Magnesium Sulfate
Hello! I would like to preface this by saying that I tried to make decent explanations of medical terms. And any that I feel like I missed on a bit, I placed at the bottom of this post with definitions.
🤓 Why do I/we care about Magnesium Sulfate?
When I came out of my c-section, I was placed on magnesium sulfate. I wasn't aware this was something that usually happened. And from my recent experience talking to a few patients at work, I realized that they were not aware of it either.
After my c-section, Josh and I sat with our baby Franklin for a few hours. After that I was moved to another recovery room. (Hahaha, funny story about that too….maybe I will share that soon). My face felt like it was on fire!! My whole body felt like it was on fire. It was like when you have a 5 hour energy, and your face starts to flush from all of the B vitamins…except it was EVERYWHERE and I was like a billion times hotter. I found out this was from magnesium sulfate.
Magnesium Sulfate can be used for….
Sudden, severe asthma encounters
Occasional constipation
Severe eclampsia/pre-eclampsia/HELLP syndrome
Hypomagnesemia (low magnesium levels)
Soaking aid (meaning that you dissolve the magnesium salt granules in water and use as a soak)
Pediatric acute nephritis (see below for definition)
Torsades de Pointes (see below for definition)
Magnesium can come in a few different forms. And as you can probably tell from the variety of different uses, it comes in a number of different recommended dosages. It can come in a pill form, it can come in the form of dissolvable salts and it is also available as various types of injections (IV and IM). There are also good amounts of magnesium in whole grain foods, legumes and dark-leafy veggies. (Keep that in mind for the "occasional constipation" use of magnesium.)
Some common side effects:
Flushing - reddening of the skin usually from blood vessels dilating
Hypotension - very low blood pressure
Vasodilation - blood vessels widen and blood pressure decreases
Hypermagnesemia - high levels of magnesium
Magnesium and Seizures
**I am epileptic, but have not had a seizure in over 10 years.**
In HELLP syndrome magnesium sulfate injection/infusion is used to prevent seizures. There are a few ways in which magnesium sulfate is thought to be useful in preventing/stopping seizures in HELLP/eclampsia, so I am touching on the most common one.
During an eclamptic event there is possibility that the blood vessels in the brain may narrow (also called a cerebral vasospasm). This can decrease blood flow into the brain. Blood carries oxygen. If the oxygenated blood cannot get to areas of the brain, then there is a possibility for brain tissue damage (also called ischemia).
Magnesium sulfate is thought to trigger the blood vessels to open back up…hence the vasodilation and flushing mentioned as side effects above. The opening of the blood vessels helps reduce the amount of damage done to the brain tissue (less opportunity for ischemia).
Monitoring
It is possible to have too much magnesium as well. A toxic amount of magnesium could cause serious breathing problems (extremely slow breathing rates), very low blood pressure, visual changes, muscle weakness, and a few other things. (I decided not to read much further on that because it made me nervous). Because of these risks, monitoring magnesium is quite important. I remember most of this being checked in the hospital, but it is kind of interesting to see which tests are directly related.
Vital signs - pulse rate, body temperature, blood pressure and rate of breathing
Oxygen saturation - the amount of oxygen in your blood
Reflexes
Level of consciousness
Visual changes - blurry, etc. They pretty much just ask if you have visual changes EVERY time they come into the room.
I am happy to report that I did not have any seizures! So that’s good news. So I can keep on with my 10+ years seizure free! Anyways, if you have any questions, or if I missed any explanations, let me know.
Terms/Definitions that I may not have made clear enough earlier...
Eclampsia/Eclamptic Event - a complication of pre-eclampsia. High blood pressure in pregnancy which causes seizures.
IM - intramuscular, where medications are given by injection into the muscle (like a flu shot)
IV - intravenous, where medications are given straight into the vein.
Pediatric acute nephritis - sudden kidney inflammation in kiddos
Pre-Eclampsia - a pregnancy complication which usually consists of high blood pressure, and often, liver/kidney problems.
Torsades de Pointes - a specific type of heart rhythm that is abnormal and can lead to sudden cardiac death.
**Also, it's flu shot season! Make sure to get your flu shot soon! If you live near me, we have them at Walmart and I can give you your shot if you want!
Here are some useful things, if you are more interested in the subject…
https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/preeclampsia-revisited
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5613404/
