Magnesium bowel tolerance modified by course of antibiotics

I've used a regimine of potassium, taurine and magnesium supplements for over seven years to very successfully keep my afib in remission. Most recently, my magnesium dose consisted of:

1.3 grams/day as mag chloride solution
0.54 grams/day as mag bicarbonate solution, "Waller Water"
0.8 grams/day as mag glycinate pills

or a total of about 2.6 grams elemental mag/day from all souces. I started initially with 1.2 grams as glycinate, dropped to 0.8 grams as glycinate for quite a long time, then have increased to the 2.6 grams in steps ending over two years ago. That is I've been at the current level for about 2 1/2 years.

Recently my dentist prescribed metronidazole (2x/day x 500mg for 16 tablets) and amoxicillin (3x/day x 500 mg for 20 tablets) together to attack anaerobic bacteria.

During the course of the treatment, I was obviously exceeding my bowel tolerance on mag intake. I completed the treatment a week ago and have been titrating down the mag. Yesterday I was at 900 mg of mag as chloride (nothing else) and am still a bit on the loose side, though much closer to the level of tolerance. Today I will try 800 mg. As a side note, I took and continue to take large doses of probiotics to counteract the antibiotic devastation of gut bacteria.

Metronidazole is also effective against protezoa and amoeba, so I'm not sure what has caused this change, but there has certainly been a change in mag bowel tolerance.

George
metronidazole

The loose stools can be a result of antibiotic effect upon intestinal flora, even while taking the probiotics. The probiotics do not represent or replace the specific kinds of bacteria, such as e-coli, which provide the balance necessary for proper digestion. Even with the most dazzling array of probiotic mixes, it took me many years to rebuild my flora garden following a 6-month antibiotic course.

George,do you use the S boulardii? I ask because it will,with me at least,control the diarrhea i otherwise get from anything more than one tab of the dr.s best magnesium glycinate. I have no idea at all why it should work this way,can only say it does,with me at least.

PeggyM

Hi Peggy,

I've not tried it recently. I got a bit of an allergic reaction when I tried it before. Sneezing & the like, as I recall.

Story is actually a bit more complicated, as in the middle of my antibiotic course, I cause an intestinal flue from my wife. The acute phase only lasted a night - coming out both ends - but we both took a while to feel "right" again. My mag bowel tolerance predated the bug by a few days. In fact it started pretty quick after I started the meds. We were traveling also. So I effectively only ate breakfast for 4 days. I'm eating my normal very low carb fare. For a very long time I've only eaten 2x/day. Being ketoadapted, this is never an issue. In fact my normal weekend schedule is a 5 egg breakfast sauteed in much coconut oil, then play hard all day in the mountains without any food, then following with meat and leaves for dinner. The first day I intentionally skipped dinner as we'd been on a plane in the late afternoon. We stopped so she could get a sandwich in the evening. Then she got sick after we went to bed. Thought it was food poisoning till I caught it later. So I had breakfast (eggs & meat) at the B&B we were staying at. As she was not feeling well & we were out of town by a half an hour, I didn't eat dinner that day either. Next day had meat & eggs for breakfast and went into town. Had steamed veggies for lunch and meat & leaves for dinner. That night I got sick and ejected lunch & dinner. Next day had 3 eggs for breakfast, then skipped dinner as I wasn't sure if food would add or subtract.

Once the bug hit, I only took in the mag choloride liquid as I figured it had a better chance of being absorbed than a pill needing digestion (when my meals came out they way they went in, I noticed undigested pills in the mix).

The following day, I got back to normal eating, but continued only the chloride mag solution as I can easily titrate the quantity.

Once I get the mag titrated, I'll try different forms again.

A 70% drop in bowel tolerance seemed significant. Before if I backed off very much (10%), I 'd get constipated pretty quick.

I look at my prior ability to take in 2.6 grams/day as abnormal and if I have bowel tolerance in the 800 mg/day range, as more normal. Perhaps everything just got reset.

George

George - was the dental problem involving tissue or bone? How did the dentist determine which a/b to prescribe?

You'll have to do some heroics to replace the good bowel flora by using one of the high-dose probiotics - 50 billion a day is a good start.
Using the S.boulardii along with it helps but it isn't going to replace the entire spectrum that was wiped out by the antibiotics.

Jackie

Jackie,

Tissue, I believe. It was from lab test of a mouth sample. I think they tested for 4 or 5 different bacteria. I believe the lab co suggested the combination for the particular bacteria in question. Sample was done several months after IR cleaning plus regular cleaning plus a special home program.

George

Just a reminder from one taking TIKOSYN (dofetilide) daily to control aFib. Best to consult your cardiologist/EP or cardiac pharmacologist before putting anything you can't pronounce into your mouth. TIKOSYN works amazingly well for me right now, but the slightest change in my intake of supplements (especially Potassium) shows up almost immediately. This is a great drug but very sensitive to what you put into your mouth or veins. Caution is extremely warranted. The product monograph is 31 pages long so don't depend on your pharmacist, who is unlikely to even know what TIKOSYN is, to provide valid opinion.

"the slightest change in my intake of supplements (especially Potassium) shows up almost immediately. "

Murray, how does it show up? What , exactly, is shown? Some test, or some effect on your afib status?

PeggyM