You can read about excess potassium issues (also called Hyperkalemia) at this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperkalemia
Hyperkalemia can be associated with kidney issues, so you should ask your doc to check for any kidney issues. It can also occur when a person has high platelets, as you have had recently. There is also a Pseudohyperkalemia (false high reading) that can be caused by excessive fist clenching during blood draw or having a tournequet too tight or on for too long: "Pseudohyperkalemia is a rise in the amount of potassium that occurs due to excessive leakage of potassium from cells, during or after blood is drawn. It is a laboratory artifact rather than a biological abnormality and can be misleading to caregivers. Pseudohyperkalemia is typically caused by hemolysis during venipuncture (by either excessive vacuum of the blood draw or by a collection needle that is of too fine a gauge); excessive tournequet time or fist clenching during phlebotomy (which presumably leads to efflux of potassium from the muscle cells into the bloodstream); or by a delay in the processing of the blood specimen. It can also occur in specimens from patients with abnormally high numbers of platelets (>1,000,000/mm³), leukocytes (> 100 000/mm³), or erythrocytes (hematocrit > 55%). People with "leakier" cell membranes have been found, whose blood must be separated immediately to avoid pseudohyperkalemia." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ [CMLHope] A support group of http://cmlhope.com ------------------------------------------------- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CMLHope" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/CMLHope -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
