help me make sense of magnesium

A

animal-inside

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I got bad muscle twitching and really bad muscle cramps. Cramps that just don't go away without chriopractor care. Even the muscles around my eye/face twitch, sometimes they twitch for 20 mins before stopping..

I have tried taking plain old magnesium 500x 2 a day.. helped slightly. It helped with the face/eye twitching, but not the muscle twitching/cramping from lifting. I get zero sides from 500 x2 a dya

I asked a few doctors and they said take magnesium.. I asked do I need to take it with calcium, some said "yes abosutlely.. pointless to take magnesoum without calcium".. OThers said "no.. just take magnesium"..

I can't sort through it to be honest..

I'm thinking either

-take 500mg x 3 a day

OR

-switch to calcium/magnesium supplement


OR

-try a different magnesium like magnesium glycinate chelate..

​


Thoughts?
 
I would never take calcium unless your doctor tells you your low. Too many negatives, blocked arteries, kidney stones, heart disease from calcium supplements.

I take zma before bed and nothing else with it. Dont take other vitamins with Magnesium.

There are many other causes of twitching, was this determined the cause?
 
In addition to the above.

What type of magnesium were you taking? Oxide, gluconate and some others are very poorly absorbed. You need Magnesium Malate or bisglinate. I prefer malate as the others upset my stomach. You should not need more than 300-400mg per day. Too much can be hard on the kidneys.
 
I get this too. Between magnesium, electrolytes good sleep and reducing stress somewhere in there was the key. I just just don't know exactly what. I would get tested to see if your magnesium is low for sure. Apparently low magnesium and these twitches can also lead to more arterial plaque build up as well.
 
I could ramble on for pages here but those pages would be filled with far more questions than answers. I've been struggling with this whole area for as long as I can remember. I can throw out a few talking points that I think deserve investigation and discussion

Balance- Minerals, electrolytes etc, especially important health component to not be viewed in isolation. A couple significant examples brought up in this thread already.

Calcium- Highly unlikely that you need to supplement with this at all, labwork to confirm for certain but slim odds for most everyone here

Form is very important- Also already mentioned but bears repeating. For measuring quantity you are after the "elemental" amount. What mag is attached to has a large effect on it's action. Bioavailability and absorption are important as is the effect on gastroinestinal motility.
I have a personal vendetta against citrates, avoid them, they fuck with your iron regulation. I will readily admit that this may be an example of a little bit of information being dangerous, I had reason to do a deep dive on citrates and didn't like what I found.

Mag L-Threonate is the only one I know of that crosses the blood-brain barrier, maybe that's the best choice for you if in fact deficiency of mag is your issue. Oxide gets my guts moving for cheap without the citrate issues. EDIT - Bisglycinate may cross the BBB too.

Best all around version for bang for your buck and including the other reasons you'd feel the need to supplement in my opinion would be bisglycinate. That doesnt mean shit if that one makes you shit or something though.

Read @Bagua 's links again.

Such a tricky subject, besides the first and last points I made dissecting every one of them could easily fill a career.
 
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superbeast said:
I used to get terrible muscle cramp and twitching a few hours after heavy workouts.

After i started loading my meals up with salt it stopped happening.
Click to expand...
This was my issue as well, couldn't figure out the random twitches until a new batch of hot sauce came in and that cured everything..lol. I wasnt getting enough salt.
 
Cheapshot said:
I would never take calcium unless your doctor tells you your low. Too many negatives, blocked arteries, kidney stones, heart disease from calcium supplements.

I take zma before bed and nothing else with it. Dont take other vitamins with Magnesium.

There are many other causes of twitching, was this determined the cause?
Click to expand...

I had a lot of neuroligical testing for some issues a few years back, the facial twitching was on the list of symtoms.. all my neuroligcal testing came back clean except awful memory.

I take the magneiusm with my other vitmains.. I will stop doing this tomorrow and see if that helps
 
Oldguyjiujitsu said:
In addition to the above.

