Could use your prayers

I've been having some problems with my hands lately. It started at first with my thumbs spasming and I had some bloodwork done last week and my potassium was low. The surgeon prescribed me a liquid supplement but I don't think it's working very well. Over the weekend my entire hand has been seizing up into a tight fist that I have to manually manipulate apart. I have been taking muscle relaxers today trying to make it till tomorrow when I can go to the surgeon's office and get my levels checked again and try to figure something out. It was annoying at first but now it has become quiet painful and scary. Please remember me this week. Janie

Janie, I will keep you in my prayers. I am so sorry you are having this pain!

You have my prayers. I've had potassium problems before r/t kidney failure, so I had the opposite problem. I'll bet that liquid potassium is worse than nasty! It's sworth it, though. Love Dennie

Best Wishes Janie, will keep ypu in my prayers. Ellen

Hi Janie, I will definitely keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Depending on how low your potassium level is, it might take a while for you to build up a therapeutic level of potassium. My husband had to have potassium administered through IV... it is really painful. I hope you don't have to experience that! Best wishes - April

Wow, I hate to hear that your husband had a rough time with the potassium. His experience of having pain with the IV is unsual - there's a whole protocol for administering K+ in the IV, and it usually results in no pain or discomfort att all. It could be that his IV was at the end of its useful life. It probably should have been discontinued and restarted in a fresh site. Love Dennie

Yeah, it was pretty painful for him and the nurse said it would be. I thought it was just standard. But she ended up diluting the potassium with iv fluids so it was more tolerable. I never thought it would be such a bad experience for him. Thanks for letting me know though! That bit of information is very useful April

OMG that sent a chill down my spine QUOTE: "But she ended up diluting the potassium with iv fluids so it was more tolerable." Potassium has to be HIGHLY diluted in order to use it safely in the IV. If the nurse gave him potassium without diluting it, it would have a horrible, burning effect on his vein. Potassium should NEVER be given IV push (where the nurse pushes it immediately into the IV as opposed to being measured and added to a bag of running IV fluids) When I gave potassium, it was EITHER dissolved in a liter of IV fluid (20, 30 or 40 mEq (milleequivalents) of Potassium per liter so the patient has slow, constant infusion of potassium) or in "runs" of potassium for people who were seriously low and need to get their potassium quickly. But it still involves a lot of saline running into the vein and the potassium being part of the solution being infused, not the nurse pushing it in. Obviously I wasn't there and I may be entirely misinterpreting what you wrote. But it sounds like the nurse tried to give your husband potassium directly into his vein without running it in with a lot of IV fluids. I keep hearing things being done by nurses that just make my blood run cold. This is scary to me. Please PM me with ALL the information about this, including what hospital in which this happened. Thanks Love Dennie

prayers coming your way!

Dear Janie: Thinking of you, and praying, that God will relieve you of your pain! May He bless you with love, faith, and hope, in the New Year! In Christ, ksm