Symptoms of Magnesium Deficiency
The first deficiency symptoms can be subtle, as most magnesium is stored in the tissues; leg cramps, foot pain, or muscle ‘twitches’ can be the first sign. Other early signs of deficiency include loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and weakness. As magnesium deficiency worsens, numbness, tingling, seizures, personality changes, abnormal heart rhythms, and coronary spasms can occur.
A complete outline of magnesium deficiency was beautifully presented in an article by Dr. Sidney Baker. “Magnesium deficiency can affect virtually every organ system of the body. Concerning skeletal muscles, one may experience twitches, cramps, muscle tension, and muscle soreness, including back aches, neck pain, tension headaches, and jaw joint (or TMJ) dysfunction. Also, one may experience chest tightness or a peculiar sensation that they can’t take a deep breath. Sometimes, a person may sigh a lot.”
“Symptoms involving impaired contraction of smooth muscles include constipation; urinary spasms; menstrual cramps; difficulty swallowing or a lump in the throat, especially provoked by eating sugar; photophobia, especially difficulty adjusting to oncoming bright headlights in the absence of eye disease; and loud noise sensitivity from stapedius muscle tension in the ear.”
“Other symptoms and signs of magnesium deficiency, in terms of how it affects the central nervous system, include insomnia, anxiety, hyperactivity, restlessness with constant movement, panic attacks, agoraphobia, and premenstrual irritability. Magnesium deficiency symptoms involving the peripheral nervous system include numbness, tingling, and other abnormal sensations, such as vibratory sensations.”
“Symptoms or signs of the cardiovascular system include palpitations, heart arrhythmias, and angina due to spasms of the coronary arteries, high blood pressure, and mitral valve prolapse. Be aware that not all symptoms must be present to presume magnesium deficiency, but many often occur together. For example, people with mitral valve prolapse frequently have palpitations, anxiety, panic attacks, and premenstrual symptoms. People with magnesium deficiency often seem to be “uptight.” Other general symptoms include a salt craving, both carbohydrate craving and carbohydrate intolerance, especially of chocolate, and breast tenderness.”
Magnesium is needed by every cell in the body, including those of the brain. It is one of the most important minerals when considering supplementation because of its vital role in hundreds of enzyme systems and functions related to reactions in cell metabolism. It is also essential for synthesizing proteins to utilize fats and carbohydrates. Magnesium is needed not only for producing specific detoxification enzymes but also for energy production related to cell detoxification. A magnesium deficiency can affect virtually every system of the body.
A good list of early warning symptoms is:
Suggestive early warning signs of magnesium insufficiency:
Physical and mental fatigue
Persistent under-eye twitch
Tension in the upper back, shoulders, and neck
Headaches
Premenstrual fluid retention and/or breast tenderness
Possible manifestations of magnesium deficiency include:
Low energy
Fatigue
Weakness
Confusion
Nervousness
Anxiousness
Irritability
Seizures (and tantrums)
Poor digestion
PMS and hormonal imbalances
Inability to sleep
Muscle tension, spasms, and cramps
Calcification of organs
Weakening of the bones
Abnormal heart rhythm
Severe magnesium deficiency can result in low calcium levels in the blood (hypocalcemia). Magnesium deficiency is also associated with low potassium levels in the blood (hypokalemia).
Magnesium levels drop at night, leading to poor REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep cycles and unrefreshed sleep. Headaches, blurred vision, mouth ulcers, fatigue, and anxiety are also early signs of depletion.
We hear all the time about how heart disease is the number one health crisis in the country, about how high blood pressure is the “silent killer,” and about how ever-increasing numbers of our citizens are having their lives and the lives of their families destroyed by diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and a host of other chronic diseases
Signs of severe magnesium deficiency include:
Extreme thirst
Extreme hunger
Frequent urination
Sores or bruises that heal slowly
Dry, itchy skin
Unexplained weight loss
Blurry vision that changes from day to day
Unusual tiredness or drowsiness
Tingling or numbness in the hands or feet
Frequent or recurring skin, gum, bladder, or vaginal yeast infections
But wait a minute. Aren’t those the same symptoms as diabetes?
Many people have diabetes for about 5 years before they show intense symptoms. By that time, some people already have eye, kidney, gum, or nerve damage caused by the deteriorating condition of their cells due to insulin resistance and magnesium deficiency. Dump some mercury and arsenic on the mixture of etiologies, and pronto, we have the disease condition we call diabetes.
Magnesium deficiency is a predictor of diabetes and heart disease; people with diabetes both need more magnesium and lose more magnesium than most people. In two new studies, in both men and women, those who consumed the most magnesium in their diet were least likely to develop type 2 diabetes, according to a report in the January 2006 issue of Diabetes Care. Until now, very few extensive studies have directly examined the long-term effects of dietary magnesium on diabetes.
Dr. Tavia Mathers and Dr. Renea Beckstrand from Brigham Young University published in the Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners in 2009 that magnesium has been heralded as an ingredient to watch for 2010 and noted that magnesium is helpful for the reduction of the risk of stroke.[i]
Experts now believe that a significant number of cerebral palsy cases may be due to strokes before or right after birth.