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Magnesium scare...


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I suffer from leg cramps in the evening after putting in a few hours of some kind of strenuous sporting activity. Been that way for some years now. When I remember, bananas help, along with apple cider vinigar, and good old pickle juice. But I was in Central Market one evening looking for something called Calm, which is a power product that comes in packets. I was told it was good for preventing cramps. While there I asked one of the people in that section about Calm and long story short I was recommended a magnesium liquid so I thought I'd give it a shot.

It seemed to have been working as cramps were less frequent and for shorter periods... But last night I got a cramp at around 4:30am and hobbled over to the kitchen, poured some juice in a glass and put three dropper measures of the magnesium liquid in the juice (the recommended dosage is four a day, but I hadn't had any for the day). I went back to bed but within maybe five minutes felt my heart rate start to drop and my breathing became very shallow. Kind of scary.

Anyway, I got up and walked around a bit for about an hour, taking deep breaths and just trying to remain calm (yeh, the irony, I know). I started to feel normal, relaxed a bit, and then went back to bed.

My wife was speaking to her brother today and mentioned it to him (he's a respiratory therapist) and he told her that you need to be extremely careful with magnesium as it can dramatically slow your heart down — even to the point of bringing you into serious medical problems. He said that although magnesium supplement can be used for cramping, it has to be in small quantities. And perhaps better than magnesium is potassium.


 

Edited by RidingAgain
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I read once upon a time that active people are typically deficient in magnesium.  I get 50% RDA from a supplement I take, I figure that's enough.  Maybe switch to a regular non-liquid?  I used to take a ZMA supplement, but the zinc gave me nightmares so reliably that I cut it out.

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I'm taking 400mg of Magnesium (pill) supplements a day.  I don't really have cramp issues but my research turned up a Mag deficiency in most people and Mag being very important for metabolic reasons.  That said, its also known to lower blood pressure in an acute manner.  When I read your post that was the first thing I thought of when you said you promptly had heart-rate-drop issues.

As an FYI- I supplement my on-bike hydration with potassium too, but its also needed with a proportionate (balanced) qty of sodium.  They bind together when done properly.

-CJB

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5 hours ago, RidingAgain said:

I suffer from leg cramps in the evening after putting in a few hours of some kind of strenuous sporting activity. Been that way for some years now. When I remember, bananas help, along with apple cider vinigar, and good old pickle juice. But I was in Central Market one evening looking for something called Calm, which is a power product that comes in packets. I was told it was good for preventing cramps. While there I asked one of the people in that section about Calm and long story short I was recommended a magnesium liquid so I thought I'd give it a shot.

It seemed to have been working as cramps were less frequent and for shorter periods... But last night I got a cramp at around 4:30am and hobbled over to the kitchen, poured some juice in a glass and put three dropper measures of the magnesium liquid in the juice (the recommended dosage is four a day, but I hadn't had any for the day). I went back to bed but within maybe five minutes felt my heart rate start to drop and my breathing became very shallow. Kind of scary.

Anyway, I got up and walked around a bit for about an hour, taking deep breaths and just trying to remain calm (yeh, the irony, I know). I started to feel normal, relaxed a bit, and then went back to bed.

My wife was speaking to her brother today and mentioned it to him (he's a respiratory therapist) and he told her that you need to be extremely careful with magnesium as it can dramatically slow your heart down — even to the point of bringing you into serious medical problems. He said that although magnesium supplement can be used for cramping, it has to be in small quantities. And perhaps better than magnesium is potassium.


 

Yeah, magnesium causes smooth muscles to relax, like the ones that constrict or dialate blood vessels! Also why it’s used as a laxative. As others have posted I had a DR tell me it’s important for something like 240 biochemical processes also.

Edited by 4fun
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Have never experienced cramps when I down a scoop of Hammer Nutrition Recoverite in water after a ride. When I forget to, I have all the aches and pains and sometimes cramps. Writing about it reminds me, it's time to buy another jug of that stuff. Recently been doubling up with a scoop of Lloyd's of Leadville CBD Protein Powder in the same glass.

Better living through chemistry and all that ...

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