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Hello, I had my surgery back in 2005 when I was 17 and I have chronic pouchitis that is managed with antibiotics and probiotics. I am now 26 if this helps. I need to take them both, it is crazy how sick I get if I stop one or the other with in a few days. For the past couple years I have been really tired and have had bad headaches almost every day. After getting a kidney stone in 2012 they found I was deficient in magnesium and recommended I take a MagOx supplement. I took it for awhile, but found it just made me have to go to the bathroom, too much. I already was struggling with having to go a lot and it became painful. So I stopped taking it. I also had a Vitamin D test at this time which came back as 24 but they were not concerned about this.

I got my Vitamin D retested recently and it was 24 again, but now they say that it is slightly insufficient and I should take 5000 units a day for two months and then go down to 2000 units a day. Recently I've developed light sensitivity blurred vision, worse hearing, nerve pain in my hands and feet that shoots up to my legs and arms. My feet also go numb whenever I try to work out and my hand sometimes to numb and tingle too. My legs and arms also go through periods where they feel heavy. I also have chronic back and neck pain. The last few months my brain just doesn't seem to be functioning normally. I'm having memory problems, especially short-term. A lot of times I forget what I am supposed to be doing and work and have trouble remembering events from the morning later on in the afternoon. I've also made a lot of dumb mistakes that I normally wouldn't make. I can't get my self to focus and concentrate anymore and it seems and I am misplacing things often. I also seem to be thirsty all the time and urinating all the time with quite an urgency. Got tested out by the urologist and the kidney's are fine and even saw an endocrinologist for diabetes insipidus, which I do not have. I also have been having some balance issues, I cannot walk a straight line and I fell down the stairs the day before Christmas Eve. I still have a bruise on my thigh from it and it still hurts sometimes. Which I fell is a rather long recovery time.

Is my vitamin D level low enough to be causing all these symptoms or is it possible there is something else going on? They only described it as being "a little low". I read a lot of stories with people that have really low Vitamin D levels and symptoms but mine doesn't seem that low. My B12 was also tested after I read about it on this site and that was fine. Also, does anyone know of a form of magnesium that is not a laxative that would be easier on my pouch? I appreciate any input someone with a similar experience can provide. Sorry, if this post is hard to follow, I have a headache right now as usual...

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You may have more than one thing going on, and Vitamin D might have nothing to do with your symptoms (the deficiency is worth treating but doesn't sem profound). I'd get in to see a doctor soon - these are significant symptoms. A good internist might do the job; a neurologist might or might not, depending on what's wrong.

Was you magnesium rechecked? Since the deficiency isn't being treated, it may have gotton worse. Also, what antibiotic(s) are you taking. Any other meds?
Scott F
Thanks for your replies, I was hoping all my symptoms could be blamed on vitamin D, but maybe not. I alternate cipro and augmentation for antibiotics. The only other medications I take are norco for pain and zofran for nausea. I have not gotten the magnesium rechecked since 2012. It was a 24 hour collection and I have a value of 4.50 with normal being 30-190. So I guess that is pretty low and probably not the smartest thing for me to quit taking it, but I was more concerned about frequency at that time. I wondering if there is a from of magnesium that I could take that would affect my bowels less? I finally have that pretty decently managed after about 7 years of lots of water output. I forgot to mention in my original post that my tongue has been swollen for two months but my doctor cannot find a cause for it. Said it was just glossitis. I made an appointment with my GP at the end of the month and will definitely mention these symptoms to her.
MNpoucher
I don't believe your vitamin D levels are low enough to cause those symptoms. You could talk to your pharmacist to see if the particular combination of the drugs you take could be having a cumulative effect. Most of those drugs affect the nervous system. Individually they probably of no consequence, but maybe together, there is a problem. Length of time you've taken them matters too. Just because you tolerate something for a long time, it does not mean that problems cannot develop over time.

Other than that, magnesium deficiency can cause most of your symptoms. Supplements do cause diarrhea (think: Milk of Magnesia- a laxative). The key is to take small doses, and don't stop it! Takes longer to catch up, but better than taking doses you cannot tolerate.
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factshee...-HealthProfessional/

Jan Smiler
Jan Dollar
I have been through the ringer with tests. Seen Nuero muscular for leg, feet and hand cramps that have put me in the ER. My vitamin D is very low. My final results after tests lately are magnesium that are causing my issues. Thing is on the tests my magnesium shows just fine but according to Neuro I am not absorbing enough so I now have to go back to GI. My memory is horrible. My husband gets annoyed when I make him repeat directions 3 times in a row.

Here are a few links you might find useful

Vitamin D Magnesium


http://www.vitamindwiki.com/Vitamin+D+and+Magnesium

Vitamin D, just like all other nutrients, works in harmony with several other nutrients to perform its many functions. Most importantly, vitamin D requires and 'uses up' magnesium to convert from supplements or sun into its active form in the blood. As such, it is a big mistake to simply take large doses of Vitamin D without taking the need for magnesium into consideration. Yet this is exactly what is happening in most cases and it is causing a lot of people to have problems that they believe are due to side effects of Vitamin D- or even worse they believe they are experiencing an overdose. Such a huge number of people have subtle magnesium deficiency that some researchers and doctors are calling magnesium deficiency an epidemic, and anyone with even a mild or 'subclinical' magnesium deficiency will have this deficiency amplified when Vitamin D is taken. This is creating some uncomfortable 'Side Effects of Vitamin D' that are actually symptoms of an induced magnesium deficiency! Some of the magnesium deficiency symptoms being attributed to Vitamin D are:

Headaches
Insomnia
Jitteriness
Muscle Cramps
Anxiety
Heart Palpitations
Constipation

Conversely, it's also true that taking Vitamin D may not raise blood levels in those who are magnesium deficient. In many cases, both the Vitamin D deficient person and their doctor believe that they are having 'absorption' problems. This lack of knowledge about the need for magnesium ends up causing serious issues such as: 1) A lot of fear being generated that an underlying serious medical problem exists 2)Unnecessarily high dosages of Vitamin D that further worsen the magnesium deficiency 3)Thousands, and sometimes tens of thousands of dollars, being spent on unnecessary medical testing to find the 'absorption' problem 4)The underlying magnesium deficiency not being found because testing for magnesium levels is not useful in determining need for the nutrient This leaves many people still low in Vitamin D and believing that they are toxic or allergic to Vitamin D. This belief is being encouraged by practitioners and websites that are unaware of this intimate connection between these two nutrients and who don't have a solution for those who are suffering. Unlike drugs, nutrients are interconnected with one another and rarely does someone have only One nutrient deficiency completely in isolation. But as Vitamin D testing is becoming more common, people are being treated with large and sometimes massive doses of Vitamin D without taking into consideration their need for other nutrients. In particular, the need for sufficient magnesium is critical to avoid some of the uncomfortable problems that are often falsely attributed to being Vitamin D side effects or overdoses.
vanessavy

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