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My father died from hyperkalemia. He had only been taking Aldactone for two weeks. His kidneys shut down, his potassium spiked, and his heart could not contract. He was no pulse and had electrical activity. He was resuscitated, only to die again two weeks later. The cardiologist insisted that my father was only dehydrated and needed to drink fluids. Had I been informed of the risks and dangers, I would have been very vocal and vigilant in having him tested regularly. He collapsed in the doctor's office. The labs had just come back. It was too late. I take beta blockers and Norvasc, am only 46, not over weight, but have had very stressful life. Now I am concerned about developing hyperkalemia. I plan to get tested next week! This condition is preventable!

I had been taking Spironolactone(200 mg/day) for 5 weeks as part of a treatment for Gender Dysphoria, and had symptoms of nausea the entire time. Also a general feeling of weakness and some dizziness upon standing (which I assumed was a blood-pressure problem, yet my pressure was normal). My doctor, who has a great deal of experience with this medication, at first thought I might have just caught a virus or something. When I came in for lab tests, a slight elevation in potassium was observed so repeat labs were order for that very day. I received a 9:00 pm call from my doctors office regarding the lab results which instructed me to go straight to the hospital emergency room. I was checked in, treated for 3 days until my levels were normal and then released. Two days later I had more labs and they confirmed normal levels. At one point during my hospitalization, my level had gone up to 7.5 and they (we) were quite worried about both heart and kidneys. With a personal history of Type 2 Diabetes, and a family history of heart problems, I am indeed lucky to be alive!

I spent a whole year just not feeling good. I was so fatigued I could only stay awake at most three hours at a time. All I wanted to do was sleep. Also I had muscle ache and weakness, loss of appetite, and I filled up with an abnormal amount of fluid which caused an abnormal amount of weight in a very short time. My doctor asked why I wasn't losing weight if I had no appetite and I pulled up my pants legs and showed him how swollen my legs were. He then said I was filling up with fluid and had my blood tested which showed a dangerously high level of potassium. I have since been put on various medicines and to date my potassium level is above 6.0. I still am very tired and am having heart palpitations. The doctor (a cardiologist) has just changed my medicines again. Hopefully I will soon start feeling better because I am starting to get very depressed about the whole thing.

My son has not been diagnosed as such but has been hospitalized with severe edema, six super bugs and venous statis disease, for l6 months. His doctor put him on very limited fluids and he dehydrated and his potassium went to 6.7 it has at other times gone to 7.6 previously. His symptoms are the exact ones listed. I was told his kidneys were shutting down, he has become extremely nauseated, hands had become useless, this has happened on other occasions when his potassium levels went very high. His speech became really slurred. I questioned all of these symptoms; my son actually at the onset told me he had a heart attack. Now the first heart monitor has been put on him. His ratings for CHF % was at l31 on the 13th of April. I got lab reports myself and started reviewing them. I feel because he is a medicare medicaid patient that he is not receiving the care he should be getting. From the beginning of this period he is having difficulty eating: coughing, choking, chewing all signs of maybe a small stroke. He says his right hand is weaker than his right. I noticed right away he started using his left hand.

I was diagnosed with Cushing's syndrome in 2006. I had my left adrenal gland removed and felt better for two months. I then started having Cushing's syndrome symptoms again and had my right adrenal removed in February of 2008. Since surgery, I have been hospitalized three times with hyperkalemia. My potassium levels were 10, 8.8 and 8.0. I had to have dialysis five times and the last time I was hospitalized, I crashed twice. Since then, my endocrinologist can't figure out what level of prednisone to put me on, and I feel like there is no end to feeling sick.