Magnesium update

I've been taking 600mg of magnesium citrate (The Vitamin Shoppe brand) for about 40 days now. I cannot attribute my state of feeling so much better exclusively to magnesium because I incorporated other changes as well, but I can say that it has helped with migraine/headache control, sleeping better, overall calmness and reduced cramping that time of the month.

Magnesium citrate never caused me any stomach issues so taking 600mg has not been a problem so far.

 

Most cardiologists routinely prescribe it for arrhythmia. At one time it was the only thing that helped my heart stay regular. Back then I was taking 2,000 mg a day. Rotstein takes 4,000 mg a day for his heart. I asked him if it gave him diarrhea and he said only at first.

Right now I take 1,000 mg a day and if I feel like a migraine is coming on or if the weather is changing I pop another. If I could only take two supplements, they would be magnesium and Vit. D.

 

The mag I take right now comes in 200mg tablets. I need to find a brand that is still mag citrate but has more mg in one tablet. I was just reading a journal article that said no more than 400mg should be taken at a time in order to reap the best benefits.

I'd like to work my way up to 1000mg a day.

 

Did you take the magnesium with prescription medicine as well or in lieu of? Personal reasons as I have an arrhythmia and finally found a medicine and dosage that works! But like the natural route better. I know to never change medicines without talking to doctor or herbalist.

 

Im recently at 600mg of citrate too and I have noticed no side effects unlike other times I have tried other types and got really bad GI issues. Too soon for me to weigh in on benefits.

 

I have to thank John of Ohio for suggesting the citrate form a while back.

 

I thank him for alerting me to Vit D....I rarely get sick now and i attribute it to that.

 

I take Sectral for supraventricular tacycardia. Lots of people with mitral valve prolapse have arrhythmia of this type. In 1998, they tried to ablate the abnormal electrical pathway that was causing it but it was in a dangerous spot so they just confirmed that it wasn't life threatening and didn't do the ablation. Sectral is a beta blocker but it's also approved for arrhythmia and PVCs. I refused digitalis because of the risk involved. Once I was put on Sectral, I was able to manage. I had been on the magnesium since the early 80s but, after reading the connection, I upped my dose and it helped a lot. I was able to cut my Sectral dose in half after upping the magnesium dose.

 

http://www.ancient-minerals.com/magnesium-supplements/

Here's an article on the different types of magnesium. I take three different types during the day.

 

thank you tremendously!

 

thank you again

 

I have just started to take 400mg a day for about 2 weeks now,it's probably to soon to tell but I do feel more relaxed in my muscles and am feeling calmer lately,wherever the effect is coming from I will take it!

 

Kim - may I impose and ask your regimen on magnesium?

 

Great James...keep us/me informed - I'd like to know what happens.

 

It took me 6 weeks to notice a difference but it can take up to six months. I have a wonderful article I will PM you by a clinical dietician on dosage, type of magnesium and other info.

 

Well, if on the subject of essential but commonly deficient nutrients, everyone should also be aware of selenium. Most regard this mineral as a dastard mineral poison—which it can be.

But in fact, like magnesium and a few other essential nutrients, Se (selenium) is absolutely required for good health, and most moderns do not ingest enough of it.

In fact, it was selenium that in 1997 got me into “VMSs,” vitamins, minerals, and supplements. I was teaching biology at the time (now retired) and thought I well-understood nutrition and nutrients. The dietary deficiency of various micro-nutrients, such as selenium, was simply seldom considered in the last century, at least by those of us with real college biology educations. A few mystics and aging Rainbow types might have been promoting various “electrolytes,” “minerals,” and “essential oils.” But clearly to my educated mind this was all deluded bogusness. Come on. I ate a very proper and nutritious diet. Any ills I had were from pathogens or bad genetics, period.

Then, skeptically (at the start at least), I read a report where a pile of aging geezers in Arizona were slipped either 200 micrograms of selenomethionine, or an identical sugar pill into their diets. This big study was done by a supplement manufacturer who was certain that geezers taking this selenomethionine would subsequently have reduced skin cancer, a problem in retirement Arizona.

