HYPOKALEMIA

[FunsizexBeauty]

24 Year Old Female Diagnosed With Chiari In 2009. Ive Had A Decompression Surgery And A VP Shunt Placed In 2010. For The Past Few Weeks My Neck, Head & Tummy Where My VP Shunt Is Located Has Been Causing Me A Sharp Excruciating Pain. I Went To The ER And Was Informed My Hypokalemia Level Is Extremely Low. I Was Given A Potassium Drink In The Hospital And Told To Rest And Eat Plenty Of Bananas. Today Is Day 5 And The Pain Has Only Gotten Worse And Other Symptoms Have Been Added. Woke Up With A Bad Burning Sensation In My Neck. Im Considering Going To A Different Hospital To Get A Second Opinion But Everyone Should Be Able To Relate With The Hit Or Miss ER Visits Smh So Many Uneducated Drs When It Comes To Chiari. Just Wondering If Anyone Else Has Had This Issue Or Could Give Me Some Advice For Some Relief? Thanks In Advance.

[selmaS]

  Not having a shunt myself I can not shed light on your issue....I hope another member that has a shunt will weigh in on this topic....

Is the Dr a Chiari specialist?

Scar tissue can take time to grow....and it is also possible to appear very quickly.....

Were you DX'd with EDS too?

[selmaS]

  Hi and welcome to the Chiari forum.

May I ask is the potassium the only thing that was low?....Many of us do have issues with low Vit D and Magnesium....and the symptoms are varied....

Also were ALL related conditions ruled out for you b4 your surgery?

I know it is no longer in season, but watermelon has more potassium then bananas.....if you can get some.

Did they check to see if there is a blockage with the shunt?

[FunsizexBeauty]

According to that hospital the potassium was the only thing that was low but after going to a completely different hospital yesterday the doctor said my potassium levels were normal. my entire surgery progress went completely wrong. the doctor isn't even in practice anymore smh due to lawsuits. so i don't have much information on that part. my question is to know if there is blockage in the shunt how would they find out? i got a ct scan which is pointless because it doesn't show everything necessary like a MRI and they did a few x rays to see if the shunt was in place. the hospital i went to yesterday said its possible for the scar tissue around the shunt to be be causing muscle spasms BUT 5 years later? i don't know