Magnesium and Calcium Use

Regarding the comments on Magnesium use. The RDA is 400 mg, but as others said, it will vary depending on person. It is best to start out very low (sometimes as little as 25mg) and build up. To the person who had the low blood pressure when taking magnesium, that is just because you were very magnesium deficient and the receptors in your cells were absorbing the maximum amount, like a dry sponge. Once your body had become acclimated to the magnesium, those effects would go away. I am speaking from experience. I am a Type 1 diabetic and I had really bad fibromyalgia. Type 1 diabetics are about as magnesium deficient as anyone can be. I too, had low blood pressure for about two weeks (the time it takes for the receptors to downgrade their receptivity/aka the sponge to get less dry), but I enjoyed every minute of it because my muscles finally relaxed and there was no pain.

If anyone out there gets those symptoms from magnesium and you are disturbed by it, just go down on the dose and then build your way up over time to the RDA. It doesn't make sense to take more, because at a certain point, the receptors will be downgraded and will not accept any more magnesium and you will just pee or poop it out. The RDA for diabetics is 600mg/day which I take.

That being said, you should take magnesium citrate or chloride because they are the best absorbed. In the book, the Magnesium Miracle, it says chloride is the best, but I am very sensitive to deficiency, I immediately get restless legs syndrome if I go even one day w/o supplementing, so I know if a product is good or not. For me, chloride in the pill form doesn't work so well. I take magnesium citrate by Solgar (I have found differences in brands and for me Solgar has worked the best/best absorbed). DO NOT bother with magnesium oxide. Studies that have been done show very low bioavailability in the oxide form and you are wasting your money unless you are taking it to make you poop. You only absorb about 4% of the magnesium in magnesium oxide versus absorbing over 85% of the magnesium in magnesium citrate.

However, for those who are very magnesium deficient, it could be ok to start with the magnesium oxide since magnesium can have such strong detox effects that if you are very deficient and have been for a long time, you can have a too intense detox with a better absorbed magnesium product such as chloride or citrate.

I know personally, because there was no info on going through a detox in the Magnesium miracle book and so I went through an intense detox by accident; some of it very painful. Magnesium helps clean out calcification of your soft tissues and when the calcium is being removed, it must pass across muscles and nerves before it gets to the lymph system to be excreted through the kidneys, liver and bowel. Since calcium increases the firing of the nerves, it increases pain sensation in the nerves and increases muscle contractions.

Magnesium does the opposite, it lowers firing in the nerves and so lessens pain and relaxes muscles. Anyway, since magnesium causes calcium to be released from body tissues, (muscles/joints etc) where it shouldn't have been in the first place, if you start out taking too much magnesium, you could experience significant pain in the parts of the body where "calcification" of the soft tissues has begun. As always, be sure to drink at least 8 glasses of water/ day to help with any detox.

I had a lot of calcification in my neck and shoulders and therefore, after that first two weeks of relaxation and low blood pressure, everything went to normal and then the real detox started and I had bad headaches caused from the extreme muscle contraction and nerve sensitivity of the calcium leaving the areas around my neck vertebrae and my shoulder muscles.

Before I started taking the magnesium, I could barely move my neck around it was so stiff; and when I did, it sounded crunchy in my head like a bag of rocks moving around. Now after the detox, my neck and shoulders are very pliable and no more sound when I move my head around. It went from sounding like a bag of rocks to a bag of pebbles, to sand. I can't get rid of it fully because I have a genetic condition where my kidneys cant excrete phosphorous properly and, as such, the excess phosphorous buildup causes calcium to be deposited in my soft tissues and joints.

This is at the root of many people's fibromyalgia pain. It is also associated with irritable bowel syndrome, arthritis, gall bladder, and interstitial cystitis problems among other things. If you are interested in this digression, look up Dr. St. Amand. He is a research doctor with UCLA and treats fibromyalgia with guaifenesin. The guaifenesin is the main and only ingredient in some forms of Mucinex (you can buy it generic) and the compound, as well as getting rid of mucus, also helps the kidneys to excrete more phosphorous by helping phosphorous bind to the kidneys' receptor sites. It is a condition similar to TMAU in that there is a genetic deficiency in producing enzymes which are used to convert chemicals so they can be excreted by the kidneys.

Magnesium supplementation can also help both of these because one of the things magnesium does is to help the body better absorb and metabolize proteins. Enzymes are made from proteins, so if you have better protein absorption and metabolization, you could be able to make enzymes better and then excrete chemicals better such as phosphorous or the chemicals that build up and cause Body Odor in the case of TMAU.

If you are going to take the magnesium, as I said, start out with a very low dose because if you have problems after taking it, it is most likely from the detox and not the magnesium itself. Magnesium is used in over 400 enzymatic and chemical reactions in the body and if you are truly bothered by magnesium, it could probably be due to a genetic mutation, since magnesium is so truly therapeutic for the vast majority of people. Still, if you haven't tried anything before, it is always best to take the lowest dose possible, especially if you already know you are chemically sensitive and reactive. You can always take more, if not enough.

