Imbalances of electrolytes such as magnesium and potassium adversely affect your heart. Calcium chloride helps alleviate the symptoms caused by high levels of magnesium and potassium in your blood, Drugs.com explains. Calcium chloride helps nerve impulse transmission and heart muscle contractions. Calcium chloride facilitates fluid and electrolyte movement through cell membranes and is involved in blood coagulation. Your body also uses calcium chloride to facilitate nervous system and muscular function.
Calcium Chloride Use and Dose
Calcium chloride is available in 10 percent solution form that is administered intravenously, Drugs.com says. Monitoring your blood pressure and heart rate are necessary to better detect possible adverse reactions. Adults typically receive between 5 to 10 mL injections when being treated for excess magnesium and potassium. Children are given doses that vary between 0.1 to 0.2 mL for every kilogram of body weight.
Calcium Chloride and Excess Magnesium
Magnesium helps maintain normal heart rhythm, the University of Maryland Medical Center notes. Magnesium is also involved in regulating your blood pressure. How much magnesium you need daily largely depends on age and gender. Infants and children up to 3 years of age need only between 40 to 80 mg of magnesium daily. This dose increases to 120 mg for children that are between 4 to 6 years of age. Children that are 7 to 10 years of age need 170 mg of magnesium daily. Adolescent and adult males need between 270 to 400 mg of magnesium daily. Adolescent and adult females need about 280 to 300 mg of magnesium daily. Having excessive amounts of magnesium causes excessively low blood pressure, slow heart rate and possibly coma. Calcium chloride helps alleviate the symptoms of excessive magnesium, KidsHealth explains.
Calcium Chloride and Too Much Potassium
Potassium is a mineral that is involved in maintaining heart rate and rhythm, MayoClinic.com explains. Excessive potassium, or hyperkalemia, causes irregular heart beats that sometimes develops into cardiac arrest and possibly death. Calcium chloride also causes weakness, muscle fatigue and paralysis. Calcium chloride helps your body regulate potassium levels and treat hyperkalemia, Drugs.com notes.
Adverse Reactions
Calcium chloride causes adverse reactions such as tingling and heat wave sensations, Drugs.com says. Avoid injecting at a rate exceeding 1 mL per minute because rapid injection sometimes causes blood pressure to drop and cardiac syncope. Overdosing on calcium chloride will result in nausea, vomiting, lethargy, coma and sometimes death. Calcium chloride use also causes allergic reactions such as hives, itching, breathing difficulties and swelling of the facial area, KidsHealth explains.
Member Comments