It seems like a healthy diet with lots of fruits and vegetables will you get you there, but with a typical western diet a lot of people would be low. That’s awesome to hear you found something to address some pretty crummy problems you have been dealing with. Did you ever have blood work done to see whether you were deficient?
Had bloodwork done AFTER, during 330 mg / day phase, about a month or two after starting that regimen, and it confirmed I was bang-on.
[Again: Was taking 2000 mg, but it seems it was Potassium Gluconate = 330 mg actual available K. Gotta double check on that tn / tomorrow.]
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Happy birthday, btw! Reading what you were going through, finding this solution is an amazing gift to yourself.
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1/2 a cup of oats is 150mg @ 2% DV of potassium
I eat at least that amount daily and that’s just breakfast.
I usually have pasta with lots of veggies and meat for lunch.
Pasta 120 mg @ 1.7% DV of potassium
Seems if you eat somewhat healthy you shouldn’t have to worry about potassium.
Although on very hot, sweaty days I take an electrolyte supplement in pill form.
One of those pills has 1.5 % DV of potassium. Interesting…good subject, this is good stuff to know about.
In reference to your blood work, what mmol/L are you at and/or the level do you wish to be at?
I just reviewed years of blood work and I appear to fluctuate between 4-5mmol/L.
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No deficiency here. I checked my levels back 4 years and K was mid-range (4.4 mmol) with Na towards the upper end (140 mmol). I’ve also not had issues you describe, so I count myself lucky there. Seems my diet and genes are doing their part to hit the levels I need at least.
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Yeah, my last two were both 5.1. My “all ice cream all the time” diet must be working!
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I had a lot of your symptoms but I’m glad my doctor didn’t dismiss it as IBS as apparently a lot of Docs do. It turned out to be bowel cancer even though I was ‘way too young’ for testing, etc. Thankfully it was caught in time and I’ve made a full recovery. Docs dismissing things however, as IBS instead of doing a proper investigation can result in the cancer spreading fatally 
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Doesn’t that mean put in the the bare minimum you need to get you round, so that you’re almost running on fumes by the end of the race?
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What I’ve always heard was that the balance between sodium and potassium was what was important. And that modern diets are basically just completely mismatched. Just out of curiosity are your sodium and potassium levels relatively equal?
I’ve been using potassium “lite salt” for quite a while after reading some literature about equating sodium and potassium levels. Interestingly, I also have IBS and leg cramps and now that you mention it the symptoms of both have decreased in the six months or so I’ve been using the potassium salt.
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I haven’t read the entire thread - but I was having the same exact issues. Never diagnosed with IBS, but when I started following TR and upping my volume my digestion was similar to those with IBS-C. Also had leg cramps, went through a phase where I was sleeping horribly.
Started using LMNT tea and all symptoms went away within a day or two. Slept 8 hours two nights in a row for the first time in years shortly after starting.
In order to save money, I bought some NA in bulk to add to my bottles rather than use LMNT tea. symptoms were slowly coming back. Once I noticed them again I had an LMNT tea and symptoms abated the same day.
Edit: Reason I bring up last point is because LMNT tea has potassium in it and symptoms were coming back when I removed it from my bottles.
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I’m probably misunderstanding the big picture of what you’re saying, but when I add up the % DVs you listed, I only get 5.2% of the DV (daily recommended volume) 
. Obviously, you’ll get additional K from other food sources, but the %DVs you listed actually demonstrate (to me) how little K you’re getting from those sources. It takes a lot to add up to 100% DV, but you don’t know you don’t check once in a while (by testing or tracking your food), or without purposefully supplementing.
Thanks to threads here, I started paying more attention to dosages and being consistent adding Sodium Citrate and NuSalt (K) to my bottles this spring. I was previously using fizz tabs and endurolytes, but more as a defensive measure. Now that summer is here, with 750=g Na and 250+mg K per bottle, I’m feeling much better during and after rides (in Florida heat and humidity).
Don’t forget magnesium, too. I take a supplement (well, 2 different ones) every morning that have Mg in them.
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I’m pretty sure no sodium salt just uses potassium instead of sodium.
I am confused by your response. My point was I went from an electrolyte mix containing sodium, potassium and magnesium to just sodium. As I dropped potassium and magnesium, my symptoms started to come back. When I re-introduced them, my symptoms abated.
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@Majoeric sorry, no clue. The doc just said the Na & K values were “perfect, in expected range”.
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Shame on you.
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Maybe the title should be changed from K to potassium to avoid confusion with vitamin K? The topic could possibly help someone else in the future but the title may make it hard to find.
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Potassium level of 3500-4500 is possible to achieve with normal healthy athlete diet with nuts, seeds,fruits, weggies, grains, pasta, rice, diary. As athletes (at least endurance) typically eat more than average Joe, they achieve this again easily, as long as quality of food is good.
Natrium very easy to get too much from general health perspective and needs careful look when choosing mixing those salty workout/race foods and eating regular daily good. Stacks up too much quite easily.
So I bought citrate and opened it, any harm in taking it at these doses?
My issues were not as severe as yours, but I would struggle with leg cramps mostly during longer rides in hot conditions. I stumbled upon the potassium DV numbers a couple of years ago and it opened my eyes to how little I was consuming even with a somewhat healthy diet.
After increasing potassium intake and also increasing in-ride sodium intake (I’m also a heavy sweater/salter), I’ve almost completely eliminated my cramping issues.
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