I am going to try and explain why taking potassium supplements is not a good idea on your own...here on the board. This subject comes up now and then.

How the body handles potassium is quite sophisticated. Excess potassium in the blood is temporarily dumped into the large intestine, from which it is slowly reabsorbed if needed. This is why chronic diarrhea creates a low potassium level.

When you eat foods that contain potassium, it takes time to break them down enough to absorb the ions. Hence potassium does not flood into the blood quickly. But when you take a supplement (either RX or several of the 99mg OTC's at once), that potassium is absorbed quickly. If there is too much on hand and it has to wait to get secreted into the colon storage area or cannot be eliminated by the kidneys fast enough, it will build up and affect the electrical conductivity of the heart.

So getting potassium from foods is really the way nature intended.

The RX supplements are basically used to deal with potassium loss from the kidneys (damaged kidneys lose potassium or conserve it depending on the type of damage), or for patients taking diuretics. We see in hospitals and nursing homes commonly where doctors give too much potassium and end up having to prescribe ion exchange resins to remove it.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/d...s/a682108.html

People who take certain drugs daily... also can have potassium build up. These are ACE inhibitors, Dyrenium and spironolactone.

So I really caution people not to use OTC supplements, and if you think you need potassium, please consult your doctor and have testing. Eating potassium rich foods is much safer and is what nature intended.