Approximately 98% of all potassium in our body is hidden inside our cells.
Due to this difference between potassium inside the cell and outside, our cells can maintain an electrical potential on their membrane, without which muscles and nerves will not work.
For the same reason, if there is very little or, on the contrary, a lot of potassium in our blood, then the risk of dangerous cardiac arrhythmias increases sharply. After all, our heart is both a muscle and a generator of electrical impulses.
Normally, our body absorbs potassium from food, and then excretes the excess through the kidneys. If we gorge ourselves on potassium, our body will be able to drain this excess into urine in about 6 to 8 hours.
There is a lot going on in this topic, I would especially like to note the contribution of insulin, which roughly drives potassium into the cells. Many thanks to him for this.
Adaptation
In a healthy person, excess potassium will quickly go into the cells or be filtered out by the kidneys. So in the blood he cannot jump too much.
This remarkable feature of our body is able to train, and potassium does not increase even in those who regularly eat it.
They say that by the end of the second day of gluttony with potassium, our body begins to remove it more efficiently.
On the other hand, if a person who is not adapted to high levels of potassium eats foods high in potassium, then they may suffer.
There are cases when psychos with anorexia did not eat anything, and then gorged themselves on bananas. Because of this, their blood potassium levels rose sharply. Their skinny body did not have time to adapt in one day of gluttony.
So what?
And here is the fact that an ordinary person, even if he tries very hard, will not be able to gobble himself up with food so that his potassium in his blood rises.
They say that there is an exception to this rule in the form of substitutes for table salt with potassium.
There are such salt substitutes. They contain less sodium, which is harmful to the heart. But more potassium. And lovers of salty can transfer their intemperance to a salt substitute. There is so much potassium in salt substitutes that some weirdos can poison them.
Sometimes potassium for some reason does not enter the cell well. If at the same time some of the cells also fall apart for some reason, that the level of potassium in the blood may jump.
If a person has a constantly elevated level of potassium in the blood, then he clearly has something wrong with the kidneys. Because healthy kidneys quickly learn to excrete excess potassium, even if they overeat.
Why does potassium in the blood jump?
Sometimes it just seems that he jumped. That is, the analyzes are lying.
Potassium is hidden inside cells. If, when taking blood for analysis, tightly wrap the arm with a tourniquet, then some of the cells are destroyed, and potassium enters the blood. It may seem that there is a lot of it there. But this is just a mistake.
Potassium is squeezed out of the muscles during exercise. If you clench and unclench your fist while taking blood for analysis, you can find an increased level of potassium in the blood. This is also a mistake.
Platelets
In history about jumped platelets we have already discussed the errors in the analyzes. There, potassium can come out of the platelets in the test tube, and the analysis will lie.
In fact, for such an error, it is not even necessary to have jumped platelets. It is enough to simply measure potassium in serum, and not in blood plasma.
What is the Difference Between Serum and Plasma
If the blood from a vein is taken into a clean test tube, then after a few minutes it will coagulate. There will be a clot below, and a thin serum will float on top, which is convenient to take for biochemical analysis.
Just like whey over curdled milk. That is why it is called serum. Conveniently? Conveniently. Potassium will be released into the serum only from the clot with platelets and erythrocytes floating at the bottom of the tube. He can change the result of the analysis upwards.
If an anticoagulant has been added to the tube, the blood will not clot. But you can't just pull the liquid part of the blood out of the blood for analysis. It will be necessary to spin this blood in a centrifuge so that the cells settle to the bottom, and clean liquid plasma would remain on top. This plasma is taken for analysis.
Something takes a long time... There is still a lot of things. Continue this topic?
