Can magnesium cause an increase in tics?

[Amy1987]

HI,

 

About 2 weeks ago I started giving my daughter magnesium/calcium supplements in addition to epsom salt baths. In the last few days her tics have increased. Could this be caused by the magnesium? I don't know if I should stop giving this to her, or just wait and see. I read magnesium can cause some bowel problems, does it have any other side effects? Any advice?

 

Thanks.

 

Amy

[Chemar]

Hi Amy

it would very much depend on the type and ratio of the calcium and magnesium

you should look at the supplement bottle to see the "other ingredients"

things like maltodextrin, or propylene glycol or some of the other stuff they stick in some supps can have adverse effects

 

 

generally, magnesium when given in the correct ratio with calcium, should not increase tics, so I would think there must be another source of trigger

the best types of magnesium are taurate, glycinate or lactate

 

also, if your daughter has TS, this may be one of those waxing phases that are characteristic of TS....and tho there may be an internal or external trigger for this, it may be hard to determine

[Amy1987]

She is taking calcium/mag citrate (2:1), so I think the ratio is appropriate. Should I switch to one of the magnesiums you mentioned, or is the citrate ok?

 

We are not sure if our daughter officially has TS. She has had different tics on/off for the last year. They have been primarily motor tics. She maybe had a slight vocal tic 6 months ago for about 2 weeks, it was hard to tell for sure.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Amy

[kim]

Amy,

 

Is your daughter taking any medications for tics or related conditions?

 

I would CAREFULLY check with pharmacist, and your own reseach to see if there is any contradiction, if she is. Many times, a Dr. won't know.

 

A friend of mine was just prescribed a 4th medication for TS, OCD, ADHD, Bipolar, and Depression. Nobody has bothered to see if there is a connection to his staph (repeated appearance of boils that need to be lanced and drained) yeast infections (yeast ie. rashes that they TELL him are yeasty rashes and give him topical ointments and horrible thrush with antibiotics), allergies etc. But they sure lay on the diagnosis that they can continue to write prescriptions for.

 

When the pharmacist went to fill it, and level 1 warning popped up. He said this was the most dangerous level for drug interaction. The Dr. obviously didn't know. If they don't know about their drugs, don't ever count on them to know about supplement interactions. My son was prescribed an antibiotic for a staph infection, that was made ineffective by a supplement he was taking. The dermatologist was fully aware of my son's supplements, he just didn't know, and didn't bother to check.

 

If meds are involved, ANY supplements should be carefully researched, even if it's an antibiotic.

[Chemar]

Hi Amy

citrate is ok...just tends to be more associated with the laxative effect........but is way better than the oxide or carbonate forms which are not properly absorbed and of course the ever present stearate that they put as filler in so many supps

 

overall, people with TS seem to respond well to mag taurate ...

 

If there arent any other ingredients in the supps then it would seem to me that the increased tics may have a different trigger origin, or could be one of those times when it sometimes gets worse before it gets better........this does seem to happen in some people when they start out on a supp routine

 

I am assuming that your child is also on a multivitamin mutimineral and so is getting a good RDA of all these nutrients? And hopefully also getting Omega EFAs

It is my personal opinion that a balance of supplements is what works optimally

 

Maybe stay with the cal/mag fro another week to ten days and see if things calm down

Obviously if you see a dramatic upswing in tics, then you should rather stop the supp and see if things calm down........

 

as so many of us have found....different people react very differently to some supps because of their own unique biochemistry