What Causes Hypokalemia?

Excessive Use Of Laxatives

The excessive use of laxatives can cause an individual's potassium levels to drop. Excessive laxatives also have the potential to cause other serious health issues. Laxative abuse occurs commonly with certain eating disorders. Some individuals use laxatives following a food binge because they want the laxatives to flush out food waste before they're able to absorb the calories. Unfortunately, laxatives don't actually work like that. They only remove waste after the calories and nutritional content have been processed by the digestive system. When individuals lose weight after using laxatives, what they lost doesn't contain much caloric content, food, or fat. Instead, laxatives purge the body of fiber, colon waste, electrolytes, minerals, and water, which can lead individuals to become seriously dehydrated, and the weight comes back as soon as they rehydrate. Individuals who refuse to rehydrate following laxative abuse may become so dehydrated that they develop life-threatening symptoms. In addition to causing hypokalemia due to low potassium, individuals overusing laxatives may also experience low phosphorous, magnesium, and sodium.

Keep reading to learn more about the different causes of hypokalemia now.