Spiro/potassium/diet

Lepus · 03-26-2005, 07:09 PM

For those of you who have been on sprio, did your doctor tell you to watch the amount of potassium in your diet? My doctor mentioned nothing of it and said sprio had almost no side effects. Now I am reading that high potassium foods should be avoided.

So, did anyone watch their diet specifically avoiding foods high in potassium. It seems many of my favorite foods are risks such as apples, bananas, avocados, spinach and even meat! How am I supposed to be on a low carb diet if I am supposed to avoid meats and fish?

I am just wondering how much of a concern this issue really is and what other people's experiences have been like.

Thanks!

linni · 03-26-2005, 07:56 PM

hi there Lepus,

I'm on spiro 200mg a day... and I've been on it for over 4 years now. My doctor told me when she prescribed spiro, that I didn't have to worry at all about avoiding potassium foods, and the like. She said that it spares such a minute amount of spiro that it didn't matter.

I know that other ladies on the board have been told otherwise though. But like I said I've been on it for over 4 years, never watched my potassium (in fact i love bananas

) and I haven't had any problems at all.

I'd say stick with your diet, don't worry too terribly much about it, and if it would make you feel better request that your doc order blood work every so many months to check your potassium levels?

hope that helped some

Lepus · 03-26-2005, 08:51 PM

It did. Thank you. Today is my first day on it (50 mg) and I feel a little fluttery in the heart. I hope that will go away. I have a lot of anxiety in taking medications ever since a bad reaction to Effexor a couple of years ago and then an allergic reaction to Flagyl this past December.

I got concerned because I read on some sites to watch your intake of certain foods and on others there was no mention. My doctor never mentioned anything but I am also not sure what I think of him. I found out about my DX in a LETTER! Actually, I am sure what I think of him since I am looking for a new endo.

I am curious what people's experiences were with side effects and if they generally went away. I guess everyone's case is so different I really have to just see for myself. I will admit that I have become a bit of a hypochondriac about meds since those two experiences. Not fun. I assume if I am having a really serious reaction I am going to really know it. (I hope?)

Okay, thanks for your input and I welcome anyone else's advice! I need to look through the archives too...

OrangeDaisy · 03-27-2005, 12:45 AM

I tried to watch and not eat things that were postassium fortified (cereals, multi-vitamins, etc.), but my doctor took me off of Spiro after about 8 weeks because my BP went too high. He suggested that I might have too much postassium from the Spiro, and postassium causes muscles to contract, therefore my arteries might be squeezing too hard. It was all just a guess -- he didn't do any bloodwork. It made me sad to have to stop it because I'm pretty sure I could see differences in hair growth and was just feeling more feminine (I guess my testosterone was dropping). I take BP med, so if you don't have BP problems, I wouldn't worry about Spiro causing you the same problem.

Lepus · 03-27-2005, 12:59 AM

Kind of odd that he came to that conclusion without doing any bloodwork. I guess it seems like a natural conclusion but I always like some data to back things up. Sorry you couldn't continue taking it.

I think I will watch my intake of bananas and avocados for the next couple of weeks and just generally try to avoid the foods that are listed as being high in potassium. It is just so difficult because many of them are my favorite foods and good for me! I will watch my BP and as I get more accustomed to the drug I will try to ease up on the diet restrictions I think. As soon as my book gets here for the IR Diet I will be starting it. My insulin levels were fine but I want to head any potential problems off at the pass so I am going to try to get control of this with diet and getting more exercise. I will lose the 10lbs I need to and just see what happens.

What are you supposed to eat in the morning besides cereal? That is about all my stomach can handle that early!

Are red apples high in K or not? Guess I need to look that up. One site I went to had it listed as being both low, moderate and high!

Okay, I am rambling on tonight...

OrangeDaisy · 03-27-2005, 01:21 AM

My doc gave me the option of trying to stay on Spiro, but he told me it would be easier to treat the BP if I was off it. I decided that good cardio-vascular health was more important than something I was doing to look better. He said if we could get my BP back under control for awhile, I might could try Spiro again.

Alot of cerals aren't postassium fortified, so I wouldn't be scared of them. Special K has a new heart health cereal that I really like and it is fortified with potassium. Since I've quit Spiro, I'm eating it.

My favorite non-cereal breakfast is a low carb bagel (these are kind of hard to find - I get Thomas Carb Consider Bagels at Publix), two slices of Canadian bacon and a slice of low fat cheese, heated in the toaster oven on 300 for about 7 minutes.