I (hopefully) can help with the potassium thing. My doctor called telling me my potassium was off the charts. I didn't believe it as I had no symptoms but agreed to a retest. The phlebotomist told me that, when testing for potassium, using a tourniquet before drawing blood causes the results to skew high since some blood vessels burst, releasing potassium. Sure enough, when my blood was taken without a tourniquet my potassium was totally normal.