Mineral Deficiency & Insulin Resistance
I remember the first episode as if it happened yesterday.
I was sitting in my kitchen when suddenly the world snapped into hyperfocus. Sounds became loud—too loud. The lights turned on sharply. My heart started racing, and I felt like I was moving even though I was perfectly still.
It didn’t feel psychological. It felt electrical.
I ended up in the emergency room. They ran labs. They ran them twice. They told me everything was “normal.”
After two days, I walked out of the hospital with no diagnosis, no explanation, and a lingering feeling that something inside me was breaking down.
This is where the story begins. Not with willpower or dieting or “eat less, move more.”
But with minerals.
Because minerals are metabolic electricity — and when they run low, nothing in the body works right: not insulin, not glucose signaling, not liver function, not energy, not emotion.
We focus so heavily on carbohydrates and calories that we forget the chemical translators that make metabolism possible.
The Hidden Early Warning Sign
Here is the part no one tells you:
Low potassium is extremely common in people developing insulin resistance — even when blood labs look “normal.”
If you are dealing with:
cravings
blood sugar swings
stress intolerance
“wired but tired.”
sensory overload
fatigue after meals
…there may be a mineral story underneath.
I didn’t know this until I lived it.
Potassium Lives Inside Cells
Potassium is not a blood mineral — it is a cellular mineral.
Only about 2% of the body’s potassium exists in the bloodstream. The other 98% is supposed to live inside cells, where it:
keeps electrical impulses stable
supports insulin signaling
helps regulate energy
maintains muscle and nerve function
supports normal heart rhythm
This is why potassium matters so much for metabolism. And this is why my ER labs were “normal.”
They were looking in the wrong place.
Insulin Decides Whether Potassium Stays in the Cell
This is critical:
Insulin controls the movement of potassium into cells.
When insulin signaling becomes impaired (insulin resistance), potassium:
leaks out of cells
circulates in the blood for a short time
is lost through urine
You can eat what looks like a perfectly adequate diet and still end up in functional potassium deficiency at the cellular level.
Doctors rarely catch this because:
serum potassium looks “fine”
no one checks intracellular potassium
symptoms mimic anxiety, dehydration, or stress
So most people are given:
water
SSRIs
“stress management.”
…instead of identifying the mineral imbalance driving the problem.
I lived that experience.
I know what it feels like to be treated like a “worrier” when your body is depleted.
Sodium (Salt) Makes It Worse
Here’s the part almost everyone misses:
Modern diets are salt-heavy, potassium-light.
Processed foods are engineered to be hyper-palatable using sodium because salt enhances taste and extends shelf life.
But sodium and potassium are opposites in the body:
potassium lives inside the cell
sodium lives outside the cell
When insulin signaling falters, sodium begins to accumulate inside cells, forcing potassium out and disrupting normal electrical gradients.
This creates symptoms like:
lightheadedness
heart flutters
“adrenaline” surges
feeling like a switch flipped
All with perfectly “normal” labs.
I’ve been there. It’s startling and disorienting.
And nobody connects it to early metabolic dysfunction.
The Magnesium Connection (The Door Nobody Knows About)
Now we bring in the third piece no one talked to me about in that ER room:
The sodium-potassium pump (the thing that moves potassium into cells and sodium out) requires magnesium to work.
No magnesium = the pump fails = potassium cannot enter cells even if you’re consuming it.
Magnesium is the key in the lock. It activates the pump (Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase) that sets electrical balance across the cell membrane.
When magnesium is low:
potassium can’t get where it needs to go
sodium accumulates
electrical signaling misfires
insulin signaling weakens
metabolic stress increases
In hindsight, this was the missing link in my story.
It wasn’t just low potassium. It was low potassium moving through a low-magnesium system in a high-sodium world.
That is the metabolic trap.
Why This Is So Common (And Rarely Diagnosed)
Three reasons:
Processed food: High sodium, low potassium, low magnesium. A triple imbalance.
Chronic stress: Stress hormones burn through magnesium. Stress also increases insulin output (which increases potassium loss through urine).
“Normal labs”: Serum potassium is tightly regulated. Your body will sacrifice intracellular potassium to keep blood levels normal — until things get severe.
So the message is:
“Normal” potassium does not mean “optimal” potassium.
The ER sent me home because my numbers weren’t out of range.
Nobody asked about:
intracellular potassium
mineral depletion
magnesium status
sodium balance
insulin signaling
Nobody looked at the metabolic context.
What This Means (Still No Cure, Just Awareness)
I’m intentionally not going into solutions here yet. This is just the problem revealed.
Key takeaway:
Low potassium is often an early metabolic warning sign, especially when magnesium is low and sodium is high.
It is the first crack in the system. It shows up years before elevated glucose, A1C, or even fatty liver.
It looks like:
anxiety
overwhelm
loud sounds
dizziness
fatigue
heartbeat irregularities
It looks like your body is betraying you. But what it’s actually doing is alerting you.
Not in language. In electricity.
The Lab Value Hidden in That ER Visit
Later, when I requested my records, I saw it:
Potassium: 3.3
Here’s what that means physiologically:
3.5 = low normal
3.3 = neurological symptoms and cardiac irritability
Below 3.5, you can get:
sound amplification
dizziness
faint feeling
heart palpitations
muscle instability
panic sensations
confusion
pressure in the chest
That is exactly what I experienced. And not a single clinician said the word “potassium.” Not once.
