I'm a 77 year old male with mild inherited anxiety disorder. Exactly one year ago I developed irregular heartbeat: never a full minute went by without 1 to 6 missed beats.
I had had short periods of irregular heartbeat before but always linked to obvious anxiety episodes and only lasting a maximum of 3 or 4 days. But this time it was here to stay, week after week and month after month. No other symptoms.
Had a 24 hour Holter ECG and the verdict was Sinus Node disease and 2.1 Heart Block (electrical signals not following correct paths in the heart). I was told it was not serious but a pacemaker was fitted as a precaution even though beats per minute are 75 to 85. No sign of atrial fibrillation.
It's now a year since the missed heartbeats were first noticed. Just over 2 months ago I started taking two 200mg Magnesium Citrate tablets daily as a remedy for the mild morning anxiety. It has worked well but still might be auto suggestion.
Then two weeks ago the irregular heart beats stopped and pulse pattern returned to normal after exactly one year of having them every minute of every day.
I realise this may be a temporary remission but am trying to work out other reasons for this complete recovery.
1. The arrhythmia may have been an anxiety symptom which I have had in past years but only for 2 or 3 days maximum. I find it hard to believe the missed beats this time were caused by anxiety as one year is a very long time for such a symptom to last without break.
2. Three days before the beats returned to normal I had absent healing from the Harry Edwards Healing Sanctuary at Shere near Guildford in Surrey. My family has a 70 year association with this Healing Sanctuary who have been successful in healing many major illnesses over the years.
3. I now understand that Magnesium Citrate 200mg is not only believed by many to be helpful with anxiety disorder (including in a limited number of clinical trials) but is also more widely accepted to be helpful in overcoming irregular heart beats.
I would be most interested in knowing the experiences of others with Magnesium for arrhythmia.
I understand the upper daily recommended limit for taking Magnesium Citrate long term is 380mg daily and one side effect of it is a tendency towards slight diahorhea which I have noticed.
Any thoughts please.
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Jeff1943
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This is just so interesting Jeff thankyou? I have often wondered about magnesium supplements and your post does seem another positive experience? Many other sources have advised magnesium citrate for anxiety, I am really considering it now 🤔
I started taking Magnesium carbonate , which is very soluble in water and has a lemony taste about 7 months ago. it has greatly reduced my Irregular heart beat. I use Walmart's "Calm" which is basically Mg carbonate. I also walked 40-50 mins/ day for the last many months.
That's very interesting Vishnu, why don't doctors know about this.
Hello Jeff, yes i only discovered magnesium could cure my arrhythmia's...I am 66 and have been on and off with ectopics for about 35 years.It started with a virus (ME) and went from 3 days to weeks..then stop...and start without any pattern...I first tried magnesium citrate, but found out through a cardiologist that the heart muscle is the only organ that uses Magnesium taurate so i switched...so far so good, able to cycle and walk up hills again.There is some thought s to why magnesium is so helpful....it is the opposite on the seesaw to calcium...and will dissolve calcium deposits in the soft tissue..but obviously this would take months.It also relaxes muscle and arteries...particularly if they are in spasm.
Cardiac patients with acute events are often given large doses of magnesium intravenously....Best source for Magnesium information...Dr Carolyn Dean...who also runs a weekly radio podcast, and youtube.Hope things improve now you have something to work with.
Look into D-Ribose too.This is a signalling molecule (sugar) used within nerve bundles and is thought to improve electrical signal in the (HIS) Anode sinus bundle.
Hi Jeff1943,I had chronic AF for a long time. I experimented with various supplements and had great success with Magnesium and Ubiquinol (CoQ10 KANEKA brand). You can read my story on the link below:
Thank you so much for your link to your previous posting which I read with great interest.
Coincidentally, I already take CoQ10 and have done for many years now.
Although I understand that the citrate form that I take my Magnesium is widely considered to be not the best form I will continue to take it working on the principle of 'if it works don't fix it.'
Ling,I think Magnesium is fairly safe and the body gets rid of what it doesn’t need. However, please consult your GP if you have concerns. Note that magnesium does have side effects for some folk which can be a nuisance.
I am just about to start MCitrate for ocassional ectopics, York cardiologist on you tube highly recommends it. I’m also hoping they will help anxious feelings also. I had one AF episode 5 years ago but so far not again but it left me anxious . Here’s hoping they work.
I started taking 2x 200mg of Magnesium Citrate a day for anxiety as an experiment not expecting them to work. My anxiety is genetic and controlled by the Acceptance method but still makes itself felt as first thing in the morning anxiety and if i'm super stressed.
Imagine my surprise when almost immediately all feelings of high anxiety ceased only a few days after I began taking them.
Then a couple of weeks later I noticed my missed heart beats that I had experienced for one year exactly ceased: this had expressed itself as one to 6 missed beats constantly each and every minute. I discovered that magnesium has a reputation for regularising heart beat. Almost 3 weeks now and still no missed beats. Good luck with your own use of Magnesium: please let us know eventually what your experience is.
