Pain in the bowels/colon caused by supplements in powder form?

[Solar]

Hi all.
I have a problem for which I haven't found the answer in the different supplementation related topics.
I am trying to increase my magnesium and vitamin C intake as described in various threads here to see how much my body needs. Whenever I get in the range of about about 1.5-2 teaspoons I start to experience pain in the bowels a couple of hours later, or the next day if I take it before going to bed.
This pain lasts for 6-12 hours and then it goes away. Then I am fine again, until I try to take such a "high" dose again. If I don'take the supplements, this never occurs.
The pain is felt mostly but not exlusively at the lower back/hip area, but also in the front, and sometimes there's backpain. Sometimes there is sharp pain too and it comes from "inside", from the guts. There are no loose stools or bowel movement, just the pain.

This happened with the following supplements. All of them are powder forms.
-pure ascorbic acid powder (from local pharmacy) - 2-3 teaspoons
-magnesium citrate powder (from local pharmacy) - 1.5 teaspoons
-NowFoods magnesium ascorbate powder - 1.5 teaspoons (360 mg magnesium/ 6g vit c)

My guess is that the supplements are bad quality/junk, however NowFoods is supposed to be better quality. Also, I have read here on the forum, that people take much higher doses of magnesium/vit c (sometimes from cheaper or pharmacy supplements) and do not experience such problems. I obviously haven't reached the point where the body is not able to use up what I intake. Where does the pain come from then? I don't want to buy other supplements before I figure this out.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

 

[Gaby]

Hi Solar,

I wonder if it could be kidney stones. The supplements shouldn't be a problem by themselves, especially magnesium citrate, but if you are passing a stone, drinking lots of water in the acute state will not help. It will help only after they had passed.

Do you know your iron load levels?

Strange!

 

[Laura]

You may just simply be getting gas in your bowels without reaching bowel tolerance.

Taking supplements of any kind should be approached in a gradual and knowledgeable way. You need to be informed about what you are taking and why. And then, the "how" will come naturally.

 

[Solar]

You may just simply be getting gas in your bowels without reaching bowel tolerance.

Taking supplements of any kind should be approached in a gradual and knowledgeable way. You need to be informed about what you are taking and why. And then, the "how" will come naturally.

Hi Laura,

I am on Paleo and I am greatly increasing the amount of meat + fat in my diet, and reducing the amount and the variety of vegetables, because I am throwing out the high carb ones. I am around 50g of carbs per day, because I would like to slowly approach the ketogenic diet. In fact my diet consists of mainly meat currently.
This is why I started to add supplements, however I must admit that my body is not giving me any signs that they are needed. My girlfriend is doing the same dietary changes in a more gradual way, more slowly, and she's getting massive leg cramps which cease when she takes 600mg magnesium daily. There the need for supplementation is more obvious, but I guess everybody is different.

 

[Solar]

Hi Solar,

I wonder if it could be kidney stones. The supplements shouldn't be a problem by themselves, especially magnesium citrate, but if you are passing a stone, drinking lots of water in the acute state will not help. It will help only after they had passed.

Do you know your iron load levels?

Strange!

Hi Psyche,

i thought about kidney shortly yesterday. My father had kidney stones some 20-30 years ago, it could be genetic. I'll ask what happened with his kidney stones, because he doesn't have this problem today as far as I know.

I had a blood test this summer. I haven't received the results, but I asked about the iron level specifically, and the doctor said it was normal.

 

[Laura]

Do you drink plenty of salted water?

 

[Solar]

Do you drink plenty of salted water?

No I don't (yet) drink salted water. We have Himalayan salt, and I use more of it than before. Raw onions salted, with bacon for example.

 

[Gaby]

I would get the specific results for iron load because what is normal for doctors is already to high as we have seen...

If there is some genetic predisposition towards kidney stones, you can be on the safe side by drinking enough salted water and taking potassium citrate supplements. :)

 

[Solar]

I would get the specific results for iron load because what is normal for doctors is already to high as we have seen...

If there is some genetic predisposition towards kidney stones, you can be on the safe side by drinking enough salted water and taking potassium citrate supplements. :)

Hi Psyche,

I asked my doctor if I could get the results of the last blood test, and I picked it up today. The blood sample was taken on 11 September 2013.

Iron (Ferritin): 67 ng/ml

leukocytes: 3780 /ul
erythrocytes: 4.7 mio/ul
hemoglobin: 13.6 g/dl
hematocrit: 39.9 %
MCV: 85.8 fl
Hb/E: 29.2 pg
MCHC: 34.1 gHb/dl
thrombocyte: 180 tsd/ul
glucose: 84 mg/dl
cholesterol: 141 mg/dl
TSH supersensitive: 1.23 uIU/ml

Hemglobin and hematocrit was indicated to be very slightly under the "normal" level. I was sick at the time.

 

[nicklebleu]

I would get the specific results for iron load because what is normal for doctors is already to high as we have seen...

If there is some genetic predisposition towards kidney stones, you can be on the safe side by drinking enough salted water and taking potassium citrate supplements. :)

Hi Psyche,

I asked my doctor if I could get the results of the last blood test, and I picked it up today. The blood sample was taken on 11 September 2013.

Iron (Ferritin): 67 ng/ml

leukocytes: 3780 /ul
erythrocytes: 4.7 mio/ul
hemoglobin: 13.6 g/dl
hematocrit: 39.9 %
MCV: 85.8 fl
Hb/E: 29.2 pg
MCHC: 34.1 gHb/dl
thrombocyte: 180 tsd/ul
glucose: 84 mg/dl
cholesterol: 141 mg/dl
TSH supersensitive: 1.23 uIU/ml

Hemglobin and hematocrit was indicated to be very slightly under the "normal" level. I was sick at the time.

Your numbers look quite allright, from my point of view, so that's most likely not the problem.

If I were you I would switch magnesium to the maleate form, which in general is better tolerated, just on the off chance - but apart from that I cannot add much more ...

 

[SeekinTruth]

Yeah, your ferritin level is in the ideal healthy range (60 to 80 ng/ml). So you don't seem to have iron overloading problem. Good luck with your detective work to see what needs to be adjusted.