Friday, February 19, 2010
Capsules vs. Tablets for magnesium. . . It does make a difference
It seems that the type of magnesium supplement is important as far as how effective it will be. At least this is true for me. I had started out and had been successful using capsules. That is the ones that are a clear material that are packed with powdered form of the ingredients. A couple of days ago, I tried a tablet (hard packed) that also included calcium and vitamin D. After a day of that, I was starting to slide a bit back into tremor and shakiness. I was also getting a bit tense and feeling a bit over taxed again. I switched back to the original capsule form and I have improved again. My guess is that the capsule format is quicker to load into your system because the capsule material dissolves quicker than the tablet. I suspect the tablet was not dissolving until it had passed beyond. . .
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Parsonage Turner Weakness-Strength update
Just a quick update about exercises I have been doing-
The last few days of pushups, I have felt almost like I could go beyond 25. Today, I acted on that and pushed it to 30. I have got to think that I have never done 30 at one time before in my life. I know I had only rarely done 25 even in my earlier years(upper body strength has never been easy for me). And, if anyone is concerned I am only doing pushups I am back to 20 sit-ups and walking or doing stationary bike stuff and other daily exercises for other areas.
Prior to magnesium being added to my daily vitamins I had stamina issues walking around the block or biking, and I could do only 8 sit-ups (shaky ones at that). And 20 minutes or so after trying those 8 sit-ups, I could not do even one more. The first time I tried to do sit-ups after adding magnesium, I did 20 and could do 10 more after resting a few minutes. I tell you, this stuff is helping me get back into the shape I need to be in to get my NA ravaged shoulders stabilized.
We know that NA/HNA does cause some weakness, and that this can linger for a couple of years at least. In my case it lingered for around 4 years before I realized I was losing too much muscle mass. There may be things going on here that I do not know about, but I have become a fan of this one supplement. I take a few daily supplements, but magnesium is the only one that I can tell a difference in how I feel if I miss a dose. I would suggest if anyone has more weakness than they think can be attributed to NA/HNA, to try a good magnesium supplement.
The last few days of pushups, I have felt almost like I could go beyond 25. Today, I acted on that and pushed it to 30. I have got to think that I have never done 30 at one time before in my life. I know I had only rarely done 25 even in my earlier years(upper body strength has never been easy for me). And, if anyone is concerned I am only doing pushups I am back to 20 sit-ups and walking or doing stationary bike stuff and other daily exercises for other areas.
Prior to magnesium being added to my daily vitamins I had stamina issues walking around the block or biking, and I could do only 8 sit-ups (shaky ones at that). And 20 minutes or so after trying those 8 sit-ups, I could not do even one more. The first time I tried to do sit-ups after adding magnesium, I did 20 and could do 10 more after resting a few minutes. I tell you, this stuff is helping me get back into the shape I need to be in to get my NA ravaged shoulders stabilized.
We know that NA/HNA does cause some weakness, and that this can linger for a couple of years at least. In my case it lingered for around 4 years before I realized I was losing too much muscle mass. There may be things going on here that I do not know about, but I have become a fan of this one supplement. I take a few daily supplements, but magnesium is the only one that I can tell a difference in how I feel if I miss a dose. I would suggest if anyone has more weakness than they think can be attributed to NA/HNA, to try a good magnesium supplement.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
How much is too much exercise?
Hey, that is not the real question at all. The question is what happened to the magnesium that I used to get in my diet without the supplements? I have been doing at least 25 pushups daily, and usually with other upper body exercises to try to regain the arm strength I had a few years ago and had lost. I would almost bet money that if I stopped the magnesium supplements, I would go back to being a shaking mess. I am not going to do it. First, no one would pay me anything when I won the bet. And I feel so much better I do not want to stop it just to prove what I already know.
How does this relate to NA? Well, while I had the severe weakness, I could not effectively exercise. Thinking weakness was related to NA made me think the NA is more involved than any website suggests- or more involved than any doctors I had seen who knew NA at all- which is rare. I was convinced the NA was worse than anyone knew, or that I had some other disease that could be life threatening. Maybe that later thing is still true- but that could happen at any time. Wasting away getting weaker was just the start of what could have been the start down the proverbial slippery slope. The weaker I got, the sicker I thought I must be. The sicker I thought I was, the less I tried to do, and the weaker I became. This is all why I jumped into a round of new doctor visits towards the end of last year. Someone had to see what was happening, or I doubted I would be around much longer. Or if I was here, my quality of life would be close to zero.
That sounds pretty extreme, but it was feeling like I was in a pretty rapid slide towards the end of last year. My tremor was worsening. My shakes were worse. I felt weaker doing everyday things. When I felt good exercising one day, I would feel like crap the next day and not be able to do anything. I am convinced that if I had not found that page suggesting magnesium supplements could increase muscle response, I would be in pretty bad shape at this point.
And I owe it all to my doctors. No, actually they did not cure me of anything. But, they were steadfast in suggesting that there really was nothing wrong with me. They proved it. It would have been nice if they could have been better equipped to be able to suggest other things that may have helped, but they are pretty busy with other people who may be sicker than I am. I just needed to slide a bit deeper and maybe they would have taken me more seriously. It is like on House. . . You may want to have a doctor who would take all that time with you and finally cure you in 60 minutes on Mondays at 9 PM. But, I have also noticed that he rarely is right the first few times, and he pretty much has to kill a patient at times to discover what really is wrong with them.
