After Your Operation

Should I take magnesium?

 

Magnesium after parathyroid surgery

If you have significant bone loss, you may also benefit from taking a daily magnesium supplement in addition to calcium and a multi-vitamin. Magnesium is important for calcium metabolism and bone remodeling which is going to happen after your parathyroid operation, which is good! There are lots of different forms of magnesium out there, and any of them will work. Note that magnesium has a laxative effect, and certain forms (e.g. magnesium citrate) are more often used to treat constipation. If you buy a magnesium that is meant to treat constipation (most often liquid magnesium citrate), the dosage will be higher than what you need, and will produce loose bowel movements.

We usually recommend taking either magnesium oxide or magnesium malate, which may also help with muscle cramps. Adults should get about 400 mg a day of magnesium. If you are requiring lots of calcium postoperatively, we recommend increasing the magnesium dose to 800 mg a day while you are needing the higher doses of calcium.  We discuss multi-vitamins in more detail on a different page.

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