Actions of Potassium Chloride in details
Description: Potassium Chloride is a major cation of the intracellular fluid. It plays an active role in the conduction of nerve impulses in the heart, brain and skeletal muscle; contraction of cardiac skeletal and smooth muscles; maintenance of normal renal function, acid-base balance, carbohydrate metabolism and gastric secretion.
Pharmacokinetics:
Absorption: Well absorbed from the upper GI tract.
Distribution: Active transport mechanism allows K chloride to enter cells from the extracellular fluid.
Excretion: Mainly via the urine with small amounts via the sweat and faeces.
How should I take Potassium Chloride?
Take Potassium Chloride exactly as prescribed by your doctor. Do not take in larger or smaller amounts or for longer than recommended. Follow the directions on your prescription label.
Potassium Chloride tablets should be taken with meals and with a glass of water or other liquid.
Do not crush, chew, break, or suck on an extended-release Potassium Chloride tablet. Swallow the tablet whole. Breaking or crushing the tablet may cause too much Potassium Chloride to be released at one time. Sucking on a Potassium Chloride tablet can irritate your mouth or throat.
Take Potassium Chloride with food or just after a meal.
Your treatment may include a special diet. It is very important to follow the diet plan created for you by your doctor or nutrition counselor. You should become very familiar with the list of foods you should eat or avoid to help control your condition.
Potassium-rich foods include: squash, baked potatoes (skin on), spinach, lentils, broccoli, brussels sprouts, zucchini, kidney or navy beans, raisins, watermelon, orange juice, bananas, cantaloupe, and low-fat milk or yogurt. Consume only the daily amounts recommended by your doctor or nutrition counselor.
To be sure Potassium Chloride is helping your condition, your blood may need to be tested often. Your heart rate may also be checked using an electrocardiograph or ECG (sometimes called an EKG) to measure electrical activity of the heart. This test will help your doctor determine how long to treat you with potassium. Do not miss any scheduled appointments.
Do not stop taking Potassium Chloride without first talking to your doctor. If you stop taking potassium suddenly, your condition may become worse.
Store Potassium Chloride at room temperature away from moisture and heat. Keep the medication in a closed container.
Potassium Chloride administration
Potassium: Should be taken with food.
Potassium Chloride: Should be taken with food.
Potassium Chloride pharmacology
The potassium ion is the principal intracellular cation of most body tissues. Potassium ions participate in a number of essential physiological processes, including the maintenance of intracellular tonicity, the transmission of nerve impulses, the contraction of cardiac, skeletal, and smooth muscle, and the maintenance of normal renal function.
The intracellular concentration of potassium is approximately 150 to 160 mEq/L. The normal adult plasma concentration is 3.5-5.0 mEq/L. An active ion transport system maintains this gradient across the plasma membrane.
Potassium is a normal dietary constituent; under steady-state conditions, the amount of potassium absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract is equal to the amount excreted in the urine. The usual dietary intake of potassium is 50 to 100 mEq per day.
Potassium depletion may occur whenever the rate of potassium loss through renal excretion and/or loss from the gastrointestinal tract exceeds the rate of potassium intake. Such depletion usually develops slowly as a consequence of prolonged therapy with oral diuretics, primary or secondary hyperaldosteronism, diabetic ketoacidosis, severe diarrhea, or inadequate replacement of potassium in patients on prolonged parenteral nutrition. Depletion can develop rapidly with severe diarrhea, especially if associated with vomiting. Potassium depletion due to these causes is usually accompanied by a concomitant loss of chloride and is manifested by hypokalemia and metabolic alkalosis. Potassium depletion may produce weakness, fatigue, disturbances of cardiac rhythm (primarily ectopic beats), prominent U waves in the electrocardiogram, and, in advanced cases, flaccid paralysis and/or impaired ability to concentrate urine.
If potassium depletion associated with metabolic alkalosis cannot be managed by correcting the fundamental cause of the deficiency, e.g., where the patient requires long-term diuretic therapy, supplemental potassium in the form of high-potassium food or Potassium Chloride may be able to restore normal potassium levels.
In rare circumstances (e.g., patients with renal tubular acidosis) potassium depletion may be associated with metabolic acidosis and hyperchloremia. In such patients potassium replacement should be accomplished with potassium salts other than the chloride, such as potassium bicarbonate, potassium citrate, potassium acetate, or potassium gluconate.
The Potassium Chloride in Potassium Chloride (Potassium Chloride) is completely absorbed before it leaves the small intestine. The wax matrix is not absorbed and is excreted in the feces; in some instances the empty matrices may be noticeable in the stool. When the bioavailability of the potassium ion from Potassium Chloride (Potassium Chloride) is compared to that of a true solution the extent of absorption is similar.
The extended-release properties of Potassium Chloride (Potassium Chloride) are demonstrated by the finding that a significant increase in time is required for renal excretion of the first 50% of the Potassium Chloride (Potassium Chloride) dose as compared to the solution.
Increased urinary potassium excretion is first observed 1 hour after administration of Potassium Chloride (Potassium Chloride), reaches a peak at 4 hours, and extends up to 8 hours. Mean daily steady-state plasma levels of potassium following daily administration of Potassium Chloride (Potassium Chloride) cannot be distinguished from those following administration of a Potassium Chloride solution or from control plasma levels of potassium ion.
References
- DailyMed. "AMINO ACIDS; CALCIUM ACETATE; GLYCERIN; MAGNESIUM ACETATE; PHOSPHORIC ACID; POTASSIUM CHLORIDE; SODIUM ACETATE; SODIUM CHLORIDE: DailyMed provides trustworthy information about marketed drugs in the United States. DailyMed is the official provider of FDA label information (package inserts).". https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailyme... (accessed September 17, 2018).
- NCIt. "Potassium Chloride: NCI Thesaurus (NCIt) provides reference terminology for many systems. It covers vocabulary for clinical care, translational and basic research, and public information and administrative activities.". https://ncit.nci.nih.gov/ncitbrowser... (accessed September 17, 2018).
- EPA Safer Choice. "EPA Safer Chemical Ingredients Classification: Safer Choice of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) helps consumers, businesses, and purchasers find products that perform and are safer for human health and the environment. This classification is created based on the use classes of each chemical ingredient from the EPA Safer Choice.". https://www.epa.gov/saferchoice (accessed September 17, 2018).
Reviews
The results of a survey conducted on ndrugs.com for Potassium Chloride are given in detail below. The results of the survey conducted are based on the impressions and views of the website users and consumers taking Potassium Chloride. We implore you to kindly base your medical condition or therapeutic choices on the result or test conducted by a physician or licensed medical practitioners.User reports
1 consumer reported administration
When best can I take Potassium Chloride, on an empty stomach, before or after food?ndrugs.com website users have also released a report stating that Potassium Chloride should be taken With a meal. In any case, this may not be the right description on how you ought to take this Potassium Chloride. Kindly visit your doctor for more medical advice in this regard. Click here to see other users view on when best the Potassium Chloride can be taken.
| Users | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| With a meal | 1 | 100.0% | |
Consumer reviews
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Information checked by Dr. Sachin Kumar, MD Pharmacology
