Magnesium

[lingooz]

Hi all, noticed few people here taking magnesium, what and how can this help A F please!! Thanks Lynn

[BobD Volunteer]

It is an important mineral in electrical conduction within the body . Many of us take a magnesium supplement and feel it helps maintain rhythm. I think magnesium taurate is supposed to be the best as the taurine also helps.

Bob

[souljacs4 in reply to BobD]

Bob do you mind if I ask which magnesium supplement you use.

[BobD Volunteer in reply to souljacs4]

My wife buys all our vits and supps from Healthspan a Channel island company mail order.

B

[lingooz in reply to BobD]

Thank you, I also used them in the past

[Dave1961]

Magnesium is one of the most important and least talked about nutrients in the body.

It regulates around 300 biochemical reaction sin the body and can assist with many things from leg cramps to alleviating depression to (and most importantly in this form) maintaining regular heart rhythm.

I have received a magnesium drip probably 3 times in the last 10 hospitalizations for AF, with the specific hope of stopping my AF. I assumed this was a standard hospital procedure but from what I have heard on this forum it's quite unusual. I asked my Dr about magnesium recently but he - like all other Dr's - receive little if any training on supplements. I was quite shocked to think I seemed to know more about the benefits of magnesium then my Dr!

Lack of magnesium in the body can cause AF attacks and some of the meds I take (Amiodarone) actually reduce the bodies ability to absorb magnesium.

I have suffered from depression for decades and AF in the last 3 years - smoking, ongoing obesity and previous alcoholism were not kind to my heart.

Since I began magnesium supplementation (I am aiming for around 1000 mg a day and will reduce this in a few months) I have not suffered a bad AF attack and just as wonderful my depression has lifted almost entirely in just 2 months of supplementation.

I have more energy, sleep better - a whole host of benefits.

I take chelated magnesium, magnesium orotate (somebody here alerted me to orotate - its kind of the other side of the magnesium coin so to speak) and also use magnesium oil once a day.

When the body has its limit of magnesium it excretes it through your colon i.e. it is almost impossible to overdose on magnesium.

Magnesium absorbed transdermally (through the skin) is the most efficient way to "take" this mineral and can be achieved through baths or the way I do which is with a magnesium oil spray each morning that I allow to sink in for 20 mins before washing it off.

After slowly increasing my magnesium every week I think I have found my "level" as today I had very soft stools (TMI but its a sign that your body is excreting magnesium) so I will maintain this level for a day or two more and if I have the same result will simply back down a little.

I only wish I had found out about magnesium years ago!

I also supplement with CoQ10, Vitamin D, Folic Acid, Vitamin C and Fish Oil - all of which help my poor battered heart in its recovery from my excesses!

I should also be looking at potassium but am still confirming its impact on one of my meds.

[lingooz in reply to Dave1961]

Wow thank you for taking the time for such an indep reply very interesting

[souljacs4 in reply to Dave1961]

Dave can I ask which brand of magnesium orotate and magnesium chelated you take and how much. of each.

[Dave1961 in reply to souljacs4]

Sure. I use Swisse Magnesium Orotate and Microgenics Chelated Magnesium. From the online research I did it seems like the Orotate is what it is so any reputable brand is fine. The choice of Microgenics and chelated came from looking at a lot of reviews and research online.

I initially I just ignored magnesium oil as it all seemed like to much trouble BUT in the end it's the most reliable way to "take" it as you can not really know the amount of oral magnesium that gets past all of the digestive action. I use Ancient Mineral Magnesium Oil. The company gets great reviews from customers and industry and seems extremely good.

[souljacs4 in reply to Dave1961]

Thanks for the information very helpful.

[fallingtopieces in reply to Dave1961]

Dave, I can beat that lot!

I take all those vits and supplements you mention above, plus all these......Hawthorn, Taurine, B6, B12,Potassium and Nattokinase !

Out of interest what have you decided your magnesium dose is?

Pat

[Dave1961 in reply to fallingtopieces]

Give me a chance its only been 8 weeks - I am determined to eventually rattle when I walk!

Magnesium dose is so subjective isn't it? I think I am getting around 600 from the spray and about 400 mg from the oral supplements so 1000 total as a therapeutic dose.

