A Cautionary Tale - Too Much of a Good Thing
Robert is a now a true believer in natural medicine - having suffered from migraine headaches for many years, a few visits to a naturopathic doctor several years ago resulted in complete remission of his condition. Unfortunately, he is now suffering from chronic diarrhea and visits to his gastroenterologist, family practice medical doctor and naturopathic doctor have not solved the problem.
FULL STORY:
Robert, an unusually healthy and fit 60 year old white male, had suffered from migraines for many years. While Sumatriptan was effective in shortening the duration of his headaches, they kept recurring, and he did not like the drug's side effects.
A few years ago, he went to a naturopathic doctor and, through diet changes and nutritional supplements, experienced complete relief. About a year and a half ago, he started developing loose watery stools. Assessment and intervention by his family practice MD, family practice ND, and gastroenterologist who ordered GI x-rays found no cause and no effective treatment.
After hearing him describe his diarrhea as "explosive" and full of air, I immediately thought of solute diarrhea. This kind of diarrhea can happen when a person consumes more of the small molecules that bind water than the body can absorb. Typical examples are too much vitamin C (most people get this kind of diarrhea if they consume more than about 5 grams a day) and candies sweetened with sorbitol (a kind of sugar substitute with fewer calories and not very well absorbed by the body). As his vitamin C content was only about 1,000 mg/day, and he consumed no artificial sweets, I next asked him about magnesium. Too much magnesium can cause the same symptoms, while a deficiency can, in some people, cause migraine headaches.
Turns out that he was taking magnesium supplements, and it had played a major role in relieving his migraines. I asked him to look at everything he was taking that included magnesium. Adding up his multivitamin, meal replacement drink and magnesium supplement, he found he was unknowingly taking a whopping 2,500 mg every day! This is over 5 times the RDA, and most people get diarrhea when they consume more than 1,000 mg. Decreasing his magnesium to a much more reasonable 800 mg per day immediately cured his diarrhea.
Unfortunately, his migraine headaches returned!
This told me he was having trouble absorbing magnesium, both from his intestines and also into his cells. I then recommended pyridoxal-5-phosphate, the activated form of vitamin B6 which transports magnesium into cells.. 15 mg of P-5-P resulted in full remission again of his migraines, and no diarrhea.
My key take away:
It's all about balance. While most natural therapies are safe and often effective, it is always possible to take too much of a good thing.
Related Topics:
Technorati Tags: supplements, migraine, integrative medicine
FULL STORY:
Robert, an unusually healthy and fit 60 year old white male, had suffered from migraines for many years. While Sumatriptan was effective in shortening the duration of his headaches, they kept recurring, and he did not like the drug's side effects.
A few years ago, he went to a naturopathic doctor and, through diet changes and nutritional supplements, experienced complete relief. About a year and a half ago, he started developing loose watery stools. Assessment and intervention by his family practice MD, family practice ND, and gastroenterologist who ordered GI x-rays found no cause and no effective treatment.
After hearing him describe his diarrhea as "explosive" and full of air, I immediately thought of solute diarrhea. This kind of diarrhea can happen when a person consumes more of the small molecules that bind water than the body can absorb. Typical examples are too much vitamin C (most people get this kind of diarrhea if they consume more than about 5 grams a day) and candies sweetened with sorbitol (a kind of sugar substitute with fewer calories and not very well absorbed by the body). As his vitamin C content was only about 1,000 mg/day, and he consumed no artificial sweets, I next asked him about magnesium. Too much magnesium can cause the same symptoms, while a deficiency can, in some people, cause migraine headaches.
Turns out that he was taking magnesium supplements, and it had played a major role in relieving his migraines. I asked him to look at everything he was taking that included magnesium. Adding up his multivitamin, meal replacement drink and magnesium supplement, he found he was unknowingly taking a whopping 2,500 mg every day! This is over 5 times the RDA, and most people get diarrhea when they consume more than 1,000 mg. Decreasing his magnesium to a much more reasonable 800 mg per day immediately cured his diarrhea.
Unfortunately, his migraine headaches returned!
This told me he was having trouble absorbing magnesium, both from his intestines and also into his cells. I then recommended pyridoxal-5-phosphate, the activated form of vitamin B6 which transports magnesium into cells.. 15 mg of P-5-P resulted in full remission again of his migraines, and no diarrhea.
My key take away:
It's all about balance. While most natural therapies are safe and often effective, it is always possible to take too much of a good thing.
Related Topics:
Technorati Tags: supplements, migraine, integrative medicine
Labels: personal stories
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