Wallach's Interpretation of Diagnostic Tests: Pathways to Arriving at a Clinical Diagnosis (1138 page)

   Mineralocorticoids (e.g., fluorocortisone)

   High-dose glucocorticoids

   High-dose antibiotics (e.g., penicillin, nafcillin, ampicillin, carbenicillin)

   Substances with mineralocorticoid effect (e.g., glycyrrhizic acid [licorice], carbenoxolone, gossypol)

   Drugs associated with magnesium depletion (e.g., aminoglycosides, cisplatin, amphotericin B, foscarnet)

   Acute myelogenous, monomyeloblastic, or lymphoblastic leukemia

   Nonrenal causes of excess potassium loss

   In patients with hypokalemia, urine potassium levels should be <25 mmol/24 hours. If levels drops to <15 mmol/L it implies extrarenal loss.

   GI

   Vomiting

   Diarrhea (e.g., infections, malabsorption, radiation)

   Drugs (e.g., laxatives [phenolphthalein], enemas, cancer therapy)

   Neoplasms (e.g., villous adenoma of the colon, pancreatic VIPoma that produces VIP >200 pg/mL, Zollinger-Ellison syndrome)