My D and C are so much better after changing my diet and starting on Budesonide. However, the last three nights I have not slept well at all. When I go to bed I'm back to having rapid heart beat and leg cramps, symptoms that have not been bothersome since I started on Cymbalta in February. I woke up yesterday (my birthday) with a headache that lasted all day.
I know this is related to my mix of magnesium/calcium/vit D. Over a week ago I went from mag 125mg/calc 1200mg/vit D3 600mg to 500mg/300mg/1200mg. I take my magnesium citrate tablets 250mg morning and night and my Vit D3 600mg morning and night. Calcium 300mg I'm taking morning only. What should I change to improve my sleep and decrease my leg cramps and heart rate at bedtime? Maybe I'm taking too much Vit D now and/or not enough calcium or too much magnesium in the evening? I know some will be trial and error, but would love some help as I head into this weekend and am desperate to get good sleep before I return to work on Monday.
Sleeplessness, restless legs, rapid heart beat
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Sleeplessness, restless legs, rapid heart beat
Michelle
“Life is like taking pictures with a camera… FOCUS on what’s important, CAPTURE the good times, DEVELOP from the negatives, and if things don’t work out, TAKE ANOTHER SHOT.” Unknown
“Life is like taking pictures with a camera… FOCUS on what’s important, CAPTURE the good times, DEVELOP from the negatives, and if things don’t work out, TAKE ANOTHER SHOT.” Unknown
Michelle,
Where are your serum calcium and potassium levels in relation to the "normal" range? Upper part of the range, or lower part? Ventricular tachycardia (and also leg cramps) can be caused by low serum levels of calcium, potassium, or magnesium.
Unless your thyroid or parathyroid glands are not working correctly, it's not likely that calcium is the problem. Low potassium is normally only a problem associated with high rates of secretory diarrhea. That suggests that low magnesium might be the problem, but if you're taking 250 mg of magnesium citrate at night, you really shouldn't be running out of magnesium during the night.
I had those symptoms when my magnesium deficiency became severe, but I was only taking 200-300 mg of magnesium per day, first thing in the morning.
Remember that I'm not a doctor, so I can't give medical advice, but I'm going to take a wild guess and say that if you have been using a 125/1200/600 ratio of magnesium/calcium/vitamin D for years, your body has adjusted to tolerate that out-of-balance ratio (calcium has been way too high for years) so that when you made those abrupt changes, it couldn't adapt quickly enough and it is starving for calcium. Here's why:
By quadrupling your magnesium intake while cutting your calcium intake to one-fourth, that changed your calcium/magnesium ratio by a factor of 16. That's a big change. As Gabes often points out, it's best to make medication or supplementation changes in steps/increments.
If it weren't for that big change in your calcium/magnesium ratio, I would lean toward the possibility that you might not be absorbing the magnesium well and you are still having magnesium deficiency symptoms. If those nightly episodes also involve a lot of perspiration (and it has a bad/unusual odor), along with rapid shallow breathing (plus the inability to draw a deep breath), then I would lean to toward a magnesium deficiency.
Another clue that suggests a magnesium deficiency is that you just started taking budesonide. Corticosteroids deplete magnesium (and vitamin D), so the budesonide might be interfering with your ability to absorb and retain magnesium.
If you have increased insulin resistance or what is referred to as pre-diabetes, then you will be unable to absorb and utilize magnesium normally. But that problem would also apply to other nutrients besides magnesium.
I hope that some of this is helpful.
Tex
Where are your serum calcium and potassium levels in relation to the "normal" range? Upper part of the range, or lower part? Ventricular tachycardia (and also leg cramps) can be caused by low serum levels of calcium, potassium, or magnesium.
Unless your thyroid or parathyroid glands are not working correctly, it's not likely that calcium is the problem. Low potassium is normally only a problem associated with high rates of secretory diarrhea. That suggests that low magnesium might be the problem, but if you're taking 250 mg of magnesium citrate at night, you really shouldn't be running out of magnesium during the night.
I had those symptoms when my magnesium deficiency became severe, but I was only taking 200-300 mg of magnesium per day, first thing in the morning.