What type of magnesium were you taking? Oxide, gluconate and some others are very poorly absorbed. You need Magnesium Malate or bisglinate. I prefer malate as the others upset my stomach. You should not need more than 300-400mg per day. Too much can be hard on the kidneys.
Click to expand...

I was taking the oxide version. I'll switch to better
 
thanks all.. I'll read bag's post in a second..

I have a follow appoirnmtnet with the private lab I am using, I will ask about magnesium, calucium, sodium for my next set of blood work.. I'll ask their thoguhts on the twitching and cramping as well.

I can handle the twitching, but mother of god I am always fighting nasty cramps.. It's not like a leg cramp you get in bed, its a muscle that just turns to rock and stays that way for a long time.. usually dry needling gets rid of it for me, but I have a shoulder knot that I have had dry needling in 10 times now and it keeps coming back. Hurts to turn my steering wheel now..
 
I'm going through the threads bagua posted to see that I've read them already in the past and have even commented on them lol.. I've been reading about magieums for a few years ever since doctors told me its the cause of my twitching and cramping.
 
I Also take a bit of potassium.. I don't take a lot, because I'm not entirely sure how much to take. I eat lots of food rich in both magneisum and potasssium as is..
 
One very important item. Keep magnesium and potassium balanced you can become magnesium toxic. The body needs approximately 400 -450 mg per day.
Don’t go too low on sodium. Potassium helps with salt utilization as does significant water intake, so salt potassium and magnesium all need to work together and one should not be too high. Aldosterone also kicks in when salt is at proper doseage.
Lots of good info here but these are very important. Calcium needs to be tested and monitored if taking. It can be very detrimental, get it from food opposed to supps imho
 
animal-inside said:
I Also take a bit of potassium.. I don't take a lot, because I'm not entirely sure how much to take. I eat lots of food rich in both magneisum and potasssium as is..
Click to expand...
I suggest you monitor your potassium with regular blood work. For example, I get mine checked every six weeks, but you don't have to be that diligent.

Office of Dietary Supplements - Potassium

Potassium overview for health professionals. Research health effects, dosing, sources, deficiency symptoms, side effects, and interactions here.
ods.od.nih.gov ods.od.nih.gov
 
Potassium for a healthy male is around 4000-4500 mg per day...But try and get from foods...Potatoes are excellent and full of potassium, the list goes on. If looking for a good potassium supp, use a product called no salt, 1/4 tsp is 650 mg of potassium...only potassium is in the supp, its in the salt aisle. potassium chloride and iodide and some anti caking agent that is inert..BTW it is absorbed mainly in gi small intestine, many folks have compromised digestion and many folks suffer from pot and mag deficiency due to thius...Keep guts healthy above all else..
 
Bagua said:
I suggest you monitor your potassium with regular blood work. For example, I get mine checked every six weeks, but you don't have to be that diligent.

Office of Dietary Supplements - Potassium

Potassium overview for health professionals. Research health effects, dosing, sources, deficiency symptoms, side effects, and interactions here.
ods.od.nih.gov ods.od.nih.gov
Click to expand...
I have a follow up for blood work with my private clinic..

I'm going to ask them to test my
sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium levels next round..

Thanks
 
ironwill said:
Potassium for a healthy male is around 4000-4500 mg per day...But try and get from foods...Potatoes are excellent and full of potassium, the list goes on. If looking for a good potassium supp, use a product called no salt, 1/4 tsp is 650 mg of potassium...only potassium is in the supp, its in the salt aisle. potassium chloride and iodide and some anti caking agent that is inert..BTW it is absorbed mainly in gi small intestine, many folks have compromised digestion and many folks suffer from pot and mag deficiency due to thius...Keep guts healthy above all else..
Click to expand...

this is the potassium I take.. I only started taking it after I got on a hard keto diet for a few years.. same reason I upped my salt.

I only take the potassium 1/4 teaspoon on training days (3 days a week).
 
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