Ectopics and.. twitching in shoulders muscles?

So, following on from my post about the pre-ablation sensation I got once or twice last week. I had a run of pretty regular ectopics last night, which seemed to coincide with some muscle twitching in my shoulder blades. Each time I felt that familiar pause and thump in my chest, my shoulder blades would sort.. 'jump' or 'twitch'. I'm kinda inclined to take this as a nervous/stress reaction, as I was pretty bloody stressed. Each time I almost fell asleep, I'd get the 'pause/thump' and I'd startle myself out of drowsiness with it.

I'm having a lot of breathing issues at the moment, as I've talked about in another post, and it tends to play on my mind of an evening. Last night I was feeling a slight tightness in my throat and like I couldn't take full breaths, so felt as if the ectopics have been occuring as a result of the stress from breathing issues. Also, my wife is away with her friend for a week (home in a few days though) so I'm by myself more often than not in the evenings which never helps when your mind is running away. I'm torn at the moment between trying to decide whether the feeling of being started out of falling asleep is caused by the breathing (i.e. apnea) or the ectopics. Hard to put my finger on it, really.

So, yeah.. basically, my question is: has anybody else ever had this or a variation - i.e. muscle twitching coming hand-in-hand with ectopics?

The startled waking certainly sounds like apnea. Do you also snore?

Muscle twitching sometimes could be a sign of low Magnesium levels. That it is confined to one area is not unusual, mine is arm or calf area. The breathing issue is a difficult one to diagnose. Which came first, the difficulty breathing or the ectopic beats causing the breathing issues?

Davros - Are you taking supplemental magnesium... and if so how much?

As hwkmn05 notes... muscle twitches are classic signs of Mg deficiency.

Jackie

Hi,

Carey - yeah, according to my wife I snore a lot these days.

hwkmn05, Jackie -- I take around 500mg a day. Although, I only restarted mag again about 4 days ago. I'd been having stomach issues and stopped taking it. So maybe that is the culprit!

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DavrosT
Carey - yeah, according to my wife I snore a lot these days.

I would definitely get a sleep study done if I were you.

DavrosT - Yes... it could be low magnesium... but definitely do the sleep study. Even if you do have the apnea diagnoses, you'll still always need to take magnesium.... you just have to tinker with the dosing so you know how much you can use and avoid the bowel issue.

Space out the dosing... example: 100 mg 2 - 3 times a day. Save one dose for bedtime as it helps you relax and have good sleep. Then, if you tolerate that dosing... add in just one more 100 mg a day for a week... and then add in another extra ... but back off if the bowel issue presents....that way you have an idea of how much you can tolerate...and often it depends on what you eat which obviously varies daily. That can take a month or more to stabilize. Some foods contribute more to bowel issues than others.

The bottom line is though, that afibbers always need to supplement with magnesium... plus it has many other benefits throughout the body.

The apnea test is important for many reasons so don't put that off.. but there are many people who snore who do not have apnea... and probably just as many who do so you can't "guess."

Jackie



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2018 06:28PM by Jackie.

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DavrosT
hwkmn05, Jackie -- I take around 500mg a day. Although, I only restarted mag again about 4 days ago. I'd been having stomach issues and stopped taking it. So maybe that is the culprit!

I was advised by my ND once to take Mag until it caused a laxative effect and then to cut back. I dont necessarily agree with that advice. As afibbers I believe we need to be diligent to find a way to keep our Mag levels higher than average. Some days, going thru ectopic beats, I can consume as much as 1200mg and other days it seems a 120mg tab is too much. Getting most of your Mag through your diet may ease that stomach issue. There may be other supplements such as Pomegranate rinds and cherry juice for spasms.

Thanks, I have started upping my doses of mag now and will continue to.

I'll definitely look into speaking to my GP about the sleep apnea test. Thanks

Thanks, hwkmn05 I actually stopped my mag sups because of stomach issues but I think I am going to just have to put up with that a bit more.

Davros - Is it truly a 'stomach' issue or is it a GI issue? I'm thinking the latter. There can be other reasons that your GI tract is more sensitive which results in various 'intolerance' issues. You can consider taking a probiotic to help support and increase the important intestinal bowel flora which serve to keep the GI tract healthy. That's important to overall health and not just GI or heart, since the gut's microbiome has a huge influence on health, in general.

I don't recall if you mentioned the form of the magnesium you take but often a change in that can help you tolerate the doses more easily. Many forms - example magnesium citrate - actually serve as a laxative when doses are high enough so you want to opt for one that is less likely to cause that effect.

Your muscle twitches certainly indicate that you are low on Mg. Same with the various heart symptoms... such as more ectopy or outright AF.

Certainly getting more Mg from diet is recommended but it takes a lot of food to reach doses that are therapeutic.
Plus... it's difficult to know if the soil where the food is grown is actually rich in magnesium.... as most soils these days are depleted. Organic foods have the best chance of being nutrient rich although even that's not a guarantee.

Jackie

Coinciding with my onset of AF, I would frequently have twitching quads in my legs at night. Often triceps, too.

Ever since supplementing Mg - nothing.

Thank, Jackie. I actually mispoke/typed there. I have been diagnosed with reflux, although without the most obvious symptoms. I do however get tightness in throat or a lump in my throat feeling regularly which only exacerbates the current breathing issues I have. I also get really bad gas/bloatednes but my stomach has - thus far - not suffered too badly. I have had occasional spells of nausea but I put these down to the esomeprazole. Either that, or the levothyroxine I was on for a short while (mentioned in a previous thread, I am being investigated for autoimmune disorder too).

I'm on a gluten free diet at the moment, so in some ways my chances of getting vital shops that way have increased but I'm still trying to settle on a diet plan, as such.

I take around 500mg-750mg a day mag in tab supplement form. I have also started taking baths with Epsom salt, which I've been told can be a good alternative or addition to supplementing magnesium.

Thanks, Wolfpack. It appears from what everybody is saying that magnesium is what's needed to stop this happening again.

I don't know how fast it gets into your system, but I can report I've had more restful sleeps the last 2 nights. The prior 10 days had been a waking nightmare. Now I just need the restless legs to back the eff off and I should be able to get a good night's sleep.