--for optimal nerve and muscle function. Potassium is needed to "re-polarize" the nerve cells after action potentials travel down them--it functions to restore the neuron's resting state after the nerve cell "fires"--so an absence of potassium--in medical terms, hypokelemia--can result in abnormal nerve function and random, erratic nerve firing.

Most people with true hypokalemia, though, report more muscle symptoms than neural ones--not that the two aren't related, but muscle weakness and cramping, including of the gastrointentinal tract, are more likely to result than pain or tingling. (What sort of neuropathy symptoms do you have?)

Take a look at:

http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic273.htm