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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Elevated Potassium Levels In The Blood?

Sure, maybe you can solve an internal medicine puzzle for me. I have a 5.8 potassium level as indicated on a recent blood test. Two years ago I had a 5.4, which was also high. All of my liver and kidney function tests are within normal limits. My doctor doesn t seem too concerned, but he can t explain why the K value is so high. Should I be concerned? Are there some other tests I should consider? YYYY@YYYY . Thanks.
Fri, 19 Jan 2018
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Internal Medicine Specialist 's  Response
Hello,

First of all check if you are on any medications that can cause a rise in potassium. Sometimes a spurious high potassium happens if the blood sample takes a long time to be worked by the laboratory due to blood cell breakdown in the test tube (ie- the machine marks high potassium but in fact you wont have high potassium)

Kind Regards
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What Causes Elevated Potassium Levels In The Blood?

Hello, First of all check if you are on any medications that can cause a rise in potassium. Sometimes a spurious high potassium happens if the blood sample takes a long time to be worked by the laboratory due to blood cell breakdown in the test tube (ie- the machine marks high potassium but in fact you wont have high potassium) Kind Regards