5 Uncommon Signs & Symptoms of Potassium Deficiency – Dr.Berg

So today I want to talk about 5 uncommon signs of a potassium deficiency .

A lot of people understand the potassium is involved with the heart , the rhythm of the heart , maybe blood sugars , nerve and muscle physiology .

But what they might not realize it's involved in a lot of other things as well .

Energy metabolism , protein synthesis , and actually making muscle , glucose metabolism , the conversion of glucose to glycogen which is the storage form of glucose .

So 1 of the biggest symptoms of a potassium deficiency is fatigue .

Okay .

You just you just lose your energy .

Alright .

Number 2 , low endurance or low stamina .

You just run out of gas fast especially when you're working out or climbing stairs .

So you basically just run out of energy a lot quicker than you should .

Number 3 , increase urination at night .

So many times we're thinking diabetes or prediabetes , but it could be a potassium deficiency .

But that potassium deficiency could be coming because you're diabetic , because insulin resistance is involved .

And when you have insulin resistance , you can't really absorb potassium and magnesium that well .

And just as a side note , it's very very important to take extra potassium and magnesium if you have diabetes or you have insulin resistance .

That will actually help the urination at night .

Next 1 is constipation .

Because of the necessity of potassium involved in the smooth muscle , that forms the colon .

And number 5 , paralysis after a high carb meal .

When you consume a lot of carbohydrates , your need for potassium goes way up because potassium is involved in not just energy metabolism , but glucose metabolism as well .

And you have the shift of this electrolyte out of the muscle cell getting a temporary paralysis .

And this relates to even myself because when I was getting married 29 years ago , Karen and I went to shop for , wedding cakes .

So I don't know .

We were sampling all these cakes .

This is before I knew anything about nutrition .

And , then we ended up at an Italian restaurant , and we had all carbs , pizza , pasta .

I was doing wine , that was really sweet .

And then right at the end , I noticed that they were actually , taking these carts of all these dessert samples that would come around to the table .

And they mentioned , would you like to sample any of these before we toss these ?

And of course , in my mind , I don't wanna waste that good food .

Right ?

So we started sampling all this sugar , all these desserts for probably another half hour .

It was really bad .

So that was a high carb meal .

As we're driving home , I noticed my heart is pounding like crazy .

I get into the house and I feel like faint .

I feel tired .

My muscles are weak like my legs are they feel like , like cement .

I didn't sleep 1 minute that night .

My heart was racing .

I was totally awake .

So that might have not have been a paralysis , but it was definitely a side effect from doing too many carbs .

Okay , guys .

So and also realize that you need 47 100 milligrams of potassium , and some people need a little bit more especially after doing the hardcore workouts .

And you would get this mainly from these things called vegetables .

Even though those are carbohydrates or low with potassium , They're actually low in sugar and so that's what you would consume to build up your potassium reserve .

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