10 Common Symptoms and Signs Of Hyperkalemia
Usually, a person having hyperkalemia does not experience any symptoms or signs, which means that there is a possibility that the doctors might overlook the condition of hyperkalemia. In some cases, the doctors diagnose the patients with hyperkalemia when the symptoms get worse. The symptoms of hyperkalemia depending on the type of hyperkalemia a person is suffering from. In the case of acute hyperkalemia, significant changes are occurring to potassium levels over a short period. The acute type of hyperkalemia is more severe to health and causes more health problems. While on the other hand, the chronic hyperkalemia is as the regular high blood potassium levels.
However, both the type of hyperkalemia, i.e. acute and chronic hyperkalemia are life-threatening for human health and mostly arise conditions like heart attacks or paralysis in the patients. The chronic type of hyperkalemia has fewer symptoms in comparison with acute hyperkalemia. Following are the ten signs and symptoms of hyperkalemia:
Muscle weakness:
Muscle weakness is a common symptom of hyperkalemia, in which a person experiences the inability to produce a normal muscle contraction by putting his or her full effort. The person suffering from hyperkalemia feels weakness in muscles, and the movements of daily routine are not easy to perform. The reason behind the muscles weakness is that in the case of hyperkalemia, the higher levels of potassium tend to cause abnormal function of the heart and skeletal muscles. The abnormality in the function of the heart and skeletal muscles results in muscle paralysis in the severe cases of hyperkalemia. Moreover, the higher blood potassium levels affect the muscle function by preventing repolarization and reducing the cell-resting action potential.