Fatty Liver Contributes to Low Potassium
Here’s the part no one talks about: When the liver is storing fat, it’s not just storing energy. It’s storing minerals.
The liver becomes less efficient at:
storing glycogen
releasing glucose
maintaining electrolyte balance
So what happens?
Your blood sugar becomes unstable
Your insulin spikes harder
And potassium gets pulled inside cells
This causes:
dizziness
faint-like episodes
loud sound sensitivity
racing heart
panic sensations without a psychological cause
It is not a character flaw. It is an electrochemical imbalance.
Cortisol (Stress) Lowers Potassium Too
Chronic stress (from work, family dynamics, and menopause sleep disruption) creates:
adrenaline
cortisol
These hormones force the kidneys to excrete potassium through urine. You literally pee it out.
Especially in:
stressful meetings
high-conflict relationships
sleep interruption
late-night rumination
emotional shocks
Stress is electrolyte expensive.
Why “Healthy Convenience Foods” Made It Worse
People assume low potassium is a “junk food” problem. But here is the trap:
protein bars
premade salads
“low carb” snacks
trail mix
grab-and-go smoothies
wellness drinks
sparkling waters
Almost none contain electrolyte minerals. They give calories. They give stimulation. They give marketing language. They do not give potassium.
Worst part: Salt is added, but potassium is removed in most packaged foods.
It is literally by design.
Why Doctors Miss Low Potassium
Because they look for:
ECG abnormalities
life-threatening levels (below 2.5)
kidney disease
But they do not look for:
metabolic stress
insulin patterns
cortisol load
fatty liver
mineral depletion
Potassium 3.3 gets ignored because it’s not “dangerous.” But metabolically? It is a scream for help.
Why Low Potassium Causes Loud Sound Sensitivity
This part is critical, and rarely explained: Potassium controls the electrical threshold for nerve firing. When potassium is low:
nerves fire too easily
sensory input amplifies
sound becomes louder
light becomes brighter
touch becomes intense
emotions feel extreme
Doctors call this “anxiety.” But this is neurology. It is over-firing neurons.
You’re not “overreacting.” You’re over-conducting.
Why This Matters for Insulin Resistance
The relationship is circular:
Insulin mismanages potassium
Low potassium worsens insulin resistance
It becomes a loop:
High insulin pushes potassium into cells
Low blood potassium triggers cortisol
Cortisol raises blood sugar
Insulin spikes to compensate
Even more potassium disappears from the blood
This is why you can:
eat less
exercise
“do everything right.”
…and still feel metabolic chaos.
The “Mineral Awakening” Begins Here
Potassium wasn’t a panic disorder. It wasn’t emotional instability. It wasn’t psychological fragility.
It was electrical depletion from:
stress
insulin
fatty liver
convenience eating
ignored labs
And once I understood this, everything changed. You will never unsee this. Your body is electric. Potassium is the current. Insulin is the switch.
Once you support the switch and the current, you stop feeling like you’re “about to faint for no reason.”
There is always a reason. It’s metabolic.
Why Low Potassium Feels Like Panic
Low potassium isn’t “just an electrolyte.” Potassium is electric.
It controls:
nerve firing
heart rhythm
muscle stability
sensory processing
When potassium is low, your nervous system misfires. It feels like:
fear
urgency
panic
unreality
Even when you’re not scared. Even when nothing dangerous is happening. It’s not emotional.
It’s cellular.
Why They Didn’t Tell Me
I’ve reflected on this so many times. ER medicine is designed for binary danger:
Are you having a stroke?
A heart attack?
A seizure?
A bleed?
If the answer is “no,” you get sent home. But metabolic dysfunction is not emergency medicine.
It is:
gray area
early whispers
cumulative stress
nutritional depletion
There is no code for:
“This woman has low potassium because her liver is storing fat and her insulin is spiking at night.”
So it becomes:
“Probably anxiety.”
The ER Discharge Sheet
It literally said:
Diagnosis: Anxiety
Follow up if symptoms persist
Labs: WNL (within normal limits)
Potassium 3.3 was right there on the sheet. I didn’t know how to read it yet. Because no one teaches us how to read labs, we aren’t given our own numbers in context.
We are given labels:
normal
abnormal
fine
anxiety
I was not “fine.” I was depleted.
The Moment I Learned
Weeks later, I asked for my ER records. And there it was:
Potassium: 3.3
ALT: elevated
AST: normal
GGT: normal
Glucose: “fine”
That combination means: early fatty liver + electrolyte depletion + insulin resistance.
Not panic attacks. Potassium. Insulin. Liver.
Three words no doctor said to me that night. “I wasn’t weak. I was under-mineralized.”
The Awakening
I didn’t “hit rock bottom.” I hit realization. That ER visit didn’t solve anything, but it gave me a mission:
Learn the metabolic language doctors never taught me.
It was the moment I realized:
I need to advocate for myself
I need to track my labs
I need to request records
I need to understand electrolytes
I need to support my liver
This wasn’t anxiety. This wasn’t imaginary. This wasn’t emotional fragility.
This was metabolic communication. My body wasn’t attacking me. It was warning me.