10 Side Effects of Antacids
Side Effect #7: Muscle Weakness
Muscle weakness or myasthenia occurs when there is lack of muscle strength. It can be generally divided into true or perceived muscle weakness. True weakness occurs in conditions such as inflammatory myopathy, muscular dystrophy, and myasthenia gravis. It can also occur when there is electrolyte imbalance such as hypokalemia. Perceived weakness occurs when an individual feel that more effort is necessary to exert the same force despite having normal muscle strength. This can be seen in conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome.
Muscle weakness may occur as a side effect of aluminum-containing antacids as it binds to phosphate resulting in low phosphate levels, which in turn causes muscle weakness.
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