hey everyone it's nurse Mike here from simple nursing.com today we're going to break down electrolyte imbalances but before we get started for my Simple Nursing members we're going to make sure this information actually sticks so grab this study guide from your membership and be sure to follow along with this video let's make it as easy as possible to remember oh and for those of you who aren't yet members there's a special link to a free download below okay now before we start breaking down the need to know information for your exam real quick question again what the heck are electrolytes well the medical definition of electrolytes are primarily found in fluids they are ions that create electrical energy to help our body maintain normal functioning mainly in the muscles nerves heart and brain now remember they help us to maintain fluid balances because where fluids flow electrolytes go or in other words where fluids flow electrolytes go so please just remember anything that depletes water or fluid like VPPS vomiting peeing pooing like diarrhea sweating will all deplete electrolytes all right guys so let's break this down real quick okay first on the list let's talk about king potassium the king of action and contraction inside your muscles now potassium's function is to maintain heart and muscle contraction hyperc calmia is over 5.0 so the big signs and symptoms is the heart will be tight and contracted like a cramp so you're going to have hyper heart ST elevation peaked T- waves wide QRS's in severe hypotassium we'll have VIB as well as cardiac standstill also hypotension low blood pressure and brada cardia because guys everything in the heart is so tight and contracted now in the GI it'll be tight and contracted as well so diarrhea and hyperactive bowel sounds too much going on right here in the bowels now third neuromuscularly you'll have tight and contracted so paralysis in the extremities basically they can't move paristhesia or numbness increased DTR is these deep tendon reflexes too much action and contraction also profound muscle weakness or basically just a general feeling of heaviness so guys a real quick enclelex tip for you words like profound and severe are late and serious signs indicating a priority patient so guys always assess these patients first now hypoc calmia hypo meaning low and slow this is less than 3.5 potassium we usually start seeing signs and symptoms below 3.0 now first in the heart it's going to be low and slow so guys flat T- waves ST depression and also write this down prominent U waves heck is a Uwave shut up you no I'm kidding now number two muscular system will be low and slow so you'll have decreased deep tendon reflexes flaccid paralysis meaning paralyzed limbs like they can't move now the GI tract will be low and slow so guys decreased motility hypoactive bowel sounds and constipation abdominal distension and please write this one down it's very important paralytic ilas basically meaning a paralyzed intestine now this is priority because it could lead to an SPBO a small bowel obstruction basically the intestines could explode so hyper and hypoc calmia this high and low potassium guys try not to get confused here because both of them have confusion and weakness for neurological as well as respiratory failure so guys stick to the top three I just listed above and you should do well on your test all right next we have salty sodium aka just sodium sodium's three functions is to maintain blood pressure blood volume as well as pH balance so what happens if you have too much and are hyperatreic so basically your patient's going to be big and bloated so the skin's going to look like Santa Claus to be honest you'll have flesh red and rosy cheeks a big adenimis water bed skin and also a low-grade fever second polyypipssia for excessive thirst because all the excess salt in the body now third these are late and serious signs these three right here so write these down swollen dry tongue big tip for the ankles guys also nausea vomiting and increased muscle tone very very severe hyperotrimmic late signs write them down guys huge for the test get a full breakdown of what you need to pass the enclelex with our Enclelex review lecture series and live cram sessions led by myself and industry experts now hypo this low sodium depends on the cause either too much or too little fluid but guys in both cases you have top three priorities first is neuro you'll have seizures and comas second is the heart you'll have tacoc cardia basically a high heart rate as well as weak thready pulses third you'll go into respiratory arrest meaning your patient's not breathing technically both high and low sodiums have neurological deficits like restlessness and fatigue as well as dominal cramping but remember hypernetriia severe signs as nausea vomiting red beefy tongue and increased muscle tone next we have the family favorite Miss Foreyed Chloride she is so cute she always follows her sister around Miss Salty Sodium and does everything that sodium does so her main function is the same as salty sodium so we have three here it's to maintain blood volume blood pressure as well as pH in your body fluids so with hypercchloride emia it's going to be nearly the same as