Potassium is an important mineral for your body. A lack of potassium, also known as hypokalemia, can cause a variety of health problems including muscle issues that can cause hoarseness. If you think you have abnormally low potassium levels, talk to your doctor. Increasing the amount of potassium in your body may help with your hoarseness and other symptoms.
Causes of Hoarseness
Hoarseness is any sort of abnormal change in your voice. This can include changes in the tone or pitch of your voice, or a raspy or breathy sound to your voice. There are many things that can cause hoarseness such overusing or straining your voice, inflammation of your larynx, smoking, acid reflux and neurological problems. For your voice box to work properly, small muscles must help tense your vocal cords. Problems with these muscles can lead to hoarseness.
Hypokalemia and Hoarseness
Potassium is an electrolyte, which means that it is important for cells, such as muscle and nerve cells, that require changes in electrical charges to work properly. A lack of potassium in your blood can interfere with muscle function, resulting in easy fatigue, weakness and paralysis. If the muscles around your vocal cords are affected, this could result in hoarseness.
Diagnosis
Your doctor can diagnose hypokalemia from blood tests that measure potassium levels. Hypokalemia is usually not diagnosed by chance; your doctor may suspect it if you have symptoms consistent with low potassium levels such as constipation, muscle weakness and an irregular heartbeat. Kidney disease, which results in the loss of potassium, can cause hypokalemia. Certain medications, such as diuretics and antibiotic, can also trigger it. Additionally, excessive diarrhea or vomiting may also deplete your body of potassium.
Treatment
If your doctor thinks that low potassium levels are causing hoarseness, increasing your potassium intake may help your voice return to normal. Adding more high potassium foods to your diet, such as bananas, bran, Brussels sprouts, lima beans, kiwi, peanut butter, milk, oranges and tomatoes will increase your potassium levels. You can also take potassium supplements or receive intravenous potassium for cases of severe hypokalemia.
