Potassium is vital for every cell in the body. Your body needs potassium for regulating muscle tissue, digestion, metabolism and maintaining a balance between the chemical and electrical body processes. The primary regulator of potassium is your kidneys. Kidneys remove excess potassium from the blood and excrete it in urine. Impaired kidney function can cause potassium levels to dip or raise depending on the damage. Potassium levels must remain within normal limits or they can have life-threatening complications.
Potassium Levels
Physicians commonly check potassium levels to look for damage to the kidneys or to monitor patients who have kidney damage already. Checking potassium levels requires a simple blood test. The National Institutes of Health explains that normal potassium levels are approximately 3.7 to 5.2 milliequivalents per liter, or mEq/L though each laboratory has their own standards.
Hypokalemia
When potassium levels fall below normal, a condition known as hypokalemia, it often occurs due to the kidney's ability to retain potassium. Several diseases affect this process, according to the National Institutes of Health. Cushing syndrome, a disorder that causes the body to release excessive amounts of the steroid cortisol, can impair the kidney's ability to retain potassium, as can an adrenal gland condition that causes the body to release excessive amounts of aldosterone.
Aldosterone triggers the kidneys to release potassium. Excess aldosterone will cause the kidneys to release too much potassium. A rare genetic disorder called Bartter syndrome can also lead to low potassium levels because it affects the kidneys' ability to absorb sodium. When the kidneys cannot absorb sodium, a release of aldosterone is triggered that makes the kidneys release too much potassium.
Hyperkalemia
Elevated potassium levels, or hyperkalemia, can also occur due to acute or chronic kidney failure. Many conditions can lead to kidney failure and elevated potassium levels. These conditions include autoimmune dysfunction, burns, dehydration, hemorrhage, injury and septic shock. Kidney infections and obstructions within the tubes of the kidneys can also lead to retention of potassium. Just as excessive aldosterone can cause low potassium, a lack of aldosterone will cause an increase in total body potassium. The University of Maryland Medical Center explains that Addison's disease can cause a lack of aldosterone and lead to hyperkalemia.
Complications
It is imperative that potassium levels remain within normal limits. Elevated potassium can lead to arrhythmias, cardiac arrest and changes in neuromuscular control. Low potassium can lead to permanent kidney damage and irregular heartbeats.
Treatment
Elevated potassium levels are a medical emergency. Most often, physicians will have the patient hospitalized and begin treatment to remove excess potassium from the body using medications, dialysis and intravenous calcium, glucose and insulin, according to the National Institutes of Health. If potassium levels are severely low, physicians may choose to implement intravenous potassium or an oral potassium supplement.
