Cactus high in K+

[travelinjones]

greetings nephrology nurses,

i am a telemetry nurse [traveler, currently in southern california] and feel like i just stumbled on to something important.

i was assigned a lovely 58 yo hispanic woman this weekend. admitting dx was hyperkalemia [which resulted in a 1st degree heart block]. history includes crf, dmii, htn. she has been on m-w-f dialysis for two years, and states she takes great care with her diet and tries to be compliant, although at times her body just works against her.

long story short, the cardiologist met with her and asked her if she eats cactus regularly or has she eaten any recently. her answer was yes, she does eat it occasionally, and did have quite a bit recently after learning that it is 'good for diabetics'. the cardiologist stated it is quite high in potassium and the likely culprit of her hospitalization.

very interesting! even more so...i found our hospital rd was not aware of the high k+ content, and it turns out this veggie/fruit is a common staple in the diet of our socal hispanic population.

sadly, she was 'accused' of being non-compliant by the ed nurse. i was told in report that she is a ff that lies about drinking orange juice and comes in all to often for emergency dialysis....[i accept that these things do happen, but at times, we can be under-informed]

i googled 'eating cactus high potassium' and found articles extolling the virtues of cactus and one purporting to be medical in nature claims that eating cactus 'produced hypoglycemia in rabbits mainly by reducing intestinal absorption of glucose'.

prickly pear cactus medicine

treatments for diabetes, cholesterol, and the immune system

by (author) ran knishinsky

i found this to be interesting and worth sharing.