Hi, i have just recently started taking Protecor a herbal remedy made by Salus it contains hawthorn/magnesium/Vit E/red grape/pomegranate and Vit B1. I have dodgy electrics how dodgy well still waiting to find out 21 months later. I cannot tolerate tablets I have been trying Bisoprolol 0.75mg that's a quarter of 1.25 dose due to being told i am at risk of SCA.They have wrecked my stomach lining/constant nausea/constipation/bloating etc. So I have stopped and tried this and I can feel the difference immediately on my stomach and also now my heart/energy and beats.
I find your story very interesting, I’ve suffered with ectopic beats since I was in my 30’s Iam now next week 68 😬
One of my many times I’ve ended up in A&E over the years , getting in a panic thinking this is it and I was having heart attack, a cardiologist told me to take Magnesium every day, I didn’t take much notice....
But just lately I’ve been reading up and I’ve bought some and been taking them regularly, I must say I haven’t had so episodes of missed beats when I go to bed, still get a few flutters that make me jump , but really Hoping after all these years this might help fight them off, fingers crossed.
Sue, I didn't start on Magnesium to help with my 10% ectopic beats. I started taking two 200mg tablets of Magnesium Citrate each day to help with my inherited anxiety disorder. Two months on and it has had the desired effect.
But then 3 weeks after starting on the Magnesium I noticed that my missed beats had stopped and my heart beat had become normal once again. To be precise I did have two reoccurances in the first week but then nothing. After exactly one year of 2 to 5 missed beats in every minute of every hour.
I'm happy to tell you that my heartbeat remains as normal after 4 or 5 weeks and I continue to take the Magnesium. Will I continue to take it? Have a wild guess.
It's good to hear that you were told by a cardiologist to take Magnesium, a good recommendation I would think.
I have had very occasional anxiety-linked episodes of ectopics since my 30s before this recent year long visitation but they never lasted more than 2 or 3 days.
I too have a birthday next week though I am 78 to your 68. I wish you a happy birthday and many more and may Magnesium be your best present to yourself.
Great to hear back from you Jeff so quick , someone else still awake 😃How funny , me and my husband have same birthday 28th feb also...
Well you have a happy birthday and many more ....
By the That consultant told me that about 15 years ago, all that time I could of helped myself...what an idiot not bothering...Iam a very anxious person also, don’t sleep very well either! So perhaps magnesium citrate will help me with that too...😃
My Husband's Cardiologist (I'm in the UK too) told him not to supplement himself with magnesium as it can cause an imbalance with potassium. He told him if he was symptomatic, the proper and safe thing to do is to get checked out properly by phoning the GP, and if severe - go straight to A & E if he can be driven by someone else, or call an ambulance. His Cardiologist said he sees more issues with DIY supplementation causing issues than he can count. When it comes to anything cardiac - be safe, and leave it to the professionals.
If I followed the advice of your husband's cardiologist I would still be experiencing 11% ectopic beats because my cardiologist and my GP were both unaware of this beneficial effect of Magnesium Citrate.
Not so Deary63's cardiology consultant who advised her 15 years ago to take Magnesium Citrate.
My recent blood tests show no imbalance in my potassium level, as your husband's cardiologist suggested it would.
I'm old enough to remember the days when many doctors advised against taking your own blood pressure at home whereas now most encourage it.
Many medical people are highly protective about their disciplines and want no intruders. But the world has moved on and patients are encouraged to take more personal responsibility for their health. This is no less true of taking more responsibility for our heart health.
Therefore I will pass when it comes to your husband's cardiologist's advice to stop taking the magnesium and call an ambulance to rush me straight to A&E every time I note a few missed heart beats.
I think what your husband's cardiologist meant to say was that he sees more issues from the side effects of pharmaceutical drugs causing issues than he can count.
Thank you very much for this very important piece of information. I will bear it in mind.
Its important to balance things, and no doubt self supplementing can cause unintended side effects for some, whilst as we have read on here, it can also help greatly with heart symptoms.
Therefore, the necessary step forward when supplementing is to have regular testing done.
I agree with Jeff, also I watched this Dr.Gupta on YouTube speaking about magnesium citrate , very interesting....he said it’s good for so many things, he would not recommend taking it if you had kidney problems....but said you can not over dose your system with it also...that’s good enough for me.
I will carry on with it, as it’s definitely helped me, I also mentioned I was taking it to my GP last week and that I was hoping it would help me with my ectopic beats, he just said ok !
Plus as I said before , top cardiologist from Barts told me to try taking it years ago ...which I didn’t listen to him, wish I had now!!!!
Situation update: I continue to take the Magnesium Citrate, it's now 10 weeks since my 11% ectopics stopped as a result. However, yesterday evening I had the ectopics back for 20 minutes, o.k. today. This may have been prompted by the fact that the previous day I had my 2nd jab of Pfizer vaccine for Covid: some people have reported the jab can prompt ectopics but only for a short time.
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irregular heartbeat 
skipped beats or ectopic
Ectopic beats.
Petrified of supposedly "benign" skipped heart beats.
Skipped beats
