True Periodic Paralysis or Periodic Paralysis-like?
A question was asked this week in the PPNI Support Group about the connection
to Periodic Paralysis and kidney disease and another question was asked about
certain drugs causing Periodic Paralysis. I would like to explain this here to
make sure all are able to see the answer.
Periodic Paralysis (PP) all forms: Hypokalemic PP and some forms of Thyrotoxic
PP (symptoms from low potassium); Hyperkalemic PP and Paramyotonia Congenita
PMC (symptoms from high potassium); Normokalemic PP (symptoms within normal
levels of potassium); and Anderson-Tawil Syndrome ATS (symptoms from low, high
and normal ranges of potassium) are all ion channelopathies, also called
mineral metabolic disorders and are the result of genetic mutations and only
genetic mutations. This means you have a predisposition to the medical
condition due to faulty genes. Because of the faulty genes, when the body is
exposed to certain conditions such as heat, cold, pain, drugs, anesthesia, IVs,
food additives, fillers and dyes, chemicals, stress, different phases of sleep,
exercise, exertion and much more, the symptoms of muscle weakness and paralysis
are triggered. If this is not the case...you do not have Periodic
Paralysis...you have a periodic paralysis-like condition.
You may have hypokalemia (low potassium) or hyperkalemia (high potassium) from other things, that cause symptoms like those of us with Periodic Paralysis, but the real cause of the symptoms is not from PP, but possibly a kidney issue, diabetic ketoacidosis or taking beta-blockers or other drugs and much more.
That being said, if you have been genetically tested and the results were
negative and the doctors say you do not have PP it may just mean that they did
not test for the form you have. Only about 50% of the genetic mutations for the
varying forms of PP have been discovered as of yet. That means only 50% of us
could have a positive test with a known mutation. The testing that is being
done for free only tests for a few of the forms of PP. They are looking for
specific ones. This means the likelihood of getting a positive diagnose through
genetic testing is even less than 50%. So a negative result means that they did
not test for the form you likely have, that was not yet been discovered or not
tested for. So, we do not get true Periodic Paralysis from anything other than
being born with the genetic mutation for it, but it may not yet have been
discovered or tested for.
Certain drugs, do not cause it...they trigger our symptoms if we have the genetic
mutation. Kidney disease does not cause PP, but it may and does affect our
kidneys and we can have kidney disease existing with PP. Certain medical
conditions like thyroid conditions can cause low potassium and symptoms like
those of us with PP, but they do not cause the mineral metabolic disorder known
as Periodic Paralysis.
Each and every one of us needs to understand just what Periodic Paralysis is and why we have it. We have it, a mineral metabolic disorder, also known as an ion channelopathy, from a genetic mutation that affects the way potassium flows in and out of our muscle cells, which is affected and triggered by many things, but not caused by them.
Below are articles with lists of causes of hyperkalemia and hypokalemia.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/hyperkalemia/basics/causes/sym-20050776https://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/low-potassium/basics/causes/sym-20050632
