General
Help! Magnesium Dip
Hello Transplantlyfe Peeps,
Ever feel like the anxiety waiting for your labs is over once the results come in, only to begin to ramp up once again after seeing one of your labs in the "yellow zone." My lab report is color coded: green is good, but above or below the "normal or "acceptable" levels, numbers show up as yellow. Recently my magnesium fell to a 1.5! Which is odd because usually I can test at a 1.7 or my goal 2.0. I had been having cramping in my feet, or the occasional calf, calve? (not the baby cow). I eat a wide range of foods, always seeking nutrients in my food instead of supplements. I have been taking Mag glycinate 400 mg. daily pre and post transplant. So, I was surprised to see my number dip to what I would consider low. The doctors of course offered the typical, eat bananas! or eat high magnesium foods - duh! Any advice?- (not medical, only for entertainment purposes only. always consult with your health professionals), suggestions, or good "go-to foods?" that help fuel you?
Asking for a friend, ok, asking for ME š
Elsa, Heart Recipient '23
1 - 9 of 9 Replies
I don't know why, but magnesium deficiency is NOT exactly uncommon for transplant peeps. Not speifically heart but just in general. It may be the meds?
My advice? Don't be anxious. It doesn't help.
Check to see if there is suggested time to take your magnesium as some meds require you to take magnesium several hours after your med. Or with food for best absorption.
Mag glycinate is only one of several magnesium options. Some find that magnesium citrate works "better" for them as it is more easily absorbed. Confirm this for yourself.
Bananas are not bad for you, but they do have a lot of carbs. May or may not be an issue for you.
Bananas have a lot of potassium but only a modest amount of magensium.
400 mg of magnesium is fairly small dose. You could take more. Some take 1000 mg to 1600 mg per day. You might ask your Doc if more is OK for you.
Hello Steve,
Thanks. My instinct was that maybe my timing is off or another med/vitamin is reducing the absorption.
Transplant Patient
For entertainment purposes only I recommend a good dance party š
I never got enough through diet alone and am always supplementing magnesium. I do drops (and make a really yummy salted hot chocolate with it) or topical magnesium.
I also tend to run low and have to take a delayed release mag due to the other mag supplements causing lower GI irritation for me. I believe that tacrolimus is the reason why some of us might have these issues. I remember @Jeanmarie and I talking about it being something that can contribute to magnesium wasting
I never had magnesium issues before with my first transplant, but after my second transplant, mine dropped below 1.0, and I needed tons of IV magnesium every week. It was a whole journey.
At first, my transplant team thought it could be the tacro since it can cause magnesium wasting, but I am on such a low dose because I’m also on belatacept. So, I wasn't convinced it was the tacro. Supplements were not working. I tried them all: oxide, glycinate, and slow-mag. After dealing with it for months, I started searching and came across information about PPI's possibly affecting magnesium absorption. I brought it up to my team, and they said it was rare, but we made some adjustments, and sure enough, that ended up being the cause for me.
During all of that, I also added a lot of magnesium-dense foods, especially pumpkin seeds. I hope yours comes back up soon because those foot and calf cramps are no joke!
Oh, that is really good to know because I take a PPI every day! Otherwise, I get really really bad acid reflux. Also, I totally forgot that pumpkin seeds have magnesium, and I do enjoy them so thanks for that!
I think the other challenging thing about magnesium supplements is that you have to take it at least 4 hours after cellcept. At least that is what I was told the pharmacist. I have a delayed release mag that I am supposed to take twice a day, and I have a pretty small window of time so that it doesn't throw off my morning or nighttime meds.
I'm always having issues with my mag levels. After my first liver transplant (April 2019) I was on super high doses (3600 I remember correctly). Then I had a second transplant in December 2024 and I just recently (2 months ago) dropped my dosage due to too much gastro problems and other toxicity issues. So now I'm currently at 2400mgs per day. 1200 in the morning and 1200 in the evening. Bloodwork from 3 days ago showed me steady at 1.9. My old dosage after my second transplant was 3200 daily. I would definitely talk to your doctors and figure out what dosage will keep you in the normal range without the unwelcomed side effects from taking magnesium in the first place.
Thanks for sharing this!! Similarly to you, I used to take the higher doses of magnesium in different forms and tolerated it well for a couple years and then all of the sudden I couldn't! I wish I could understand why the various forms of mag did not bother my GI tract at one point and then they started too. Maybe its the combination of the cellcept and tacro over time on the GI tract with the mag on top of it
Yeah I hear ya on that. I know as we get older are bodies are changing but it seems like it's a neverending battles with my meds. Doesn't even matter how long I've been on a particular does or not. So frustrating.