I thought I'd try some potassium to combat the tiredness I get every afternoon about 330. So I got some potassium gluconate, 595mg tablets. The serving size is one tablet which says this % Daily value is only 3%. When I asked the pharmasist nearby if that was the only kind they had, she said yes but then said to be very careful with it and that she would recommend getting a prescription. She listed several side effects which didn't sound too appealing.
Anyone have any experience with potassium that can recommend a dosage or have any negative side effects? Thanks

I would like to know also. I need to start taking some. I want to be careful also.

hi there,

First, your potassium gluconate pill has only 90-ish mg elemental potassium in it, the rest is gluconate. Which is fine, minerals must be bound to a salt or a protein in order to be absorbed Just for reference, a medium sized avocado has 1,100 mg potassium in it; a can of tuna .. 600 mg, a cup of chopped broccoli .. 300 mg. Nobody has ever keeled over from eating these foods

So those pills are fine. Non-prescriptioin potassium pills cannot contain more than 100 mg elemental potassium per pill because they can be irritating to the stomach. The pill likely has a hard coating to prevent it from dissolving too quickly .. make sure you don't break or chew the pill, and always take it with food or a big glass of water.

Healthy kidneys will excrete any excess potassium in the urine. People with kidney disease, or who take certain medications such as ACE inhibitors and spironolactone diuretic for blood pressure should discuss with their dr. or pharmacist before taking potassium supplements.


Doreen

My understanding is you can pretty much go up to 5,600mg with no problems. I generally take in 3,000mg a day just from the foods I eat. On a few occassions, I've gone well over 4,000mg, maybe even as high as 5,000mg just from the foods I ate. 2,000mg is what is generally considered acceptable. Yesterday, I took in 3549mg just from the foods I ate (Tuna, Soy, Nuts, and Beef.)

The highest Potassium intake I can find on Fitday [I haven't looked through it all] is 5,580.2mg on May 31. That was ALL from the foods I ate.

I had cheated on that day [ate ALOT of fruit - 105g Net CHO...almost entirely from Fruits and Green Vegetables.] Strangely enough, the whoosh fairy paid me a visit 2 days later.