That's very sad. Condolences to his family.
"There was no warning and no known pre-existing medical condition that led to his death. An emergency room physician told his mother that the death likely resulted from a potassium buildup, which paralyzed his heart and muscles....
An online reference guide on the American Cancer Society's Web site calls the condition hyperkalemia, often caused by the use of potassium supplements or salt substitutes. Symptoms include "muscle weakness, numbness and tingling, abnormal heart rhythm, muscle paralysis, trouble breathing, and even heart failure and death."
I didn't know anything about this condition before. How much potassium is safe before a person is at risk? Or would it only happen to someone whose body wasn't able to properly process it?
This quite honestly could have been one of us (he may have been one of us).
More than likely this is just what it seems to be- a freak occurrence. Something just wasn't quite right with his body, something about that particular day sent his body just a little too far over the edge.
It would be difficult to ingest enough potassium to hurt yourself unless you're taking it in a concentrated form. The human body is designed to compensate for things that threaten homeostasis (like hyperkalemia, as well as all sorts of other stuff), but sometimes, when you push your body all the way out to the edge, it just can't keep up with it anymore. There could be genetic predispositions for this to happen, but that'd be pretty hard to really quantify. Its a risk we all take running.
I wouldn't worry too much about this- You're far more likely to get hit by a motorist on a run than to die of hyperkalemia.
That is truly sad. It is apparent that he was a pretty fit fellow and sometimes even fit people die.
I question the doc making that determination about potassium being the cause of death. On what did he base that?
Also, someone mentioned that it is hard to take in too much potassium. Yes in most people the body will get rid of excesses, but some people are more sensitive. My mom had hyperkalemia for most of her life (probably all of it but it was not until she in her 40s that anyone said anything about it). For some reason she retained potassium.
"He was the middle one," Cynthia said. "He was like Switzerland."
yetanotherchick wrote:
An online reference guide on the American Cancer Society's Web site calls the condition hyperkalemia, often caused by the use of potassium supplements or salt substitutes. Symptoms include "muscle weakness, numbness and tingling, abnormal heart rhythm, muscle paralysis, trouble breathing, and even heart failure and death."
Odd. Many of those are the exact same symptoms of not getting ENOUGH potassium
As I understand it, supplements in the US are allowed to have no more than 100 mg of potassium per pill. A single tomato has NINE TIMEs that amount.
If this guy OD-ed on potassium supplements he must have been taking handfuls of the pills.
Potassium is very deadly. My wife is a dialysis nurse and says to much can really cause problems. Seems like his body had to much and could get rid of it through sweat alone.
luv2run wrote:
I question the doc making that determination about potassium being the cause of death. On what did he base that?
I wondered that as well. I know that blood level potassium is measured in a CBC/blood chemistry test. It seems plausible that they ran some array of toxicology tests as part of an autopsy.
For what it's worth, the Wikipedia article on hyperkalemia notes a number of causes, the most notable to this non-expert's eye being:
1) Kidney problem causing the body to improperly regulate potassium levels.
2) Side effect of various medications including NSAIDs.
3) Excessive intake as from consuming very high doses of an electrolyte supplement.
Bodybuilders have had trouble with Potassium when getting ready for a contest. There have been deaths and close calls from messing around with Potassium supplements.
It just seems pointless to take a supplement when natural foods give you far more of it in a better form and with very few calories.
I can understand why runners would take it - to avoid a deficiency which can cause huge problems in a marathon. But why would bodybuilders take potassium?
There is some correlation between taking it and appearing more "ripped" I believe.