DEAR DR. GOTT: Please explain to me what causes high potassium levels. I have been diagnosed with high potassium, but don’t know exactly how high it is or the cause. When I watched my diet, the levels came down.
DEAR READER: The technical name for high potassium is hyperkalemia. Normal readings are between 3.6 and 4.8 milliequivalents per liter (mEq/L) determined by simple lab testing.
The most common causes are related to the kidneys and include either acute kidney failure or chronic kidney failure. Less common causes are type I diabetes, the excessive use of alcohol, Addison’s disease, ACE inhibitors, red-blood-cell destruction, NSAIDs and an excessive use of supplements containing potassium. Let’s hit on these briefly.
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