Don't Forget the Potassium!

So I am sure we have all heard of Potassium and how we need it, but if your like me you probably don't think much about it. In my mind it goes, Calories, Fat, then sodium lol and potassium....not so much. Well I now know the importance of it and how much it controls our body with a recent scare I experienced last night around 11:30pm.

Yesterday I woke up and was over the moon about my weight loss and was really sore, but figured o well, it's just from teaching spin and working out twice Thursday. I went about my normal day, and ran some errands with my mom and felt pretty good. My lower back felt pretty sore the more we walked, but it was not unbearable at all. I then came home and got ready and went out with two friends to celebrate our friend Hannah's 19th bday and mine a little late. We went down to Indianapolis to shop and then to a movie. I ate dinner before I left and was feeling a little sick to my stomach but nothing out of the ordinary, figured I just needed to eat or it was the fiber. As we shopped the back pain got a bit worse, but then really intensified during the movie while sitting. On the way home I got a little worried because my back was throbbing by now. I got home and my mom had me take some IB profen which did not help at ALL, and I knew that was not a good sign. I then ate my 100 calorie popcorn snack like always and finally got the pain to settle and I decided it was time to go to bed and sleep it off.

I got to get to bed and about 5 minss after laying down my whole core(stomach and back) started to like contract in these horrible muscle cramps. It felt like a Charlie horse times a million, like when you don't stretch before you run. Anyways I knew something was wrong so I went downstairs and I began to not be able to catch my breathe as well, the pain was taking it away and all of my muscles in my back, chest and stomach, started cramping. My mom and I both knew I was not going to be able to make it to the car to get to the ER so she called 911, which was a good call. By the time they got out there my blood pressure was low and I could hardly speak. They got me in the ambulance( which I hated, I hate being picked at by doctors and all the attention, I am very strong willed and like to fix myself lol) and they got my on oxygen and tried to get an IV in me, which failed like 3 times in there. My veins were very small due to the dehydration. After they got me and got the IV in after over EIGHT trys! My poor arms are black and blue lol, I was NOT a happy camper to say the least! After they did my blood work they found my potassium level was 2.2 and normal is 4.0 so that was WAY low and bad.

Of course with seeing this and these being classics signs of vomiting they assumed I was not eating, which is WAY wrong lol, I was like people I only eat 1200 cals a day, I am SURELY not wasting any of those with puking lol. I then explained my weight loss circumstance, which by the way blew them all away lol, and they seemed to understand way more. The ruled out that this last week I just worked too hard and did not compensate for the output I was doing working out. My uncle said it best "You need to stop treating your body as a 300lb over weight person anymore, but as an athlete with the way you work out and function". I had never thought about that before but it's SO true, with new high levels of output, there must be new high levels of input and putting all the stuff back into my body. Not to mention it takes just a tad out of you to lose that much in a year, it is going to take my heart and organs time to adjust for sure.

So they finally got me in a room at around 7am and pumped me like crazy with Potassium Chloride and fluids and pain meds for the cramping. Which it all makes total sense that it was just like HUGE muscle cramps that night due to the low potassium, my body couldn't do it anymore and I worked my core the hardest so that area suffered the worst. The only down side to getting my potassium back up was the IV fluid of Potassium burns like fire through the drip, when that stuff hit I lost it! I have a very high pain tolerance but this stuff broke me for sure! They kind of forgot to warn me too so when it came it took me back for sure and shocked me! They thankfully got it to the point were they mixed it with my fluids and made it less acidic and less burning in my arm. They knew though that was the quickest way to get my levels up rather than doing it orally. They got my levels up by about 3:00pm today and released me around 3:30 so I am all back to normal now :). It deff. took a lot out of me and I am really weak and sore, but better and feeling better too.

It was hard not to get made at myself because here for so long I could control everything in my body and then this happens and I had no clue it was coming. I had been a little light headed this last week but we thought it was just my heart getting used to me being more active. I guess this happens a lot when athletes really train hard or push themselves and I can deff. say I did that this week, some not on purpose. I am deff. going to have to just start really being careful to watch that if I am putting out hard, I need to put back in hard and watch myself, because I am no longer that 300lbs person but someone who does work out a lot and will require more to keep going. I also need to remember it's not about numbers anymore but about my health, and it is very real that even though I am "healthy" now there are still risks and things I did to my body from when I was overweight and not active. I also need to remember to take it easier on myself and not kill myself trying so hard. This was deff. something not planned and something VERY serious. They told me if my level went down .2 more my heart would have stopped, so it's not something I can take lightly, but I need to remember that it's all still new to me and I need to care for this new body even MORE than before. And also remember that God is still in control and I can't control everything to a fine science in my body, but I do need to listen to it more for sure.

I am now home though and resting for the rest of the weekend and will go back for blood work on Monday. I am hoping to be normal and back in the gym by Tuesday :). So this wkends life lesson, listen to your body and take care of it no matter what .....AND eat your bananas! :o).

~Kassandra