You can test your magnesium levels by purchasing a simple at-home finger prick test kit which is then analysed at an accredited lab. Forth offers a number of blood tests which include magnesium such as our Nutri-check test and Menopause Health blood test.
A blood test will be ordered to check your magnesium level. Normal range is 1.3 to 2.1 mEq/L (0.65 to 1.05 mmol/L). Other blood and urine tests that may be done include: Calcium blood test.
A magnesium blood test is used to check the level of magnesium in your blood. Levels that are too low are known as hypomagnesemia or magnesium deficiency. This is more common than levels that are too high, which is called hypermagnesemia.
Some experts don't think a blood test is the best way to find out your magnesium level. That's because much of the magnesium in your body is stored in your bones and other places, not in the blood. Stress can send magnesium out of your cells and into your blood.
Magnesium deficiency is frequently observed in conditions causing steatorrhoea or severe chronic diarrhoea such as Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, coeliac disease, Whipple's disease and short bowel syndrome.
Very low magnesium levels may cause:
Headaches. Nighttime leg cramps. Numbness or tingling in the legs or hands. General body weakness.
Chronic magnesium deficiency is often associated with normal serum magnesium despite deficiency in cells and in bone; the response to oral supplementation is slow and may take up to 40 weeks to reach a steady state.
Mg is essential in the metabolism of vitamin D, and taking large doses of vitamin D can induce severe depletion of Mg. Adequate magnesium supplementation should be considered as an important aspect of vitamin D therapy.
When should I get this test? Magnesium testing may be a follow-up to chronically low blood calcium and potassium levels. It also may be ordered when you have symptoms possibly due to a magnesium deficiency, such as muscle weakness, twitching, cramping, confusion, cardiac arrhythmias, and seizures.
Dietary deficiencies of magnesium, coupled with excess calcium and stress may cause many cases of other related symptoms including agitation, anxiety, irritability, confusion, asthenia, sleeplessness, headache, delirium, hallucinations and hyperexcitability, with each of these having been previously documented.
One of the biggest factors is the presence of calcium in the diet, as high calcium foods can reduce your magnesium absorption (and vice versa). Foods containing sugar and caffeine may have similar effects.
If we don't get enough magnesium from our food, we are more vulnerable to high levels of stress and anxiety. More stress can lead us to lose even more magnesium through the kidneys in a process of urinary extraction. Caffeine and alcohol can accelerate the rate of magnesium excretion.
Thus, the elderly population is especially at risk of magnesium deficiency due to low intake but also increased risk for chronic diseases that predispose to magnesium deficiency (ageing also reduces magnesium absorption from the diet, ie, achlorhydria).
Research indicates a strong link between low magnesium levels and a number of autoimmune diseases ranging from Alzheimer's to Diabetes. In fact, there is a significant correlation between increasing dietary magnesium to reduce the severity of rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis.
"The people at highest risk for low magnesium are those with diarrhea and other forms of malabsorption," like Crohn's disease and celiac disease, says Dr.