Your doctor may prescribe potassium supplements for you to replace the potassium that is lost. If you are losing too much potassium, you may experience muscle cramps, muscle weakness, or fatigue. If you have too much potassium in your body, you may feel weakness and heaviness in your legs, nausea, vomiting or abdominal pain. Let your doctor know if you experience any of these symptoms. Your doctor will check the level of potassium in your blood to determine the amount of potassium supplements you need.
Some foods are high in potassium.
Your doctor may recommend that you eat foods high in potassium, such as bananas, orange juice, baked potatoes, prunes, cantaloupe and tomato juice. Medications play an important part in treating heart failure. The medications your physician prescribes for you may help your limitations on your lifestyle. One of the most common reasons people are readmitted to the hospital with heart failure is because they have not taken their medications properly. It is important to take your medications, follow the instructions you were given, and to communicate to your doctor any reason why you were not able to take them as directed.