Hyperkalemia is one of the medical problems in which a person’s blood contains too much amount of potassium in it. Potassium is one of the critical nutrients among the micronutrients that is an essential requirement of the human body. Potassium is present in several foods that a person daily consumes. Potassium plays an integral role in the human body to maintain the proper functioning of nerves, muscles, and heart. The continuous supply of potassium is necessary to keep the blood circulation going, and potassium also helps in the regulation of blood pressure.
Usually, the human blood contains some amount of potassium in it, but when this potassium levels elevate in blood, then the medical condition of hyperkalemia arises. The excess of potassium levels in a person’s blood can lead to life-threatening severe heart conditions. However, in the cases of mild elevation of blood potassium levels, there are lesser symptoms, and it is easy to control the severity of the condition. While on the other hand, the severe cases of high blood potassium can cause abnormal heart rhythms, i.e. cardiac arrhythmias. The cardiac arrhythmias occurring in the severe cases of hyperkalemia could be fatal for the patients.
For an average person, the blood potassium levels typically range from 3.6 to 5.2 millimoles per litre (mmol/L). The people who have their blood potassium levels higher than 6.0 mmol/L fall in the category of those having hyperkalemia, which can cause serious health problems for the people affecting it. Hyperkalemia can result in causing cardiac arrhythmia and heart attack if the patient does not undergo proper treatment for hyperkalemia. The severity of hyperkalemia in a person can sometimes lead to the emergence of ventricular fibrillation, which is an emergency health condition. In the case of ventricular fibrillation, the lower parts of a person’s heart start fluttering so rapidly instead of pumping blood to other organs.