# Potassium anyone?



## laney_001 (Nov 25, 2000)

I am in medical school right now and today I learned in physiology all about smooth muscle (the kind of muscle that is in the GI Tract). Well, as it turns out, we're all right about Ca++ being bad because too much of it causes this terrible cycle in our gut that causes the muscle to stop contracting. BUT, the opposite of that is Potassium which kind of works opposite of Calcium in the smooth muscle. So, knowing that, I wondered if anyone has taken potassium supplements to help out their IBS-C. Also, I want to make it clear that TOO MUCH potassium can be a very bad thing so you should ask your MD about it. I am going to ask my professor if my theory that taking K will help is correct or if I am missing something. But I checked out potassium at Drugstore.com, and it seemed to support my hypothesis. Any thoughts...?


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## amygurl (Aug 26, 2001)

Im confused with what you are saying. I have c&d and when my stomach starts hurting really bad and I feel a D attack coming on,I eat a banana & it settles my stomach down alot. I love eating them for my stomach aches.


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## laney_001 (Nov 25, 2000)

I'm not so sure it is the K in bananas that slows things down. I talked to my professor today and he said that increasing extracellular K levels will increase muscle contractions in gut muscle. I will ask my doctor about K supplements and how much is OK and give it a try. It's worth a try, at least, I'd say....


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## atrain (Jun 22, 2001)

whats K?


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## laney_001 (Nov 25, 2000)

I'm sorry, K is means potassium. I guess when you do science for long enough you think everyone uses the same language. K=potassium, Ca=calcium, Mg=Magnesium.... I'll try to not be a complete science geek with the rest of my posts.


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## babydoc_au (Jan 26, 2000)

I guess it could help if you were potassium deficient, but I certainly wouldn't supplement ( other than the tiny amount in my multi-vitamins). I think you would want to get frequent blood levels done if you were going to supplement with it. As you know, too much can cause a heart attack. Magnesium does the trick for me, without the danger factor!


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## laney_001 (Nov 25, 2000)

I agree with you, babydoc. I talked to a physician who said it isn't advisable to take potassium (K) supplements. The leading problem with high K levels is heart arrhythmia. So, maybe eating things high in K would help like avocados, broccoli, dried fruits, grapefruits, beans, meats, nuts, squash, melon, brussel sprouts zucchini, frozen OJ, and tomatoes to name a few.


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