low potassium levels

[candcmom]

Hi all,

We recently started chelating our kids because of high mercury levels but have had to stop because their mineral levels are too low still. My dd seems to be anemic and my ds has low magnesium and Zinc and Potassium. The doctor upped the amount of Zinc both kids take by a lot, and changed the type of Magnesium and increased that--but did not give us anything for the potassium--she said she didn't have anything.

So my question is--does anyone know what a low potassium level does and should I worry about this as much as the others? And if I should does know of a good Potassium supplement I should use? Thanks,

[Mayleng]

Bananas are a good source of Potassium.

I can't answer the rest of the question, maybe one of the other members can.

[baysmommy]

Banan's and Potatoes are both excellent sources of potassium. Potassium is something you mainly want from foods, as it can be toxic in large doses.

[catatonic]

Potassium deficiency can be serious, leading to heart arrhythmias. In less severe cases, the primary symptom is fatigue (as it is with iron deficiency), and also irritability. You may also see muscle weakness or slow reflexes. Oh yeah, and constipation. If it gets bad enough, the impact on the heart can prove fatal. Adequate potassium can help protect you against stroke, high blood pressure, kidney stones and arthritis. Children need to consume around 4,000mg of potassium daily.

It's not hard to get potassium from food. A baked potato (with skin) has about 700mg, a glass of orange juice around 350mg. Other good sources are prunes, tomato juice, lima beans, spinach and acorn squash. Foods are the best way to consume potassium

However, potassium supplements are readily available and extremely cheap. The maximum size is 99mg, so you can see you'd have to take a lot of them to reach adequate potassium consumption. You can use a supplement temporarily to boost potassium consumption. When my son needed to increase potassium intake, I gave him a 99mg tablet with each meal while increasing potassium-rich foods and the problem was corrected rather quickly.

[candcmom]

Well we definitely have the irritablity. The funny thing is that his diet really isn't that bad. He is on a GFCF diet mostely. He eats at least 2 to 4 servings of fruit--including bananas everyday and he eats some vegetables everyday--his favorite drink is a spicy V8 and he drinks 1-3 a day of those.

I know we are fighting this mercury in his body--but I can't understand why all these minerals stay so low--can something other than the mercury be causing these problems that I should be looking into? Thanks.

[catatonic]

From what I've read, poor mineral status is common among kids with ADHD. There may be metabolic issues going on that we simply don't have enough research information to understand. Magnesium deficiency shows up in more than 90% of ADHD children who are tested. Zinc isn't a lot better. I think every single child with ADHD ought to be taking fish oil and a high quality multi-mineral, or multi-vitamin with mineral supplement...one that includes the trace minerals (the weird obscure ones like vanadiuma and selenium) in addition to the biggies (magnesium, calcium, zinc, iron, potassium).

Do you use any probiotics (like acidophilus)? That might help, by providing nutrients the gut needs to process food more effectively. My son does better overall when he is taking probiotics, and is less likely to have a negative behavioral reaction to foods he's sensitive to.

[momtozac]

Hi,

What is a good mineral test to take? I've heard pros and cons about hair analysis, is that still the best test??

Thanks a bunch,
Natalie/NJ

[catatonic]

For the highest degree of accuracy, the test depends on the specific mineral involved. Your best bet, though not entirely perfect, is to let your doctor know that you are concerned about mineral deficiency and ask him to order lab tests which will probably include a metabolic profile (often ordered as part of an annual physical and paid for by insurance) and a urine sample.

There is a great deal of controversy surrounding multi-elemental hair analysis, and I'm not going to get into that can of worms! There are some widely accepted uses for hair analysis, such as detecting exposure to heavy metal contaminants like lead and arsenic. For a discussion of the inadequacies of hair analysis, I'd refer you to the following article:

www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/hair.html

Insurance companies typically won't pay for hair analysis, and have formalized their refusal in documents like this one:

www.aetna.com/cpb/data/CPBA0300.html

On the other hand, practitioners of hair analysis outline its diagnostic usefulness for a variety of conditions:

www.hairscientists.org/hma.htm

I'd personally go the traditional laboratory route, but you'll have to take a look at the pros and cons and see which you believe.