I was at practice (Roller Derby) and I felt fine. I was drinking a lot of water like I always do. I was sweating like I always do. Having RSD, I do sweat more than normal. Having RSD means I was also in pain, as I always am. What happened that night taught me a lesson about pain, headaches, heart palpitations, dizziness, and Hypomagnesemia.
By always being the tough one, and sucking it up with no treatment, I put myself in a very dangerous place. Being in pain depletes our bodies of things we need and can cause mineral and vitamin deficiency. There are also medications that are commonly taken by people that can also deplete your body of these minerals and vitamins. In fact, I found a list of 14 drugs that can deplete your body of magnesium! I bet you’ve never seen a warning label for that?
Anyhow, back to the night this all started. I was skating. Our practices last 2 hours and are pretty intense the entire time. Suddenly I developed a headache. Like an all over deep in my head headache. Then I got Dizzy. We thought maybe I wasn’t drinking enough water, so I drank more…and more…bad move.
The headache never subsided that night, no medication was touching it. The dizziness was pretty constant too. So I went to bed to try to rest and sleep. That is when the next thing happened. Right after I finally dozed off, I was back awake again fearing that my heart would beat right out of my chest. I was having crazy fast heart palpitations. So then my first thought was stress. Maybe stress was causing the headache and panic attacks for the heart. Hmmm…
This went on for days. The hHeadache was getting worse, dizzy spells were worse, heart palpitations were several times a night and even when I napped. Finally, on day 10, I went to the ER because my Derby Wife (Derby Wife: (n) A skater’s best friend in the entire world of derby. Derby wives are ethically required to always have each others’ backs, even to the point of arguing and fighting when they know their derby wife is in the wrong. It is, however, completely acceptable to bust the chops of one’s derby wife later if one is forced to argue or fight in such circumstances.) insisted.
I HATE GOING TO THE ER! Not too mention I have been spending way too much time in hospitals since December 5th.
So I went. The first thing they did was hook me up to an IV and draw blood. Then I was given a cocktail of meds, then off to get a CT scan, then I was hooked up for an EKG. At that point, I conked out for who knows how long. When I woke a doctor was telling me I had Hypomagnesemia because my levels of magnesium in my blood were low. They gave me a prescription for muscle relaxers and headache pain medication. I was also told to take magnesium every day, I already take magnesium to help with my muscle spasms, but I wasn’t taking it daily. I was also given a referral to a neurologist.
After I came home I did a bit of research and learned that this happens to people with my condition a lot (RSD). In fact, anyone with high pain levels is more prone to the condition. I decided to skip the neuro on this issue and see a PA. I believe I met with her on day 14 of my headache. I explained to her that the headache pain medication they gave me was doing nothing but making me sleep.
She wrote me a prescription for stronger pain meds. She also refilled the muscle relaxers because they help with my RSD. Then she did the best thing ever, she started me back on Neurontin, which is a neuro med that I took for a long time, but had been off of for over 2 years. This is the medication that helps my RSD, it’s like turning the volume down on a stereo. It doesn’t take my pain away, but it kind of dulls the signal. She told me no more water at practice. I am to drink sports drinks at practices per her instructions. (I can also drink water that has been infused with Himalayan sea salt, as well as Salt Replacement (which has potassium), added, a Herbalist from Dallas told me this!). Drinking water at practice was actually flushing more of the magnesium out of my body, so it makes sense that this all started at practice.
The PA also gave me a referral to a Neurologist. I will be calling on Monday to make that appointment, but that will be for my RSD.
A few days after that appointment, the headaches got worse. Way worse. I called the Doctors office and asked if I could double up on the pain meds for the day. At this point, my levels were back to normal and we really just needed to break the pain cycle (RSD issue). She could have done this with steroids, but we were worried about the heart issue, so I chose to do the medications instead. I was told that I could double up, I doubled up that day and then the next morning.
Then on day 19, I went from having a mild headache to NO headache! It was awesome. I went to practice that morning and I was pleased to see that the Neurontin was already helping me as well with my RSD issues. I skated better. I even skated 26 laps in my 5 min. Had I been testing that day, I would have passed. To test out of group 2, you only need 25 in 5 min.
So, the point of this story…if you have a headache longer than a few days, get it checked out! Headaches that last for days are no joke and can be a sign of something much more serious. Hypomagnesemia can be deadly. Drinking only water while you are active can lead to hypomagnesemia.
Girl on Fire
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I get awful headaches as well, but I never knew about hypomagnesmia. Thank you for sharing your story — I am definitely going to look into my magnesium levels and make sure that I am not lacking.
Oh man, that’s scary. I’m glad you found out what was wrong.
That sounds pretty scary. I’m glad you’re okay and got it checked out.
