Comment by mmorse1217
3 months ago
Sorry for the late reply, I pick up 99mg potassium + 200mg magnesium and had an unbelievable night's sleep and many symptoms improved dramatically. The second night was confounded by an evening workout, which can mess with electrolyte levels, but you have given me hope again. I just want to thank you again for continuing the tradition of changing someone's life with an innocuous HN comment :)
I see what you mean regarding the electrolyte measurements. After reading a bit about the disorders that you mentioned, it seems like they test for serum and excreted electrolyte levels to make a diagnosis. But based on your point above, these tests can be inconclusive. Were there certain diagnostic tests that were helpful to you in coming to your conclusion, or was it largely trial and error based on symptom management?
No, I never had any tests beyond the simple blood tests checking my electrolyte levels. This was before I realized that those tests won’t show you the problem. I simply made a hypothesis and tested, over and over.
I have toyed with the idea of visiting a nephrologist, but I just can’t psych myself up for the long slog that would be. I live in a fairly large city but given the rarity of these syndromes, it would not surprise me at all if any local nephrologists have even encountered anyone with one of these conditions. I have also considered seeing a ‘functional doctor’, but just have not gone down that road. Honestly, I seem to have my symptoms under control, so what they could add at this point? There is no treatment or cure for this, only managing symptoms (assuming this is what I have, to be fair).
It all makes sense to me though. Though this is something that got bad enough for me to make a concerted effort to figure out just in the last decade, if I reflect back on my life I have seen problems associated with it back into my 20’s. In my case, I don’t think it is something that “happened” to me, but something I was born with that is just progressing as I get older.
By the way, I was re-reading a comment of yours from up above and I realized that you were referring to heart palpitations like you were already getting too much potassium. Here is the thing – you can get heart palpations from too much AND too little potassium. Also from too little calcium. Just food for thought.
I have updated my profile with my contact info. If you ever go down the route of getting diagnosed or have any other questions, feel free to contact me anytime. Good luck!