Sporadic hypokalemic paralysis caused by osmotic diuresis in diabetes mellitus.

A wide variety of neurological manifestations are known in patients with diabetes mellitus. We describe a 40-year-old man who presented with hypokalemic paralysis. On evaluation, we found that the cause of the hypokalemia was osmotic diuresis induced by marked hyperglycemia due to undiagnosed diabetes mellitus. The patient had an uneventful recovery with potassium replacement, followed by glycemic control with insulin. Barring a few instances of symptomatic hypokalemia in the setting of diabetic emergencies, to our knowledge uncomplicated hyperglycemia has not been reported to result in hypokalemic paralysis.