From everything that has occurred I suspect I am quite low so will stay at that for 3 or 4 months and then probably just back down to using the spray and a couple of orotate each day.

[rosyG in reply to fallingtopieces]

falling to pieces, can you tell me which Potassium supplement you take and the dosage - mg etc- please.

I am planning to try the 2 day fasting (500cals) diet and thinking of taking supplements just on those days- won't take every day as prefer to increase dietary potassium .

[Dave1961 in reply to rosyG]

Sorry Rosy missed your question.

How weird - I tried the 5:2 diet last month! And I made the mistake of fasting completely for 2 days straight. Decided it was just easier than trying to come up with 500 cals a day I could eat - was being lazy I guess.

For someone who likes their food I found it really difficult and after a couple of bad weeks have decided to try again later AND follow the 500 cals/day when fasting suggestion./

I'd suggest you definitely have the 500 cals each day - I found I felt weak and my heart didn't respond too well to no calories for 2 days.

I do a magnesium oil spray (Ancient Minerals 40 sprays)every morning, 200 mg or magnesium orotate spread through the day and 2000 mg (which equals 400 mg of elemental magnesium) chelated magnesium spread through the day.

Its taken a few weeks to build to this level and once I get signs I am on too much I will reduce.

Be careful with potassium as there are conflicting reports surrounding it and some meds - including metoprolol which I am using - some say good some say bad for supplementation so I would rather not supplement with it and not take the risk.

My advice would be to start with a low dose and keep working up to it. Even a low dose will only make you feel better so don't just rush in boots and all

[rosyG in reply to Dave1961]

Many thanks for that

[Amazinlove09 in reply to Dave1961]

Dave1961 do u take any scripts??

[Dave1961 in reply to Amazinlove09]

You mean meds? God yes

Amiodarone 200 mg, Metoprolol 50mg a.m. and p.m., Plavix 75mg, Crestor 10 mg, Aspirin 100mg.

I really should have the aspirin reviewed as reading here over the last month or two I definitely need something more effective for stroke prevention.

BUT through all of this I have kept smoking. Quit day is Monday and I hope eventually I can start reducing or cutting out some of the meds.

Combine that with an ablation one day and who knows - I could be eventually AF free!

[Amazinlove09 in reply to Dave1961]

Wow. I had a ablation done last year in August for SVT . STILL dealing with palparations . Yet after 4 different cardiologist telling me nothings wrong.... frustrated

[Dave1961 in reply to Amazinlove09]

Seems like the more I read here the more it seems that often multiple ablations have to be done but eventually people find success.

Hang in there!

[Davesgirl]

A nurse recently told me that some AFs are a form of heart cramp. Magnesium relaxes the muscles and if you have adequate magnesium in the body it's less likely to go into cramp.

We've both been taking a lot of magnesium since the beginning of January and not only has he not had any AF, but the cramping in his legs he used to get has gone, too.

Even if we get enough magnesium in our diet, it's rapidly used up by too much stress, and lost in our urine when we drink too much caffeine or alcohol.

Too much can give you loose stools, but you can even get a dose of magnesium from a foot soak or bath containing Epsom salts, which is magnesium sulphate.

It's an insurance policy....if your AF is aggravated by magnesium deficiency, and it's difficult to know, supplementing won't do any harm, and it's almost impossible to overdose, any excess goes down the loo.

[lingooz]

Thank you very interesting!!!

[EngMac]

A note on the bottle of magnesium orotate that I take states: The magnesium orotate in AOR's Cardio Mag 2.0 is fully-reacted unlike most magnesium "orotate products" which are food-grade mixtures of orotic acid with inorganic magnesium salts.

I have no idea what this means but maybe someone can shed some light on this.

While we are talking about supplements, I take one that supports healthy glucose metabolism. This one has a bunch of cautions related to it. Since I think my AF is caused by sugar from all sources, when I take this I have far less AF. The capsule contains chromium, cinnamon extract, gymnema sylvestre extract, bitter melon extract, and R(+) - lipoic acid. But then avoiding sugar is a real challenge. When I recently overdosed on pasta, which turns to sugar, AF was my reward. After a couple of hours, I thought I should take the glucose capsule and the magnesium orotate capsule. Shortly after the AF stopped. Coincidence or fact; who knows. I will try this again if I neglect to manage sugar and AF happens again.