Hi Candiflip,

According to my books on Mg, if you are low in potassium, it won't actually help to just supplement with potassium because - you might have already guessed it - you need magnesium present in sufficient quantities to absorb potassium. So, really, it is still the magnesium that is the most important one to start with.

However, that said, I can really understand your unwillingness to supplement with anything after that experience.

I can also understand that you want to wait to see what your doctor says before trying anything in the way of supplements. However, don't hold your breath on that one, in all likelihood, he or she won't have a clue. The trouble with doctors is that many of them know sweet fanny adams about supplements. Their training is with drugs and it is drug hawkers who come to their surgeries selling their wares, so that is what they read up about after they have finished their training. Plus, they are often just too busy dealing with their day-to-day patient enquiries to spend time researching supplements, either.

The best thing is to educate yourself and read up about your particular health issue and start trying things out. If you take the supplements in small doses to start with, very carefully and slowly, then you are very unlikely to do anything to yourself which will be life-threatening. However, not supplementing with magnesium (or at the very least, making an effort to have more magnesium-rich foods and water) - if you do have a serious underlying deficiency and on top of that some kind of congenital heart weakness - might literally be life-threatening.

It is suspected that many athletes and otherwise outwardly healthy people who suffered from so-called sudden cardiac arrest did so because of a massive magnesium deficiency: remember, magnesium helps to regulate heart rhythm, in particular the part where the heart muscle relaxes. If your heart suddenly hasn't got enough magnesium to make this happen, then, well, you can make up this bit yourself...

I know I am scare-mongering here, but I think you should have this information at hand when you speak to your doc. Ask him/her about whether you have mitral valve prolapse or arrhythmias, ask him/her whether they are aware of a connection between these problems and magnesium deficiency, ask him/her whether they can give you a prescription for magnesium supplements or even IV magnesium, if necessary. Ask them if they know about testing for magnesium levels (and a blood test is not the best way to test them). If he/she gives you some good solid answers, fine, if they don't, but want to put you on beta-blockers or some other medication instead, either insist they look into magnesium, or do it yourself. I know you have a little kid and probably not much time to do internet research, but it would be a lifetime investment for you and your family.

Good luck with your doctor's visit,

amanda