bumping up the thread while I am on vacation.

Hi MrsD,
I have a question regarding some unusual symptoms. I posted the next paragraph on another site (medhelp) and someone pointed me in this direction because they thought I might have magnesium, calcium, or potassium deficiency. Does this sound like it could be or no? Thanks for whatever info you can provide.

"I have a family history of MS. I used to get migraines with aura until I hit puberty. I have been diagnosed with panic disorder and have had depressive boughts starting in adolescence through the present. I am in my early 20s. I was training for a half-marathon in which my longest run at the time was 6 miles. One day, I ran 8 miles and walked 1.5 miles. I sat on a plane for 3 hours after that. I noticed twitching in my left foot/toes that night. The next morning, I had pain around my achilles area in the same foot. It went away within a day but the twitching became worse. It only twitches at rest. EIGHT WEEKS later it seems like the twitching is getting worse. I have started school again (we sit down almost all day) and now my toes always twitch at rest (sometimes a more forceful contraction than other times) and my glutes, quad, and calf (all on the same side) have all started twitching. I have recently had back pain that went away in two days. One strange thing is that if I think about it, I can stop my foot from twitching, but not my quads, calves, or glutes. I notice my leg getting more tired everyday. My calf is tight all the time. I don't notice the twitching when I'm walking. My opposite foot starts twitching in the arch sometimes but as of right now, position changes seem to work on only that foot and the twitching goes away. I am extremely frightened that I have MS or ALS or some other debilitating/fatal disease. I rarely (once every 1-2 days) have pain (when I do it's usually because of muscle cramping resulting from the muscle twitching). I continued to run sporadically for about two weeks after my initial week off (after the 8 mile long run). The twitching went down a little bit during the week off after rest but was still there. Somedays it seemed better but in the past week, my foot has been more active at night."

I have just started taking a generic form of Centrum Performance which only contains 40 mg of magnesium (oxide, bad kind), 80 mg of potassium, and 100 mg of calcium. In addition, I also take a Calcium with Vitamin D supplement (600 mg calcium carbonate and 200 IU cholecalciferol). I have a pretty bad diet but I have been eating around 1-2 bananas a day for a week.

I would appreciate your thoughts on the situation. Thank you!

Hi MrsD again,
I forgot to mention that I started a new birth control pill around the time the twitching started (orthocyclen). I'm not sure if this really makes a difference. I also take a benzodiazepine for my panic disorder on an as needed basis. Thanks again!

is negligible.

Since this is only in one leg?...I'd wonder about your back.
Electrolyte things mostly manifest globally..and do not favor only one place. It is possible your problem is still not serious and only hitting on your leg if it has some injury or weakness.

Benzos are used as muscle relaxers. When they wear off, or you become habituated on them physiologically, you may get muscle spasms etc. Another thing that causes twitching is
low blood sugar. Up to 70% of people with low blood sugar get twitches as symptoms.

I would buy a quality magnesium supplement and see what happens. Do only that one thing..to see what the effect of it is. If you mix supplements you cloud the issue.
Just do not get the oxide form. And do the magnesium consistently for a month, to see if it benefits your problem.

Imbalances of calcium to magnesium often confuse muscles.
You are not getting any mag from your supplement.
There are food sources for magnesium that you can also do.
This thread has explanations about "sources".
here is another online example:
http://www.hoptechno.com/bookfoodsourcemg.htm

If you are training for running marathons, I would seriously hope you are eating properly.
I'd also get a good foot doctor to look at your ankles and feet.
Many muscle and pain issues can come from there.
If your legs are of unequal length, or you have any pronation issues, you will make them worse and strain your whole leg and back with stressful activities.

So I think there are other factors for you, including your electrolytes.
Come back after you do the magnesium, and if it does not work, I'll address the birth
control issue. Hormones deplete nutrients. B-complex especially. You can do a Bcomplex 50mg
if you want to support that in the meantime. Many athletes take B-complex for the B6 in them
to enhance muscle functions. Pyridoxal made in the body from B6 is stored in muscle.

Take care.

Thanks! I'm going to try it and then if it hasn't gone away, I'll write back. Thanks again for your input!

Here is an abstract to a new paper:

This article explains that chronic use of PPIs (like Prilosec and Nexium etc) may result in very low magnesium absorption in the GI tract:

This is alarming, since so many people use these drugs OTC and on RX. I don't believe doctors are aware of this effect at all!

is there any reason to bump this other than it being a very informative discussion?

oh and isn't bumping illegal??

jess18-- a new member...I told her I'd bump it for her.

And bumping is not illegal, we even have a smiley gif for it.