Scary! I get periods where I have a lingering headache and feel dizzy and out of focus. I should ask about my magnesium levels at my next appointment!
I never knew that you could get headaches from lack of magnesium in your body… nor did I realize that so many products deplete it! Thanks for sharing! I saw a few of those products that we have in our medicine cabinet.
How scary! I’m glad you were able to find out what it was and get it relieved.
I had read that magnesium is good for people who get migraines. It is also good for people who suffer from constipation. (Think MOM – Milk of Magnesia.) Glad you found some relief. Headaches suck!
I had a headache that would ease from time to time but lasted for well over a week, but I know it was stress related (worrying about my brother just diagnosed with lung cancer)… but it is good to know this, because I’ve never heard of it before. I’m glad you finally got some answers and help.
OUCHIE! I was getting daily headaches and got so mad…then realized I am older than I used to be and starting wearing my prescription reading glasses and no more headaches. Thankfully it was a minor fix for me.
I commend you for skating and doing something so physical that you love while contending with these pain issues. I have fibromyalgia and take magnesium every day. It has decreased the intensity of my headaches and the frequency. It also helps with the body pain. I also have a spray on magnesium and body soak, in which I sometimes soak only my feet.
That is so scary. I’ve heard how essential magnesium is but didn’t realize it was to that extent. I’m so glad your headache is gone and your on the right path again.
Wow, that is scary. So glad you found out what was going on and are feeling better right now. I had no idea lack of magnesium could cause headaches like that.
Wow, how scary! You def should have went in earlier. I am the same way though. I have to be dying first.
So scary but glad you went to the ER! Even happier that the headache is finally gone! Good thing you listened to your body. 🙂
I prayed and prayed for you on Facebook. I’m so happy you are feeling better. As a past migraine sufferer and some that lasted days, I know how painful they are. Glad the meds are helping you!
Wow, that is some crazy scary stuff. Headache too long… magnesium …check.
Glad you are ok! And, so true how important it is to head to the doctor is you have a prolonged headache.
I remember reading all about this on FB! I am so glad you got the right treatment!
I’m glad you were able to finally get to the bottom of your headache! How awful
I am so glad you found out what was causing your headache. I have had bad migraines for years. I am going to ask my doctor about my magnesium levels
Yikes. Thats very scary. I do Roller Derby, too. 🙂
Holy moley! Glad you are feeling better. Thank you for sharing this. I might should try my 13 year old on magnesium. She gets severe migraines and has since she was a toddler. We’ve seen neuros, had her on some pretty strong migraine meds, and try and do natural remedies like dark rooms and low noise. But now I’m wondering if it could be more to do with her magnesium levels. She plays volleyball and drinks a lot of water when she is practicing. We do give her Gatorade as well, but we’ve always assumed water was better. Since she has a doc appt tomorrow, I’m going to bring the magnesium thoughts up to him and see what he thinks.
I get headaches but they never last more than a few hours. I couldn’t imagine having one for over a day or more. I am like you and hate the ER. My husband will only go by an ambulance there because you know its at least a 4 hour wait if you go in without being drove in.
Wow. I was having the crazy beating heart problems for a while but figured they were anxiety attacks. Now I’m wondering if maybe I was low on magnesium too. Crazy how a mineral deficiency can turn your whole world upside down, isn’t it?!
It is amazing what a deficiency in vitamins or minerals can cause our bodies to do. We do need to listen to our bodies. That being said, I am the last one to take care of myself – I’m too busy taking care of everyone else. :p Glad you found the cause & you are feeling better. Connor took Neurontin for awhile. Hope it keeps working for you
I learned a lot about magnesium from this blog post, and found it very interesting about certain medications causing low levels of magnesium. I am glad that you got your headaches gone and that you found a pill to help you.
This is so weird that I read this article. I have been seeing magnesium articles everywhere I turn. I don’t know what RSD is, but I suffer from diabetic nueropathy, and I have been considering the Neurotin that you spoke of, just wasn’t sure how they worked. But, since reading all these articles about Mag. I have been taking mine faithfully.
Thank you so much for this blog post! I also have had RSD since August 2014. In January 2015 I started having constant headaches, stabbing pain in my head, facial pain, migraines, dizziness, upper neck pain and on a couple occasions in the night feeling like something was wrong with my heart. I had tried so many medications and treatment to get rid of all of this and nothing helped. My doctors actually told me that they had nothing left to try and were blaming it on my RSD. After reading this I immediately started taking a magnesium citrate (highly absorbable) vitamin at 300mg and my doctor wrote me a prescription for neurontin (gabapentin). In only one day of taking both of these all of my head issues have improved by 60%.
Thank you very much!!