A good way to know if you are really chemically sensitive, is to try "Rescue Remedy" (be aware that the regular formula is made with alcohol if you are alcohol sensitive or allergic like myself). You can get an alcohol free form of Rescue Remedy. Anyway, if you try Rescue Remedy and you can tell it helps you, then it means that you are very sensitive and any magnesium you try, you should probably cut up the pill into a size where it is about 10-25 mg, or just take the magnesium oxide to start with since that is about how much you get when you take it since the bioavailability is so low.

If Rescue Remedy does not make you feel any different than before and it seems like so much hokum, it just means that you are not as chemically sensitive and you can be a little bit more confident about taking magnesium and when you start out, not having to start out at such a low dose. Rescue Remedy does work, for people who are really sensitive. I am sensitive, but not so much so, so Rescue Remedy does nothing for me. Still, I have friends, and both have had bad anxiety and mental problems, where they have had to take strong psych meds and they swear by the Rescue Remedy. It works for them, so if you are like that or have relatives like that, then be careful with the magnesium as a little can have a strong effect on you. Another good way to get magnesium in a little and safe amount to start with is to drink Red Clover tea. Seaweed is also high in magnesium.

To optimize magnesium absorption, magnesium should be taken in the morning with Vit A(10k = RDA), Vit C(500mg), and a good B complex that does NOT have added calcium. I take Country Life B Complex, which is a capsule and very well absorbed. So take A, B complex, C and Magnesium. They all help each other be absorbed.

Also, do not take supplemental Calcium. (If you are under 35, it is probably ok, but after that, your skeleton is formed and any more calcium that you take will just end up in your soft tissues, causing plaque to build up in your arteries and calcium to wear away your joints so you might need hip or knee replacement or get bad arthritis. This whole calcium thing is a big racket and calcification of soft tissues causes many of the health problems that people are having today. There is an article published online in the British Medical Journal (July 29, 2010) that taking calcium supplements of 500 mg or more/day was associated with a 30% increase in the relative risk of heart attack and provided limited bone benefits. This article concluded that its best to get calcium from foods rather than supplements.

I feel vindicated, from my own experience, I never took Calcium, before I knew all I do now, I just, for some reason, intuitively shied away from it, even though my diabetic doctor kept telling me to take it, and thank God I didn't take it, since I now know the dangers of calcification and that I have a condition where my body deposits excess calcium in my soft tissues anyway. I am 48 and a massage therapist and active and I have never taken calcium and still do not and I have no osteoporosis whatsoever.

It is also important for those of you who are calcium champions to know that even if you do take calcium, there is no way it can be deposited into your joints without the hormone Calcitonin. Calcitonin is a hormone produced in the Thyroid gland and it makes it so that calcium can be deposited in the bone. Without it, calcium cannot get into the bone, and bone loss can happen. Magnesium is the main thing used to make calcitonin, so if you are magnesium deficient, it doesn't matter how much calcium you take, it will not get into your bone. It will just start the calcification process in your soft tissues. Why do you think people get old and stiff? It is because calcium, which is pretty much like cement, has gotten into their soft tissues and joints. People have the misguided idea that taking calcium relaxes them. The only reason it does so, is because when you are overcalcified, taking calcium causes magnesium to be released into soft tissues thereby causing relaxation. Sort of the same thing that people think magnesium causes muscle contractions. There is no way it can chemically since magnesium is a metal mineral and lowers electrical firing. Electrical firing is associated with muscle relaxation and nerve relaxation. Calcium increases electrical firing and if you feel relaxed after taking it, it is because you are already calcium overloaded and it has just pushed some magnesium out of your tissues and thats why you are getting the relaxation feeling. Then people can wrongly think magnesium is causing muscle contractions when they take it, but that is because, it is pushing calcium out of the soft tissues and it is the calcium that is causing the pain and contractions. Think of it like an amplifier, Magnesium turns the volume down on things and Calcium turns it up.

Anyway, talk to your doctor, do the research and then make the decision yourself. What I am telling you is from my research and personal physical experience. if you do decide to take magnesium, take it with the above recommended vitamins. Probably the two most important vitamins to take are the Magnesium together with a good absorbable B complex.

When you take the magnesium, take citrate, or chloride. STAY AWAY FROM magnesium stearate and magnesium aspartate as both stearate and aspartate are neurotoxins. I have the Ancient Minerals magnesium oil and it is great, but for me, I find I still need to take the pills to get enough magnesium. Also a good way to start getting a little magnesium is through taking a bath 2, but no more than 3x a week with magnesium sulfate( Epsom Salts ). Anyway, good luck. Magnesium can be a miracle for you, if you use it properly.