high sodium you'll have nausea vomiting swollen dry tongue as well as confusion now with hypo you'll have nearly the same as low sodium so excessive diarrhea vomiting sweating as well as fever that's really the only difference here woo doggy we have Magnum Magnesium the sheriff in town he's the guy with the big guns here his main function is to maintain law and order in the muscles by calming them down keeping the peace mainly in the heart uterus and the deep tendon reflexes now magnesium is required for both calcium and vitamin D absorption and this is why his best friend is calcium okay guys so write this down hyper mag all the organs will be calm and quiet so think in your mind the big guns the sheriff is in town so the heart is going to be calm and quiet you'll have heart blocks prolonged PR intervals basically the heart is calm and quiet as well as vital signs like brada cardia or low heart rate and hypotension a low blood pressure so the deep tendon reflexes will be calm and quiet you'll have hypotlexia decreased DTRs lungs will be calm and quiet depressed shallow respirations and the GI well you guessed it calm and quiet hypoactive bowel sounds now for hypom magnesium this is totally the opposite there's no sheriff in town no law and order hypo mag everything is like buck wild yeehoo so the heart's going to be buck wild your EKG is going to show torsades deoes basically a tornado in the heart you'll also have VFIB possibly as well as a high heart rate called teacardia but for EKG specifically you'll have ST depression and T-wave inversion now number two for our deep tendon reflexes guys they're going to be going buck wild like hyper reflexia increased DTRs and number three the eyes are going to be going buck wild abnormal eye movements called nestagmas and number four the GI system will be going buck wild with diarrhea now technically both with hyper and hypomag the neurological system will be confused and irritable as well as the lungs you'll have shallow respirations and up next we have cocky calcium from Muscle Beach California because calcium CA kind of looks like California CA calcium's main function is to keep the threebs strong bones blood and beats blood for clotting factors and beets for heartbeats so hypercalcemia everything is going to be so swollen and slow with moans groans and stones so constipation from a swollen and slow GI bone pain because calcium's leaving the bones and going into the bloodstream we'll also have kidney stones called renal calculi as well as deep tendon reflexes will be swollen and slow so decreased DTRs and severe muscle weakness okay now next is hypocalcemia now this one's a little bit fun because cocky calcium goes to Mexico Baja California so he learns two new dance moves so write this down travasier which is basically that arm twerk with a blood pressure cuff on and also Shivox sign basically the smile when you're stroking the cheek guys those are the two biggest ones for your next test so write those down he'll also have diarrhea so just think he had bad burritos in Mexico and lastly circumoral tingling basically tingling around the mouth lastly let's think about his job functions making the 3Bs strong the bones the blood and the beats but guys calcium's on vacation you think he's going to think about his job functions so you think we'll have strong bones no they're going to be weak so you're gonna have a risk for fractures strong blood clotting no so you're gonna have a risk for bleeding what about strong heartbeats no you'll have cardiac dysriythmias all from this hypo low calcium now last but not least is friendly frat boy phosphate calcium's worst enemy he basically does the opposite that calcium does now phosphate is essential for bone and teeth formation and helps regulate calcium even though yes they're complete enemies so guys please write this down they always work inversely so if calcium is high then phosphate is low and when calcium is low then phosphate is high so hyperphosphate emia guys think low calcium because remember high phosphate low calcium calcium went to Mexico so you're going to have those two dance moves trovasier sign as well as shivox and you also have diarrhea and write this down because we just covered it weak bones a risk for fractures weak blood a risk for bleeding and weak beats from cardiac dysriythmias lastly we have hypophosphademia so think high calcium swollen and slow with moans groans and stones so we'll have constipation decreased swollen DTRs deep tendon reflexes severe muscle weakness as well as decreased heart rate respiratory rate and kidney stones from the renal calculi thanks for watching did you know you can unlock beautifully handcrafted study guides packed with key points and memory tricks from all our videos plus you'll get access to over,200 exclusive videos not on YouTube all neatly organized by nursing school topic to make that complex nursing knowledge actually stick you'll also gain thousands of practice questions written by current professors and actual ENCLEX writers so for access to all this and more click right up here or visit simple nursing.com and don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel happy studying and we'll see you in the next videos