Vitamin D and Magnesium

My two most favorite and needed supplements. I’ve posted in the AF forum ad nauseum on magnesium and the same here on vitamin D. But repetition is the mother of learning.


K should be in the top 10 too! But don't overlook omega 3s and K2, which are integral to magnesium and vitamin D physiology.


The above and below images show that Mg is required for virtually every step to produce the active form of vitamin D.
You could have great blood levels of 25(OH)D, i.e., 25(OH)cholecalciferol = 25(OH)D3, but little active D.

[bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com]
This article talks about the effects of low Mg and high vitamin D on calcium.
[www.medicalnewstoday.com]

There is a virtual epidemic of constipation, palpitations, and leg cramps due to insufficient magnesium. Magnesium goes where it’s needed most and that is bone. Smooth, cardiac, and skeletal muscle needs are secondary. So, if you are taking several thousand international units of vitamin D daily and are experiencing any of these symptoms, you should up your magnesium intake to bowel tolerance.
I supplemented with what I thought was adequate Mg. Even though my palpitations were almost a forgotten thing, I developed Prinzmetal angina. That post is here
Vitamin D increases magnesium but especially calcium absorption. A D deficiency means more PTH is secreted by the parathyroid to maintain adequate blood calcium. This can translate to osteoporosis, not to mention AF.

I'll post in the AF Forum on the implication of this for AF.



Edited 9 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/2020 06:25PM by PC, MD.

Great stuff. But not sure I understand all of it. Would help if, as you decide to push this message (and I think you should) you also dumb it down a bit for folks that might just breeze through and over it because they cannot grasp some of the concepts.

I'll do my best, Ghost. But it’s a lot easier to hide behind big words.

As you can see from the above diagram, no matter whether you get a precursor to the active form of vitamin D from your diet or from supplements, YOU CAN'T PRODUCE THE ACTIVE FORM IN THE ABSENCE OF MAGNESIUM.

If you are Mg deficient you will develop muscle cramps (skeletal muscle), constipation (smooth muscle), and/or palpitations (cardiac muscle).

If you are seriously Mg deficient, vitamin D will become deficient and absorption of Ca will become inadequate.

If you become Ca deficient, as reflected in blood levels, the body will respond with more parathormone (PTH), a hormone that mobilizes calcium from bone to fill the blood shortfall.

Eventually this manifests as osteoporosis.

If this happens early in life, you develop rickets.

There's has been an avalanche of recent research on vitamin D and many MDs are WAY BEHIND THE 8 BALL on this.



They are especially ignorant of the impact of the seasons on vitamin D. They are also afraid of its fat solubility. And they are ignorant with an attitude on Mg.


(Northern tier of US)

Aloha PC,

Interesting as always!!

This week, we are on a holiday to Central Colorado. We drove here on Sunday (about a 2 1/2 hour drive) & I managed to not bring my magnesium with me. In 16 years, that is a first. Didn't realize I'd done this till Tuesday, therefore didn't take any mag on Monday. Missing mag nearly always leads to afib for me in short order (24 hours). It was more like 48 hours when I realized it and went to a nearby store to pick up some mag. I had no consequences, though after taking some mag (my daily dose is usually > 3 g elemental), I noticed lower eyelid fasciculations (twitches) that persisted for another day or so (even after supplementation).

I've been supplementing with high dose melatonin for four or more months. It is consistently 144 mg of melatonin as a pure powder before bed (every day) and 3 doses of 36 mg over the day (most days, but not 100%). I looked up melatonin and arrhythmia and found some interesting references.

Melatonin, coronavirus, cardiovascular disease, and the geriatric emergency: let's use everything we have! [www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

The effects of melatonin on the oxidative stress and duration of atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass graft surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial [europepmc.org]

Melatonin for a Healthy Heart Rhythm [www.intechopen.com]

Cardiac Surgery and the Risk of Atrial Fibrillation: an Intervention Trial Evaluating Melatonin (DREAM) [clinicaltrials.gov]

The antiarrhythmic effects of melatonin in different pathological conditions [academic.oup.com]

So I wondered if my lack of afib after not talking Mg was due to the melatonin? No idea. Melatonin is made in most cells in the body and is used for much more than sleep (my understanding is the sleep contribution is around 5%). After seeing some positive anecdotes of people giving it to their dogs, I tried it on a 1 year old cat that has had an autoimmune skin condition since we got her at 12 weeks. High dose prednisolone did work, but that is a bad long-term solution. We were making progress after switching to a holistic vet, but it was slow. Once I started her on the melatonin, it was a step function up toward the good in a few days. Amazing after nearly a year of trying to solve this problem. So melatonin has become very interesting to me.

By the way, one of the nutrients that is important with D is Vitamin A. I consume cod liver oil for this purpose.

I've not burned from long sun exposure subsequent to high D intake, but I could get red, but not burned after 5 or six hours at 7,500' in the mid-day sun. Subsequent to high melatonin intake, no skin reaction to long sun exposure at all. A group I'm in has some cancer folks taking greater than 1g melatonin/day.

George



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/24/2020 06:50PM by GeorgeN.

yea could you do a zoom on this?? not necessarily kidding. or a video? I need to digest it further but would love a back and forth forum.

Quote
bettylou4488
yea could you do a zoom on this?? not necessarily kidding. or a video? I need to digest it further but would love a back and forth forum.

The topic being D & magnesium?

Hi Betty Lou,

I’m better with the written word not so much with the spoken one.

That’s what this forum is for – back-and-forth.

Just list your questions. I’m sure others have the same ones.