My advice to anyone who is up against a wall with doctors is to not give up. And if the doctors have given up on you, keep looking on your own. There is a wealth of information out here. It might take you what feels like forever to wade through some of it- but the answer you need may be on that next page you look at. But use caution too. There is also a lot of crap out there that is useless. And if you find an answer, your doctor may feel threatened if you suggest it was found on the internet. Get better at using search engines. Refine your searches and look at as many links as you can. If you find something promising, refine your search to include that. You might find your own key that will unlock your answer- or give you something else to mention to your doctor the next time he can spare ten minutes of an hour appointment to talk to you. I now have two things to ask about next time. First, why does magnesium make me better? And is it possible the lack of magnesium in my diet could explain why I got glaucoma? It is funny that the last time I saw my regular doctor; he even suggested to me that it all might have to do with something in my diet. It is funny because if I am right, it turned out to be a lack of something in my diet.
How does this relate to NA? Well, while I had the severe weakness, I could not effectively exercise. Thinking weakness was related to NA made me think the NA is more involved than any website suggests- or more involved than any doctors I had seen who knew NA at all- which is rare. I was convinced the NA was worse than anyone knew, or that I had some other disease that could be life threatening. Maybe that later thing is still true- but that could happen at any time. Wasting away getting weaker was just the start of what could have been the start down the proverbial slippery slope. The weaker I got, the sicker I thought I must be. The sicker I thought I was, the less I tried to do, and the weaker I became. This is all why I jumped into a round of new doctor visits towards the end of last year. Someone had to see what was happening, or I doubted I would be around much longer. Or if I was here, my quality of life would be close to zero.
That sounds pretty extreme, but it was feeling like I was in a pretty rapid slide towards the end of last year. My tremor was worsening. My shakes were worse. I felt weaker doing everyday things. When I felt good exercising one day, I would feel like crap the next day and not be able to do anything. I am convinced that if I had not found that page suggesting magnesium supplements could increase muscle response, I would be in pretty bad shape at this point.
And I owe it all to my doctors. No, actually they did not cure me of anything. But, they were steadfast in suggesting that there really was nothing wrong with me. They proved it. It would have been nice if they could have been better equipped to be able to suggest other things that may have helped, but they are pretty busy with other people who may be sicker than I am. I just needed to slide a bit deeper and maybe they would have taken me more seriously. It is like on House. . . You may want to have a doctor who would take all that time with you and finally cure you in 60 minutes on Mondays at 9 PM. But, I have also noticed that he rarely is right the first few times, and he pretty much has to kill a patient at times to discover what really is wrong with them.
My advice to anyone who is up against a wall with doctors is to not give up. And if the doctors have given up on you, keep looking on your own. There is a wealth of information out here. It might take you what feels like forever to wade through some of it- but the answer you need may be on that next page you look at. But use caution too. There is also a lot of crap out there that is useless. And if you find an answer, your doctor may feel threatened if you suggest it was found on the internet. Get better at using search engines. Refine your searches and look at as many links as you can. If you find something promising, refine your search to include that. You might find your own key that will unlock your answer- or give you something else to mention to your doctor the next time he can spare ten minutes of an hour appointment to talk to you. I now have two things to ask about next time. First, why does magnesium make me better? And is it possible the lack of magnesium in my diet could explain why I got glaucoma? It is funny that the last time I saw my regular doctor; he even suggested to me that it all might have to do with something in my diet. It is funny because if I am right, it turned out to be a lack of something in my diet.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Link to Glaucoma found?
Well, this is not a direct link from HNA/NA to glaucoma, but there does seem to be at least an indirect link between low magnesium and glaucoma. If one aspect of low magnesium leads to blocking of glutamate receptors, which are excitatory neurotransmitters of the central nervous system. It appears that this can be linked to many diseases. The list includes ALS, Huntington’s, MS, Parkinson’s and others. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutamate_receptor)
On the list is glaucoma, a disease I know I now have, and those others I could have but would rather think I do not. I used to think it was a coincidence that I was diagnosed with glaucoma at around the same time my muscles got so weak. I thought it was from HNA/NA- but now I think this is also from low magnesium- or whatever caused that.
On the list is glaucoma, a disease I know I now have, and those others I could have but would rather think I do not. I used to think it was a coincidence that I was diagnosed with glaucoma at around the same time my muscles got so weak. I thought it was from HNA/NA- but now I think this is also from low magnesium- or whatever caused that.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
It has to be the Magnesium- but why?
I continue to take magnesium supplements at 600 mg a day, and I am improving as far as my strength goes. And I have had no return of the tremor that had impacted me for the last few years. I have not had any anti-tremor medication. Just now I finished 25 pushups. I did 25 yesterday, and 20 the day before that. All in all my muscle function feels about normal. I have no shakes doing exertion and no lasting muscle fatigue when finished. I have to wonder why this happened. No doctor is interested in pursuing it, and I am about out of insurance to pay anyone. Is this related to NA or HNA?
I know that NA/HNA causes weakness, but is this the type of weakness it causes? If so, why does magnesium help? Maybe something I regularly eat is lacking magnesium it used to have, or something else I eat causes that magnesium to go away somehow? It can’t just be an absorption issue, or the pill supplement would not help either. It has to be a lack of magnesium in my diet.
I know that NA/HNA causes weakness, but is this the type of weakness it causes? If so, why does magnesium help? Maybe something I regularly eat is lacking magnesium it used to have, or something else I eat causes that magnesium to go away somehow? It can’t just be an absorption issue, or the pill supplement would not help either. It has to be a lack of magnesium in my diet.
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