Hyperkalemia is really common and can be caused by lots of different things. I don't suppose you know what his potassium levels are? Mild hyperkalemia is usually asymptomatic, but severe hyperkalemia is very dangerous and can result in cardiac arrhythmias. Hyperkalemia is often indicative of kidney disfunction as potassium is usually excreted by the kidneys - if the kidneys are not functioning normally then the potassium is not excreted and high levels are found in the blood. The kidney disfunction can be the primary cause of the hyperkalemia, or the kidney disfunction may be secondary to another problem such as diabetes or adrenal issues.
There are so many unknowns. Stay away from google! I hope your friends DS is well soon.
Thanks Nickle730. Don't know what his levels were other than they were elevated. Obviously high enough to tell them to go to emergency straight away with him!
Had brief look on Google last night before I posted here and was frightened by what I read so though best to stear clear and come on here.
Will know more in next few days. Her DH gave update last night and looks like they he has a rare hormonal deficiency which is causing his kidneys to malfunction. However if it is this is can be treated with daily steroids for the rest of his life. Poor little mite. They're waiting for results to come back from Brisbane and will know more when they come back.
Update from today is they believe the little guy has CAH or Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. Test results come back Thursday and they will know for sure. Not apparent at this stage as to what type of CAH - really serious or just serious.
Being honest whole thing has kindof put me into a bit of a head spin as there are so many similaries between her story and mine and its frightened me as to how naive (sp ???) Her DS was just 20g heavier than my DS when born. Both were 38 weekers. Her DS was 20g heavier than mine leaving hospital 2.9Kg against my DS 2.88Kg. Both were sleepy babies and had difficulty feeding. Both had low weight gain. Ironically our even our allocated paeds from the hospital are the same. I had completely forgotten until this evening that the paed had my DS have blood tests too. He never clearly explained what we were testing - and I just went along - I can remember it being really really upsetting for me as he was so tiny and they were sticking a great big needle into him - and then he said results were clear. It was probably the same test - done for the same reason - low weight gain. He always told me that my DS was fine and not to worry but did get me to make a number of follow up appointments after the 6 week check including the one where we did a blood test.
Have you heard of CAH? and is it different from hyperkalemia?
Hi NW3, the CAH causes the hyperkalemia. It's an inability of the adrenal glands to produce certain hormones (cortisol and aldosterone) and is treated by replacing those hormones (lifelong treatment). I think the different types of CAH are based on which hormones are not being produced. The fact that your friends baby is already showing symptoms indicates that he probably has a pretty severe form of CAH, but obviously that is for the doctors to determine. The good news is that you now have answers and treatment is available.
I hope your friends are coping with the news. Sorry for the quick reply, i have to get the kidlets to school!
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