Sonya (Dfw, Tx) on 12/16/2013
This weekend it was the worst. I just couldn't catch my breath all weekend, and finally I decided to take my pulse. 108 bpm! Crazy, it's never that hight and all the symptoms going with it are very unusual for me -- until about a month or two ago, this kind of thing was something I only thought happened to other people since I have always been 'text book' in the pulse / blood pressure / etc departments.
Anyways, for some reason I had a flash of an idea -- I am a regular taker of potassium and magnesium, mostly due to muscle stiffness and soreness, but I had run out of potassium several months back, and continued on with the magnesium until about 5 weeks ago when I ran out of that too. I was doing ok, so I figured I would buy some when I got to the vitamin shop. Well - I kept forgetting. I mentioned to my husband to look up magnesium in conjunction with heart rate -- and the second article he found said that heart rate is governed by magnesium (foremost) and potassium (secondly). Then he asked if I had any put away in the emergency box. And I knew I did.
I took 400 mg magnsium, and 198mcg Potassium and within 20 minutes I was down to 86 bpm. Another 20 minutes after that, I was down to 76 bpm. I am normally around 70 bpm, resting, so I was reassured.
I had to take more when I woke up in the morning as I was back up to almost 90bpm, but I know that both potassium and magnesium are cumulative, and I figure I must have been seriously depleted.
Now the interesting conundrum -- was I really as stressed at work as I thought I was? Or was my 'stress' actually a result of depleted Magnesium and Potassium stores? I feel much better today, but only time will tell, I suspect.
Replied By Dave (Fountain Inn, Sc) on 12/16/2013
Re your question about fast heart rate and how magnesium and potassium helped you...after the good news that your heart rate went way down after starting back on those two and the pressure at work seemed more manageable...you ask: Could the lack of the two (magnesium and potassium) have caused you to be LESS able to handle the stress?????
VERY perceptive, Sonya and the answer is absolutely YES. Having enough magnesium and potassium enable the system to handle stress much more efficiently and you can easily "roll with the punches" if your system is fortified with those two miracle working supplements.
In the "olden times" our great grandparents would joke that if a person was tense and agitated then that anxious individual "needed his salts" meaning a long series of soakings in "Epson salts baths" which is Magnesium sulfate. Multiple baths ( two cups of Epsom salts ) poured into a very warm bath and the person soaks for twenty minutes therein; such to be repeated four or five times in the following ten days until a slight bit of the salts remains on the skin indicating that the magnesium saturation is met. But also one should consume the tables orally too as you said you do.
The point is you are right in your question; Life is just flat out better with consumption of magnesium and potassium and the heart works better too. Any Afib problem...90 of them...are magnesium and potassium depletion related. (Add natural ...NOT synthetic Vitamin E...only found in a health food store, not drug store...and the cardio problems diminish greatly.)
Replied By Joanne (Az) on 03/12/2016
Replied By Gee sangha (Ontario ) on 03/10/2021
But recently I started getting abnormal heart palpitations to the point where I was getting them even when in bed. I thought eating was the cause as usually, it started after eating. Tried magnesium glycinate with little effect.
Then I remembered I had magnesium calm is what it is called and so after a meal, I took half a teaspoon. I found my symptoms were lessened. That evening I took another half teaspoon I slept without issue and no palpitations.
It works for me the stuff is magnesium carbonate in ionic format. I think you need a larger amount of magnesium in the form your body handles best.