Potassium Chloride

[neitherherenorthere]

Is it be possible to OD on KCl via a salt substitute? The LD50 seems to be fairly low intravenously. Could you dissolve an adequate amount of salt substitute in water and just inject it? As an example, MySALT Original has 356mg of potassium per serving according to their website, so you could easily measure out how much you would need for a lethal dose. If I remember correctly, injection of KCl is supposed to be fairly painful so it's probably not a great method to use, but I'm just curious as to whether it's a viable method or not.

 

[Aap]

If you are asking if IV KCl can stop a heart, the answer is of course, as it is used in lethal injections and daily in hospitals for on pump coronary artery bypass grafts (open heart surgery).

 

[laserfocus111]

probably not a viable method unless you really like to suffer

 

[neitherherenorthere]

I realize I was unclear in my post. When I said "viable" I meant more along the lines of "hypothetically, could you make a solution with salt substitute that would work the same as a pure KCl solution when injected, or would there be some kind of functional limitation that would make it not work (e.g., additional ingredients in the salt substitute interacting with the KCl when dissolved, too much liquid required to manage in a single injection, etc.)?"

I guess the question is sort of irrelevant since it wouldn't be a good method to use even if it worked, but thanks for your responses. I had one of those late night oh-hey-I-realized-a-thing-and-I-am-so-smart moments.

 

[xLosthopex]

I'm prescribed KCL for low potassium due to my eating disorder(Anorexia with purging), so this is interesting to me, do you know the lethal dosage ?

 

[neitherherenorthere]

Wikipedia says LD50 is 2.5 g/kg orally and 57.2 mg/kg IV, dunno how accurate that is though. I'd double-check with other sources. You may want to consider a different method, though. Patients who weren't properly sedated beforehand have described the sensation of KCl being administered as feeling like their veins were on fire. So even though it'd probably be an effective method, it would be far from a peaceful way to go.

 

[UpandDownPrincess]

Wikipedia says LD50 is 2.5 g/kg orally and 57.2 mg/kg IV, dunno how accurate that is though. I'd double-check with other sources. You may want to consider a different method, though. Patients who weren't properly sedated beforehand have described the sensation of KCl being administered as feeling like their veins were on fire. So even though it'd probably be an effective method, it would be far from a peaceful way to go.

Oh my goodness, THIS.

It hurts so, so bad.