Remember that I'm not a doctor, so I can't give medical advice, but I'm going to take a wild guess and say that if you have been using a 125/1200/600 ratio of magnesium/calcium/vitamin D for years, your body has adjusted to tolerate that out-of-balance ratio (calcium has been way too high for years) so that when you made those abrupt changes, it couldn't adapt quickly enough and it is starving for calcium. Here's why:
By quadrupling your magnesium intake while cutting your calcium intake to one-fourth, that changed your calcium/magnesium ratio by a factor of 16. That's a big change. As Gabes often points out, it's best to make medication or supplementation changes in steps/increments.
If it weren't for that big change in your calcium/magnesium ratio, I would lean toward the possibility that you might not be absorbing the magnesium well and you are still having magnesium deficiency symptoms. If those nightly episodes also involve a lot of perspiration (and it has a bad/unusual odor), along with rapid shallow breathing (plus the inability to draw a deep breath), then I would lean to toward a magnesium deficiency.
Another clue that suggests a magnesium deficiency is that you just started taking budesonide. Corticosteroids deplete magnesium (and vitamin D), so the budesonide might be interfering with your ability to absorb and retain magnesium.
If you have increased insulin resistance or what is referred to as pre-diabetes, then you will be unable to absorb and utilize magnesium normally. But that problem would also apply to other nutrients besides magnesium.
I hope that some of this is helpful.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Michelle,
It just dawned on me that you said, "I'm back to having rapid heart beat and leg cramps, symptoms that have not been bothersome since I started on Cymbalta in February."
When I wrote that last post I was thinking that those were new symptoms. But if it's just a return of symptoms, that shifts my opinion toward magnesium deficiency (rather than a calcium problem), because of the effects of the budesonide.
Sorry for the confusion.
Tex
It just dawned on me that you said, "I'm back to having rapid heart beat and leg cramps, symptoms that have not been bothersome since I started on Cymbalta in February."
When I wrote that last post I was thinking that those were new symptoms. But if it's just a return of symptoms, that shifts my opinion toward magnesium deficiency (rather than a calcium problem), because of the effects of the budesonide.
Sorry for the confusion.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Thank you for the advice! So wonderful to know you all are out there willing to help. I am starting back up with my naturopath next week and I know we'll be doing some labs. She'll also have my history from a couple years ago, so am hoping to hone in on what is out of balance. She wanted me to test for leaky gut/SIBO back then and I didn't follow through, now I'm learning my lesson. For now, I will bump my calcium up to 600 in the morning and possibly cut back my mag to 125 in the evening with the plan to bump it back up when I stabilize.
You're right, my changes I made last week were of a factor of 16, way too much too fast. Hard to take it slow when you want to feel better so badly
You're right, my changes I made last week were of a factor of 16, way too much too fast. Hard to take it slow when you want to feel better so badly
Michelle
“Life is like taking pictures with a camera… FOCUS on what’s important, CAPTURE the good times, DEVELOP from the negatives, and if things don’t work out, TAKE ANOTHER SHOT.” Unknown
“Life is like taking pictures with a camera… FOCUS on what’s important, CAPTURE the good times, DEVELOP from the negatives, and if things don’t work out, TAKE ANOTHER SHOT.” Unknown
Please be aware that everyone who has food sensitivities and/or MC has a leaky gut. It's the reason for the food sensitivities. Also, as our digestion becomes less efficient because of the inflammation associated with MC, many (possibly most) of us have SIBO. Changing our diet to stop the inflammation will eventually resolve both the leaky gut and the SIBO. Many have tried treating the leaky gut or SIBO separately with antibiotics (or herbal remedies) but it never speeds up the overall recovery process. The digestive system has to heal from the inflammation damage. The diet changes will promote healing, but the process always takes longer than almost everyone expects.Michelle wrote:She wanted me to test for leaky gut/SIBO back then and I didn't follow through
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Hi Michelle,
I'm with Vanessa...Magnesium put a stop to my arythmia and rapid heart rate too, plus leg cramps are a thing of the past unless I let my Magnesium levels drop cause I forget to drink my mixture.
Sunny
I'm with Vanessa...Magnesium put a stop to my arythmia and rapid heart rate too, plus leg cramps are a thing of the past unless I let my Magnesium levels drop cause I forget to drink my mixture.
Sunny
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Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair