I never had any problems with low potassium before or since the following happened to me:
I got bronchitis in early 1997. I was not able to cough stuff up and I could not find anyone around to teach the quad cough. However, my asthma inhaler helped me breathe better so I began using it *at least once* a day and probably more. I finally had to make a trip to the ER and they wanted to eliminate pneumonia so they took me in for a chest X-ray. This was after doing a blood workup. While I was getting a chest x-ray -- a nurse came flying in with the two biggest bills I have ever seen and told me that I needed to take them immediately because of my low potassium level. Come to find out later -- Albuterol (which is found in most inhalers) can lower your potassium significantly if used regularly. My potassium must have been dangerously low for the nurse not even wanting to wait until I was out of the x-ray room! I don't use my inhaler on a regular basis and do so very very very rarely (usually years) so I never had a problem with low potassium before my episode or since. Lori Michaelson Age - 44 C4/5 complete quad, 29 years post Tucson, AZ On Sun, Jun 7, 2009 at 1:02 PM, Dan <[email protected]> wrote: > Speaking of potassium, do any of you have low potassium? I have to take > 60meq a day in order to keep mine in the normal range. None of my doctors > seem to know why?!? Do you guys have any ideas? > > On another note, at night, where and how do you hang your drainage bag? > I've been laying mine on the bed by my feet but it doesn't drain very well > that way especially when I raise the foot of the bed up. I've thought of > hanging it on the side of the bed frame but it pulls quite a bit that way - > I have a supra pubic. If I do hang it on the bed frame, should I put a loop > in the tube? A CNA once told me that this helps the drainage?!?. And lastly, > should I tie the tube to my thigh? I have this fear of the bag falling and > pulling the cath out! TIA. > > Dan > > -- Lori C4/5 complete quad, 27 years post Tucson, AZ
