Friday I ended up in the ER again with the same "episode" I had 22 days ago. Scott was able to drive me there so I didn't need to call an ambulance. It came on slower than the other one and didn't get as intense - as in my heart rate did not go in the 180's, but *only* the 130's - BUT the same culprit was found - low potassium. I was admitted and here I still sit. MANY tests have been run and the hypothesis as of today is that I have Salt Wasting Nephropathy. That means despite my body needing sodium I am dumping it out in my urine in large amounts (impressive amounts the Nephrologist says) and it is taking along with it potassium. So the hypokalemia (low potassium) is secondary to the hypoatremia (low sodium). Why is this happening? Who knows. The Nephrologist says he knows how to treat me, but we will probably never have an answer as to why my body is doing this - Was it a virus? Was I born this way & up until now my body has been compensating well? - who knows. I was started today on a potassium-sparing diuretic in hopes that my kidneys won't dump so much potassium. When I finally get out of here (hopefully tomorrow a.m.) I will have weekly labs for about 2 months monitoring my levels. The Nephrologist wants to see what my body does and have time to analyze it before we meet again in 10 weeks. (((Sigh))) As if we needed more on our plate!
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