Many areas have seen adult paralysis "soft disease", which was eventually confirmed to be related to this

I have obviously gotten enough sleep and eaten enough, but why do I always feel tired, weak and powerless?

Or suddenly your vision goes black and you faint.

In addition to hypoglycemia, there may be other conditions.

Mr. Zhou from Wuhan mainly works outdoors and runs around under the scorching sun every day. Not long ago, he suddenly found that his body was a little out of control, his legs were soft and weak. After ruling out the possibility of stroke, the doctor unexpectedly discovered that the potassium level in Mr. Zhou's body was lower than normal.

Potassium deficiency can make your limbs feel tired and weak. In severe cases, you may even feel numbness in your face and your body may twitch uncontrollably!

"Soft disease" is actually caused by potassium deficiency

Although it can cause fatigue and fainting just like hypoglycemia, potassium deficiency is much more serious.

Potassium is an essential mineral nutrient for the human body. The normal blood potassium concentration of the human body is 3.5~5.5mmol/l. Although the content of potassium in the human body is not high, its role is not small.

First of all, potassium ions maintain normal metabolism. They participate in sugar and protein metabolism, and work together with its "good brother" sodium inside the body's cells to maintain the normal function of nerves and muscles .

Secondly, potassium ions also maintain electrolyte balance . The concentration of K+ outside the cell is very low, and 98% is present inside the cell. It is very important for the integrity of the cell and the balance of electrolytes.

Finally, potassium also helps lower blood pressure. When high sodium (high salt diet) causes high blood pressure, it can play a role in lowering blood pressure.

However, potassium supplementation cannot solve the problem of high blood pressure that is not caused by excessive salt intake. Of course, for people with normal blood pressure, potassium intake will not cause blood pressure to drop further.

Source: CNKI paper: "Fake gate, real channel - artificial ion channel"

When potassium deficiency is diagnosed in the body, potassium ions outside the cells flow into the cells, cell excitability increases, and stress increases. At this time, the body will feel a tachycardia or even ventricular fibrillation.

Source: Pexels

Too much is as bad as too little, and the higher the potassium ion concentration is, the better it is. When the potassium in the body is high, the potassium ion concentration outside the cells increases, the excitability of the cells decreases, the muscles feel sore and weak, and even the decreased excitability of the heart cells can cause the heart rate to slow down, and in severe cases, cardiac arrest may occur.

As for the causes of potassium deficiency, at present, it is generally divided into potassium deficiency caused by primary diseases and nutritional potassium deficiency.

Nutritional potassium deficiency may be due to picky eating and dieting, leading to long-term insufficient potassium intake.

The World Health Organization strongly recommends that daily potassium intake should be increased to 3500 mg, while the US dietary guidelines recommend that daily potassium intake be increased to 4700 mg. Where does 3500 mg of potassium come from?

For example, a medium-sized banana contains 422 mg of potassium. If you want to get enough potassium, eating 9-10 bananas is enough.

But you can't eat so many bananas, so in addition to the well-known bananas, 150g of potatoes with skin contain 738mg of potassium, 150g of sweet potatoes contain 694mg of potassium, a cup of low-fat yogurt contains 531mg of potassium, and a cup of orange juice contains 496mg of potassium. In addition, there are water spinach, spinach, kelp , etc., which can all be used as references for daily diet.

Secondly, potassium deficiency may also be caused by excessive excretion of potassium. If the human body's excretion (liquid) exceeds 1L within 24 hours, it will also cause potassium loss .

When you're forced to become a "splatoon", potassium loss rate is 10-20 times higher than usual.

In addition, heavy sweating after exercise can also cause potassium deficiency in the human body. Therefore, people who sweat a lot, vomit, and have diarrhea for a long time need to pay attention to the timely supplementation of potassium.

It is important to note that taking large amounts of potassium-containing drugs or oral potassium preparations may lead to excessive potassium in the body, causing the slowing of the heartbeat or heart arrest mentioned above.

Therefore, in case of severe potassium deficiency, do not take medicine without authorization. Be sure to go to the hospital to replenish potassium in time, and follow the doctor's advice when taking medicine.

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How to determine whether you are potassium deficient?

When you squat for a long time and then stand up quickly, you may suddenly feel a black screen and dizziness in front of your eyes. This is dizziness caused by orthostatic hypotension.

Regular dieting and not eating staple foods can also cause dizziness, fatigue, and weakness, which can be relieved by eating some sweets. This is an attack of hypoglycemia.

If a person has a pale complexion for a long time, sweats and feels anxious when suffering from severe dizziness, it may be due to anemia.

If you have gotten enough sleep and eaten enough, but still feel tired and weak, you are more likely to be deficient in potassium.

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Review expert: Wu Xi, associate chief physician of the Department of Endocrinology, Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, Doctor of Medicine.

Tadpole Musical Notation original article, please indicate the source when reprinting

Editor/Xiao Xitushuo