didn't up my potassium. Next morning blood test showed potassium at 2.9.

[andybonse]

Doctor has told me to have 2 x tablets I dissolve in water a day of potassium 12meq per tablet so = 24meq per day

Also ill be eating more potassium and have another supplement I got from a health store to add to my drinks.

Hopefully this will get it up and then I can increase my florinef dosage!

[andybonse]

Each time I go up half a pill ill add 10meq,

I want to get the slow K version as the ones I have are dissolve in a drink and its just time consuming taking 2 a day, plus a movicol, plus my other pills. I feel like my schedule for the day is timing pills!!