Interesting read! Did you speak to this patient (months) afterwards, or ever again? And are low potassium levels often the case for "strange, hard-to-diagnose" symptoms?
Interesting read! Did you speak to this patient (months) afterwards, or ever again? And are low potassium levels often the case for "strange, hard-to-diagnose" symptoms?
Thank you. As I said, the hospital was a referral hospital and most of the patients came from other cities and frequently from rural areas. I am sure that not only me, but none of the residents (or the attending physicians) ever saw that patient again! The patient probably went back to his hometown afterwards. According to the hospital policy, a discharge sheet is given to the patient, so the patient could get care in his hometown accordingly. Of course, this is about more than 20 years ago and a lot has changed since then.
I don't think hypokalemia is hard to diagnose if it is present at the time of examination, it can be diagnosed with a blood test. If the patient is fine at the time of examination, it can be provoked with exercise, but it is dangerous, because there is a "hyperkalemic" paralysis, too, which has a different treatment.