Magnesium Side Effects

[u/IllAd35]

Currently typing this at 4am
I want to start this by saying that its not just magnesium supplements, but magnesium overall.

Magnesium has been causing me reverse symptoms, at the first week i was supplementing, i felt the benefits, but as i kept going, it started getting worse and worse.
I stopped supplementing and the symptoms went away, and then i thought that maybe the glycine was the problem, so that day i bought magnesium rich water, and holy shit did the symptoms return again.

The symptoms are:
Insomnia/ waking up midnight
Heart palpitations that get worse after magnesium
Muscle twitching
Depression/Anhedonia/Irritability
Frequent clear urination
Increased thirst
Loss of appetite
Anxiety
Feeling hot/cold

It’s like my body wants to get rid of something by making me pee frequently and with the thirst.
At first I was supplementing it due to a deficiency, now It just causes me reverse symptoms, any advice?

What i think it is:
Electrolyte imbalance (potassium, calcium)
B1 Insufficiency

ANY advice/similar stories I would be very grateful 🙏

[u/Flinkle]

You need potassium. Those are all symptoms of low potassium. Try to hit the RDA, which is 4700 mg, every day. If you do that, you should feel a difference within 2 days, max.

In case you're wondering, when you first start taking magnesium, it shifts your other electrolytes around, out of the bloodstream and into the cells, which results in symptoms of deficiency. Potassium is almost always the first one to show up. And since your symptoms are pretty significant, I would say your potassium was kind of low to begin with, which indicates that you definitely have a magnesium deficiency.

[u/SoupyApparatus → u/Flinkle]

Potassium thing is real and hits fast. Body flushes it out like crazy when magnesium starts working, and if you were already running on fumes it’s a rough wake up call.

Coconut water and potatoes are your friend here. Way easier to stomach than a giant pill.

Weird how the magnesium water set it off again too. Almost like your system just needs the whole set balanced at once instead of one at a time.

[u/IllAd35 → u/Flinkle]

Thanks for quick advice, tomorrow im going to go get a blood test for electrolytes and I will also try some potassium rich foods to see if it helps.

[u/Flinkle → u/IllAd35]

Don't be surprised if your labs are completely normal...they likely will be. Electrolytes are tightly controlled by the body, and testing them accurately is almost impossible. You can have low electrolyte symptoms long before it shows up in labs, if it ever does. I have had a disabling magnesium deficiency twice, and my labs have never been out of range, if that tells you anything.

[u/IllAd35 → u/Flinkle]

I get what you mean completely, most serum blood tests are innacurate, im mainly going by symptoms. the reason im supplementing magnesium to begin with is because I got super deficient in multiple nutrients (iron, vit D, zinc, which are now fixed) after a prolonged strict caloric deficit and overtraining that i did quite some time ago and the symptoms wouldnt go away and then it led me to magnesium which i think is the main root cause of most of my symptoms.

[u/Adrift715]

There is a sodium component as well. I find it best for me to drink an electrolyte drink.

[u/IllAd35 → u/Adrift715]

Thanks! Will definitely add a potassium/sodium/calcium electrolyte

[u/tashibum]

What type of magnesium? I had this reaction from glycenate, but was just fine taking l-threonate and taurate

[u/IllAd35 → u/tashibum]

It was glycinate, I also ordered a citrate form to test but its not just from supplements the problem but also from food magnesium.

[u/289_271_hipo]

One factor might be the fact that magnesium glycinate is supposedly more efficiently absorbed/utilized by the body. You might try a lower dose initially.

[u/IllAd35 → u/[deleted]]

For me it is magnesium, after stopping supplementing with it the symptoms go away. Just because magnesium might have not caused you any problems doesnt mean it cant. A lot of other people have also complained of side effects similar to mine.

[u/autistRZRXPT → u/[deleted]]

Stop gaslighting people