Is the simultaneous injection of calcium and magnesium desirable in the treatment of tetany?
It will be seen that a simultaneous injection of magnesium and calcium salts is generally, if not almost always, used in treatment of grass tetany. One of the principal reasons for this combined use of calcium and magnesium is probably the difficulty, in certain cases, of distinguishing between hypomagnesaemic grass tetany and hypocalcaemic milk fever on the basis of the external symptoms. A second reason is that, as has been said, hypomagnesaemia is very often accompanied by hypocalcaemia. Even from the therapeutic point of view, injection of the two salts is justified by the fact that a slightly too rapid parenteral injection particularly an intravenous injection) or too high a dose of magnesium salt incurs the risk of paralysis. This paralysing effect on the part of magnesium is counter-balanced by calcium. The question now arises whether, from the point of view of the therapeutic method employed, this simultaneous injection of magnesium and calcium salts is desirable. There are cer
