March 2019
Dear PALS and caregivers.
I usually only try to put up one subject per update, but there is sometimes so much I need to share that I am going to encourage you to read just one part at a time if too much at once is too confusing. We don't always know what PALS need and so try to share important health information. Generally, if you get healthy, ALS symptoms should reduce.
Read on, Kay
What we learned about magnesium recently
When Kim spent so much time in the hospital last year, he was given many drugs to help clear up his issues. Many of them has the side effect of dizziness. He had been there a little over a week when I realized that he had not been given any magnesium. He began having serious muscle cramps. One doctor even wanted to give him fentanyl for the cramps. The nurse assured me it would be a very low dose and they would watch him very carefully (watch him die?). We just helped him get his feet on the floor so he could put a little pressure on them and the cramps went away. (Fentanyl - really?) I began bringing in magnesium rub (recipe found on our "misc" page) and that would take care of the muscle cramping right away. One doctor prescribed him some magnesium at my urging, but the kind he ordered only provided about 50 mg of usable magnesium. Another doctor gave him a different magnesium. It was perhaps a little better but still not what he needed. When your body is going through traumatic events, you need more magnesium, not less.
After his heart surgery, I noticed again that he was not getting magnesium. The nurse said his blood levels were only a little low. I told her that the blood test is not a good indication of magnesium levels in the body as only 1% stays in the blood. Low on the blood test could indicated drastically low levels in the body. He was still getting legs cramps and having issues with dizziness.
He came home on July 18 and we got him back on the magnesium he was used to but the heart med he was on listed dizziness as the first side effect. It does take 6-8 months of getting adequate magnesium to load your body with the needed amount. I should have been giving him more magnesium, not his maintenance amount, but I didn't realize that the heart med was likely deleting his magnesium.
We were hoping that getting off that heart medicine would clear the issue, but after about two weeks, nothing had changed.
So on Feb 10th, I was reading some of Dr. Dean's material and noticed that dizziness/vertigo is a magnesium deficiency. I had not even noticed that before. We are upping his magnesium dose in order to help the dizziness go away. Although he has been doing vestibular therapy to help with the dizziness/vertigo, it has only helped a small percentage of where he needs to be to get on top of the issue. Sometimes I am such a slow learner.
Dr. Dean sent me a link to a chapter in her updated version of the Magnesium Miracle. As I read through it, I came to understand more fully why Kim continued to have more problems last year that I could have prevented had I taken Dr. Dean's ReMag into the hospital for him. Though they saved his life, they also created many of his current issues from the severe magnesium deficiency they created for him. Here is the link to the chapter in her book. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1113/4710/files/The_Magnesium_Miracle_Free_Chapter.pdf?1475498032060819267=&utm_campaign=How%20to%20tell%20if%20you%27re%20magnesium%20deficient%20%28NqarSg%29&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Ginney%27s%20Monday%20Show%20List&_ke=eyJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJrYXk2Ni5jaGVycnlAZ21haWwuY29tIiwgImtsX2NvbXBhbnlfaWQiOiAiY0tma3BrIn0%3D
Dear PALS and caregivers.
I usually only try to put up one subject per update, but there is sometimes so much I need to share that I am going to encourage you to read just one part at a time if too much at once is too confusing. We don't always know what PALS need and so try to share important health information. Generally, if you get healthy, ALS symptoms should reduce.
Read on, Kay
What we learned about magnesium recently
When Kim spent so much time in the hospital last year, he was given many drugs to help clear up his issues. Many of them has the side effect of dizziness. He had been there a little over a week when I realized that he had not been given any magnesium. He began having serious muscle cramps. One doctor even wanted to give him fentanyl for the cramps. The nurse assured me it would be a very low dose and they would watch him very carefully (watch him die?). We just helped him get his feet on the floor so he could put a little pressure on them and the cramps went away. (Fentanyl - really?) I began bringing in magnesium rub (recipe found on our "misc" page) and that would take care of the muscle cramping right away. One doctor prescribed him some magnesium at my urging, but the kind he ordered only provided about 50 mg of usable magnesium. Another doctor gave him a different magnesium. It was perhaps a little better but still not what he needed. When your body is going through traumatic events, you need more magnesium, not less.
After his heart surgery, I noticed again that he was not getting magnesium. The nurse said his blood levels were only a little low. I told her that the blood test is not a good indication of magnesium levels in the body as only 1% stays in the blood. Low on the blood test could indicated drastically low levels in the body. He was still getting legs cramps and having issues with dizziness.
He came home on July 18 and we got him back on the magnesium he was used to but the heart med he was on listed dizziness as the first side effect. It does take 6-8 months of getting adequate magnesium to load your body with the needed amount. I should have been giving him more magnesium, not his maintenance amount, but I didn't realize that the heart med was likely deleting his magnesium.
We were hoping that getting off that heart medicine would clear the issue, but after about two weeks, nothing had changed.
So on Feb 10th, I was reading some of Dr. Dean's material and noticed that dizziness/vertigo is a magnesium deficiency. I had not even noticed that before. We are upping his magnesium dose in order to help the dizziness go away. Although he has been doing vestibular therapy to help with the dizziness/vertigo, it has only helped a small percentage of where he needs to be to get on top of the issue. Sometimes I am such a slow learner.
Dr. Dean sent me a link to a chapter in her updated version of the Magnesium Miracle. As I read through it, I came to understand more fully why Kim continued to have more problems last year that I could have prevented had I taken Dr. Dean's ReMag into the hospital for him. Though they saved his life, they also created many of his current issues from the severe magnesium deficiency they created for him. Here is the link to the chapter in her book. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1113/4710/files/The_Magnesium_Miracle_Free_Chapter.pdf?1475498032060819267=&utm_campaign=How%20to%20tell%20if%20you%27re%20magnesium%20deficient%20%28NqarSg%29&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Ginney%27s%20Monday%20Show%20List&_ke=eyJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJrYXk2Ni5jaGVycnlAZ21haWwuY29tIiwgImtsX2NvbXBhbnlfaWQiOiAiY0tma3BrIn0%3D