Medical Disclaimer: I am a mother sharing our family’s personal medical journey and research, not a doctor. The information below is for educational and awareness purposes only. Always consult your paediatrician or seek emergency medical care if you suspect your child is facing a medical emergency.
As a homeschool mother of three, I am blessed to be in a position to closely monitor my children’s daily habits, moods, and health. Yet, late last year, my 12-year-old daughter, Alexandria, began displaying a series of unusual symptoms. What started as subtle, easily dismissed signs eventually spiralled into a frightening medical emergency.
By the grace of God, and through faith and courage, our daughter is doing beautifully today. I am sharing our story because, had someone told me what those subtle warning signs meant before the crisis hit, we would most likely not have had that horrifying experience. If you are a parent looking for answers, I want you to know that you can recognise these signs early—and even if you are already in the middle of a scare, your child can fully recover and live a joyful life again.
🌪️ The Hidden Catalyst: How Diet Disruptions Impact Minerals
Looking back, our journey actually began in October of last year when Hurricane Melissa devastated Jamaica’s agriculture and western region. In the months leading up to the Christmas holidays, our local food supply changed drastically.
Fresh green and ripe bananas, ripe plantains, and green leafy vegetables suddenly vanished from our table. Eggs became incredibly scarce, and potatoes were far too expensive. Without realising it, our family’s diet became heavily limited in vital, raw earth minerals.
Shortly after, a physical sign appeared. When we visited the park, Alexandria suddenly struggled to jump or play hopscotch. She complained of pain in her knees, and I physically had to hold and support her just so she could jump.
🤒 The Perfect Storm: Flu, Dehydration, and Deficiencies
Next, during the Christmas holidays, the flu swept through our household. As a parent, you do everything to separate your children but, sharing rooms and being playmates, make total isolation nearly impossible. One by one, our children fell ill.
When Alexandria caught the virus, she developed a fever, cold, and vomiting. To help her body fight the illness, we made a common decision to cut dairy entirely out of her diet.
Unwittingly, we were entering a perfect storm:
- Her mineral intake was already low due to the post-hurricane food scarcity.
- The flu and vomiting rapidly depleted her hydration.
- Removing milk cut off her primary source of calcium, which works hand-in-hand with magnesium.
🔍 6 Subtle Signs of Low Magnesium We Missed in Real-Time
In retrospect, my daughter’s body was flashing warning signs for days. These are the symptoms that were evident:
1. Persistent Trouble Sleeping & Grunting
Alexandria suddenly began having severe trouble sleeping, which was highly unusual for her. One night she just was not falling asleep. I cuddled and sang for her as I usually would when she needed comforting. Once she eventually fell asleep, I noticed she made persistent, low grunting sounds that lasted throughout the night. I just wasn’t sure what that was.
2. Physical Contractions in the Extremities
One morning, Alexandria woke up and said, “Mama, look! My thumbs. My toes. They are contracting.” Her thumbs and big toes were visibly locking up.
3. Deep Disorientation Upon Waking
At night, she would wake up seemingly unaware of her surroundings. During one terrifying evening, she woke from a rest and looked right at me, unable to recognise who I was. I had to repeatedly ask her, “Who are you? Who am I?” until she came around, confused as to why I was questioning her.
4. Cold Limbs and General Somberness
Even under sheets, her arms and legs felt cold to the touch. Her normal, cheerful personality shifted into a heavy, somber countenance.
5. Delayed Cognitive Processing
For a few days leading up to the emergency, she seemed noticeably slower than usual in understanding and getting through her daily homeschool lessons.
6. Skin Tone Tinting
It wasn’t until the entire experience was over that I realized her face had developed a distinct, lightly darkened tint, alongside dark circles to the sides of her eyes.
🧂 The 12-Hour Rehydration Window
The few mornings her toes and thumbs contracted, we instinctively turned to Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS). we would mix 500 ml of water with a half-packet of the mixture, ensuring she never had more than one full packet in 24 hours.
