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Marker · Educational ranges, not diagnosis

BMP electrolytes

Also called sodium, potassium, bicarbonate, eGFR, basic metabolic panel.

The everyday chemistry panel: sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, creatinine / eGFR, and often glucose and calcium. Serum magnesium is sometimes added and is still not RBC magnesium.

Read this first

  • Coach, not doctor. Aaron Cuha is a coach, not a doctor. No clinical credential is claimed for him, or for these pages. A number on a panel is a conversation starter with a clinician, not a DIY diagnosis. Nothing here is a prescription, a protocol, or a reason to start or stop a medicine. Educational use only. This database summarizes published research and is not medical advice. Where a dose appears it is a record of what a trial or clinic ran, or what people describe doing, with its source attached. Nothing here is a recommendation for personal use.
  • Affiliate disclosure. Knowledge stays free. Every page, every guide and every tool is free to read and stays free. Lab-panel affiliate links, when they exist, live on /bloodwork/partners and print what is earned on the row, or that nothing is earned today. This glossary does not sell panels. The Archive does not order labs.
  • Three lab stories stay separate. /bloodwork is the human panel. /testing and /prices/labs are peptide certificate chemistry. /supplements/quality is what is in the bottle.

Why a longevity audience asks

GLP-1 drugs, low-carb eating, and fasting change fluid and electrolytes. The owner's floor magnesium sits next to this panel, not instead of it. Kidney function is the safety gate for magnesium, potassium, and many other bottles.

How a coach reads it

Sodium near 135 to 145 mmol/L and potassium near 3.5 to 5.0 mmol/L are the usual lab intervals. Out-of-range potassium is same-day clinician territory. eGFR tells you whether a magnesium or potassium bottle is even a safe conversation.

Units on this page: mmol/L, mL/min/1.73m2

When it is low

Low sodium or low potassium after a long fast, a hot week, or a GLP-1 dose change is a clinician or urgent-care problem, not an unmeasured 'electrolyte packet' problem.

When it is high

High potassium with a falling eGFR is an emergency conversation. Do not add potassium salt substitutes on your own.

Easy ways to misread it

  • A powdered 'electrolyte' mix is not a BMP.
  • Creatine can raise creatinine without meaning the kidneys failed. Tell the clinician you take it.
  • Serum magnesium on this panel is not the owner's preferred marker.

What to ask a clinician

Ask for a BMP with eGFR. Add RBC magnesium if the question is magnesium status. Say if you take creatine, a GLP-1, or a potassium salt.

Related supplements

Related when-playbooks

Sources on this page