Well, when I started reading the newspaper reports of the study, I chuckled so righteously. The study was a complete flop, in regards to preventing skin cancer. No evidence for that at all. Worse, the FDA rules required that the study be terminated before completion. There were some statistical indications that the study was seriously flawed and must be terminated. Exactly as I would have envisioned. Nothing good could come from ingesting 200 micrograms each day of some obscure mineral poison. Selenium. I remembered it from my chemistry courses. Bad toxin. What could those people in Arizona have been thinking?

Well, their thoughts on selenium-suppressed skin cancer did prove—half way through the study—to be in error. But something much bigger showed up. In double-blind clinical trials, no one, neither patients or doctors, are to know who’s getting the real drug and who’s getting a sugar pill, the “control.”

(An account of the study is here: http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Jan97/selenium.ssl.html )

But FDA trial rules require that a computer know from the start who’s getting what, and as the trial progresses, health data must be fed in and analyzed; as it was in this trial. After just a few years, long before the designed end of the study, computer data brought everything to an end. What were those data?

In short, selenomethionine caused significant declines in stomach, colon, prostate, and other cancers, all safely and for a cost of just a nickle a day.

I looked up selenomethonine, and there were other clinical data showing many other health benefits. (For those interested, read of them here: http://www.naturalnews.com/016446.html )

I didn’t want to experience stomach, colon, or prostate cancer, and I knew that most cancers take decades to form. If I started taking the selenomethionine 15 years ago, my chances of geriatric debilitation from any of these cancers would be markedly reduced.

So, I started taking 200 micrograms of selenomethionine each day, and have all the while. I’d strongly recommend that everyone do the same. Selenium brings health, as does magnesium and a few other nutritive essentials.

–John of Ohio

 

Thanks, John! Is there health condition that may get aggravated if selenium is added?

Magnesium, for example, should not be taken by those who have kidney damage. These individuals must check with their physician first.

 

I rotate citrate, ascorbate, and glycinate. I take the most at night and break up the rest between morning and afternoon. When I'm on 2,000 I take 500 am 500 noon and 1000 right before bed.

I had a tissue mineral analysis through blood, hair, and saliva that showed my calcium/magnesium ratio was too high. That's when I changed the type of magnesium I was taking. I probably won't do it again because it was very expensive but I think I have my vitamins pretty much adjusted to suit my needs. That reminds me....I have to give myself the B-12 injection. I forgot yesterday.

 

Intrepid,

I know of no such concerns; as 200 micrograms is an extremely small amount. A microgram is millionth of a gram, one one-thousandth of a milligram. A single Brazil nut can have multiples of 200 micrograms of Se.

Interestingly, there is a region of China where the soil has virtually no selenium. For centuries the people living there have suffered from all sorts of cancers and neurological diseases. A few decades ago Chinese doctors figured it all out and began mandating selenium supplementation in the province. Miraculously, cancers just disappeared and people started feelling really well.

But a few women thought more was better, so they popped milligrams, not micrograms of the stuff. Yep, they got sick from selenium poisoning. But when they went off of it, their health was restored and all was well. Selenium toxicity is apparently not enduring.

One other interesting fact. When selenium was administered to inmates at a California prison, fights and other behavioral disturbances plummeted. Selenium not only prevents many cancers, it promotes mental well-being and brain function.

Everyone, do yourself (and your family members) a favor. Pop a single 200 microgram pill of selenomethionine for breakfast each day. It will be the best nickel you could spend.

http://www.swansonvitamins.com/SWU068/ItemDetail?csi=SLR211&csp=SWU068
http://www.vitacost.com/Vitacost-Selenium-SeLECT-200-mcg-300-Capsules-1

--John of Ohio

 

There is no Selenium in the soil here in Sweden.I took it a few years ago when someone told me this.I then stopped when I read of an increased diabetes risk,I am already at risk as I have a family history of it.

I just googled ''selenium and diabetes risk'' and came up with several studies on the first page that said it did and it didn't.It's almost comical to look at the search results as it says both..It's late and I'm going to bed so don't have time to read them.You might want to take a look.