Like clockwork, the moment she drank the mixture through a straw, the visible contractions stopped. However, I noticed a strange pattern: exactly 12 hours later, the effects of the mixture would wear off, and the cold limbs, disorientation, and grunting would return.
We waited until three days in the flu, then took her in to our regular paediatrician. However, our concerns were unfortunately passed off as “strange symptoms accompanying this season’s flu.” Because she wasn’t actively vomiting in his office or visibly displaying any of the other symptoms, we were denied an intravenous (IV) drip for hydration and sent home with standard antibiotics and cold medication.
🚨 The Emergency Room Crisis
As we were still unsure about the cause of the symptoms, we were still in assessment mode. The very next day, when the rehydration salts wore off completely, Alexandria went to the bathroom and immediately, and even more aggressively than before, her entire body began violently contracting from her extremities inward. This was a sure sign to me that this was more than strange symptoms accompanying the flu. It was sure that whatever it was, it was advancing.
Displaying incredible courage, she instructed me exactly what to do: “Place your fingers in my hands, Mama, to stop them from locking up.” Sensing the urgency, her younger siblings beautifully stepped in. They quickly mixed the rehydration salts, brought the cup to her mouth, and held the straw so she could swallow.
Next, we rushed her to the Emergency Room. Because the rehydration salts temporarily stopped the visible contractions, we were categorised as a non-urgent case. We waited from 3:00 PM until 11:00 PM. During that long wait, the final dose of rehydration salts wore off, and she suffered another terrifying contraction episode right at the moment they were finally putting her on the drip.
📊 The Blood Test Results: What Parents Need to Know
Once Alexandria was finally placed on an IV drip, the doctors also ran a comprehensive blood metabolic panel. Once the IV fluids safely stabilised her system in the ER, the frightening body contractions vanished completely and have never returned, by the grace of God.
A Crucial Note for Parents: As this Emergency care was done at a hospital, the readings were done against adult ranges. Children’s healthy mineral ranges differ significantly from adult ranges on lab reports. Always ask your doctor to evaluate the numbers specifically against paediatric benchmarks, rather than standard adult baselines.
Later on, sometime after the flu had passed, we followed up with our paediatrician, and the culprit was revealed: calcium deficiency. (See report above)
At that same visit to the paediatrician in March, we did a follow-up test for Alexandria and the other children, now that they had cleared the flu, as well as had some discussions about supplement. The results above show that her calcium had corrected but her magnesium (the true culprit) was now out of range.
The paediatrician explained that it was actually her magnesium that was low, and that when this happens, the body pulls calcium to supplement the low magnesium. This is why her calcium also appeared low initially. Therefore, it was vital to increase both to their proper values to ensure correct nutritional balance.
🥑 Turning the Corner: Our Daily Mineral Menu
To ensure her levels remain safe and to restore her natural calcium and magnesium balance, we completely overhauled our family kitchen. If you are looking to naturally boost your child’s mineral levels, here are the staples we now include weekly:
- Raw Pumpkin Seeds: Exceptionally high in natural magnesium.
- Fresh Coconut Water: Packed with natural electrolytes and potassium.
- The Return of Greens: Green bananas, ripe bananas, potatoes, and dark leafy greens.
- Whole Milk & Ice Cream: Reintroduced safely to restore her vital calcium levels.
(Note: We initially tried commercial nutritional shakes, but our daughter quickly grew tired of the taste, and our son eventually developed an allergic reaction to them, proving that whole, raw foods are always the safest path).
🤍 A Message of Hope for Frightened Parents
Even though, subsequent to the event, we had given thanks for Alexandria’s recovery and spoken about it a little bit together as a family, initially revisiting this trauma was a somewhat surprisingly still daunting task, but with prayerfulness, faith, and God’s grace, it got so much better.
Additionally, as I prayed, the Lord reminded me of how many precious families can be saved if they learn to recognise these subtle symptoms early. If your child is showing unusual signs, listen to your instinct. Trust what you see. And take comfort in knowing that your child can fully recover, your home can find its peace, and your family can live joyfully once again.
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