I just came across this perusing the New York Times. I love when our diseases get more coverage. I was so excited I came to post it here before even reading it!

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/28/voices-of-crohns-disease/?em

Rima,

I remember some years ago the NY Times had an article about an issue not receiving much coverage on this Board, relating to colectomies. The article focused in particular on the practice of injecting potassium into the colectomy patient if their potassium level went down too low. This practice had resulted in causing cardiac arrest and death in several patients at New York area hospitals, which is what had created the newsworthiness of the issue. The article was of particular interest to me, because in the days after step 1 they were doing blood tests on me every day and one day my test came back showing very low potassium levels, and they forced me to drink liquid potassium orally as opposed to injecting it in me. It had to be one of the worst tasting things I ever drank, but they told me I had to drink it all, and I did. Not too much, fortunately.

It's strange but I have not read on this Board any reports of potassium levels shooting down after step 1, so I guess they must be controlling this potential complication better than they once were.

Rima, thanks for the link. You are right. It is sort of exciting when IBD is in the news. It is not one of the more popular diseases. People don't usually die from it and it's embarrassing to talk about.

Actually, low potassium levels are a common problem post op and a frequent cause of paralytic ileus. IV potassium is very commonly given, but not by injection. It is usually combined with the IV fluids and given continuously. It is nearly always included in IV solutions after intestinal surgery. That helps prevent dangerous drops.

Jan

Jan,

That certainly makes sense, and perhaps that NY Times expose, which I read back in the 1990s, was one reason why they stopped directly injecting the low potassium patient with undiluted potassium.

My low potassium episode occurred back in 1992. I recall asking the nurse why I was not receiving the potassium intravenuously at the time, and she told me that they believed (at that time) that potassium needed to be slowly absorbed to avoid shocking the system and this was best accomplished by drinking it and absorbing it as per the normal digestive process.

I recall they gave the liquid potassium to me in a paper cup and it was a dark red color like pomegranate juice. I can assure you it tasted nothing like pomegranate juice. It tasted like poison and I was amazed I did not throw it up.

It was only a year or two later that I read that NY times article and recalled what my nurse at Mount Sinai had told me.

Obviously, from what you say, the medical standards have changed on this issue, and perhaps we have the NY Times to thank for that because of that expose they did which I recall being on the front page.