Brief Answer:
Causes of hyperkalemia (elevated blood potassium levels)

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome,

The most common cause of elevated potassium on blood work in someone who has never had this problem before is a problem that happened during the processing of the blood rather than from true hyperkalemia. If the blood cells break during the blood draw or running the test, potassium spills out of the blood cells and causes an abnormally high reading. Using too small of a needle and tubing (such as a butterfly with a thin tube to the test tube, leaving the blood sit too long, or other factors, can cause this cell rupture).

True causes of hyperkalemia are kidney problems (but then there would be other abnormalities on a chemistry panel such as high creatinine levels), taking a blood pressure medicine called an ACE inhibitor, which can raise potassium levels just while you are on it, adrenal problems (you would have other signs/symptoms), diabetes (again, you would have other indicators such as high sugar level), and alcohol or drug abuse (from muscle break down). Potassium supplementation can do this too.

If all of your other blood tests are normal, and you aren't taking any medications or supplements other than the multivitamin, then the most likely cause would be a handling or lab error and rechecking should show this. But it should be rechecked, and if it continues to be high, then other tests should be checked.

I hope this information helps. Please let me know if I can provide further information.

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