My insomnia relief (vit D + magnesium)

--2012 edit--
If you suspect mercury toxicity, do not use supplements with selenium in them, or selenium supplements.

Use supplemental zinc to reinforce against insomnia, and go for fatty fish like mackerel, or grass-fed, organic beef with a decently high fat content. Flax seed oil does contain the basic omega fatty acids, but animal fats are still superior in molecular composition, weight and bioavailability for neurons.

Fat from pigs, either organic or inorganic, is a very, very bad idea. Pigs store their excess toxins in their fats, and store fats in their muscles just like humans do. There is a reason why we are called 'The long pig' by cannibalistic tribes.

Do NOT go for oysters and shellfish for your zinc, they are filter-feeders and especially vulnerable to toxic runoff from industry.

I use zinc glycinate from NOW foods, with 30% bioavailability. Any -oxide forms of your mineral supplements will simply get dumped and you'll get excess oxygen in the blood. Rather uncomfortable. Fish oil capsules can be an acceptable alternative, but do you -know- if they are toxicity tested in every batch?

Potassium levels are important under magnesium supplementation. If you develop sleep restlessness, eat potatoes that are not boiled to dissolving, and use organic unsulfered molasses 2tbsp, Sea Salt 1/2 to 1 tsp, and 1tbsp lemon juice in hot water through the day. This mix tastes like V8 juice.

// Experienced folk will point out I forgot to add info about kelp/iodine supplementation in here. Yes, I have hypothyroid issues because of the dental Amalgam fillings. Yes, I do use kelp powder. It's very good!
---end 2012 edit---

In 2010 I stopped my seasonal, chronic insomnia with vitamin D and magnesium.
I've had severe insomnia troubles about once a year since getting diabetes type 1 and lots of dental Amalgam work. I have learned through internet research that a mercury load from dental Amalgam wipes out the body's mineral resources.
If you get cavities you are already needing vitamin D to allow you to absorb and utilize calcium, magnesium, iron and multiple trace elements to maintain good dental enamel and health- so be careful with your dentist.

Anyways, I had heavy insomnia. It always came over a course of one to two weeks with gradually increasing difficulty falling asleep, with the constant need to keep busy and to try and figure out why I wasn't able to rest. My neck, shoulders and eventually other muscles would go tense and would not relax with massage, heat or bed, and my sleep before complete insomnia would be spotty and restless. It would always continue to the edge of madness and inability to concentrate.

Uhm.. anyways- for magnesium-deficiency induced insomnia-
buy 1,000-2,000 iu/20-35 mcg dose vitamin D3 tablets, drops or oil capsules, and 250-500 mg magnesium citrate, chelate (various forms like gluconate, sulfate, etc), or if you cannot get better, oxide. For best effect, buy vegetable-origin Vitamin B complex depot (slow-release) tablets to use with the magnesium (they are co-factors with eachother. )

1) Take the vitamin D3 to prime your intestines for absorbing the magnesium. Take it with a fatty food like cheese, fatty meat, fatty fish (like salmon or herring/mackerel), or just a teaspoon of olive, vegetable or canola oil. For nervous or very ill conditions, start this gradually with just one or two pills. For young adult or relatively robust and brave folk, go for a physiological (equivalent to a healthy human's production) dose of 10,000-20,000 iu/250-500 mcg D3. 40,000 iu/ 1,000 mcg vitamin D3 is the healthy adult caucasian male's limit of vitamin D3 production in the skin during full noon sun tanning. You can search and read more on your own on google for info on vitamin D3 actual toxicity. Wait 2-4 hours minimum to allow the D3 to saturate your body and especially the intestinal track.

1a) WARNING - Vitamin D is associated with hypercalcemia, or high absorbtion of calcium. If you are using calcium tablets, do not do this protocol while taking calcium. Read up on how to safely use calcium, magnesium and vitamin D3 in the right balance, fx, for osteopenia and osteoperosis. Vitamin k2 is indicated for those conditions. Read what prescription medications interact adversely with vitamin D3 here: http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-929-VITAMIN%20D.aspx...
--2012 edit--
Science has disproved vitamin-D3 induced hypercalcemia in healthy adults with max 1,000 iu supplemental calcium. 143 adults with dosages ranging from 2,000 to 7,000 daily IU D3 were followed for 4 months and never achieved blood calcium levels higher than 9,0 (just below the 10,1 hypercalcemia threshold.)

This does not mean you cannot develop hypercalcemia with pushing extra calcium supplements through your system! I still do not reccommend pushing past the 1,000 limit. Also, a magnesium balance still is ideal at the 2:1 calcium to magnesium ration.
--end 2012 edit--

1b) WHAT TO EXPECT - I took a 50,000 iu dose on my first time trying vit D3, in the middle of a severe insomnia issue, four days into sleeplessness. Twenty minutes after my first set of pills (ten at a time), my shoulders relaxed their tension, my head eased up, I felt a lightness in my muscles, my tensions calmed down. I felt sleepy and relieved. If your insomnia is accompanied by long, lingering lower back pain and wasting muscle mass like your heel spur showing (foot), a 50,000 iu dose can result in a 1/3 pain decrease in one hour, and full relief overnight (case of an american immigrant friend who told me of his sleep and ache issues during the same winter).

1c) WHAT MIGHT GO WRONG - Few people report adverse vitamin D3 effects. One osteoperosis sufferer has reported achey muscles and joint aches, and the same symptoms every time she took Vitamin D3. This is a sign of a more complex set of nutrient needs. A mentally ill person with bi-polar/seasonal disorder issues will likely experience a gradual onset of a manic episode (hyperactivity and the need to be creative and active) - this is remedied with magnesium and a lowered daily vitD3 dose.

2) Take the magnesium, with the B-complex vitamin if you have bought it. Aim for between 200-500 mg to stay on the safe side, 2-4 hours after the vit D3, when you are home and not anticipating guests or to be busy. I have myself taken heavy (up to 1200 mg) of magnesium in one go, always in depot tablets, at times when first experimenting- I am under fourty and on few prescription medications, but I do not reccommend uncautious self-treatment.

2a) WARNING(s) - Magnesium relaxes muscles, relaxes the heartbeat, and can make you quite sleepy. It lowers the effectiveness of Antibiotics and biophosfates, and increases the effect of muscle relaxants- and water pills make you absorb it more. It can be dangerous for people with kidney problems, but is known for lowering the chances of repeat kidney stones. ( http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-998-MAGNESIUM.aspx?a...
)

2b) SIDE EFFECTS - Magnesium oxide resulted in elevated blood pressure, hindbrain headache/throbbing, light wooziness and overoxidized blood for me (very, very bright red blood that would run too waterily whenever I checked my blood sugars). This was at the higher doses, 500-1,000 mg. Magnesium citrate is used in hospitals to treat constipation and to make the intestines dump it's contents- it is a safe treatment for constipation and hard stools, but in combination with vitamin D3, it is more absorbed into the intestinal walls. In depot-tablet form it will not likely cause runny stool, but if it does, take less.

2c) SIDE EFFECTS IN CASES OF MERCURY LOAD - For me, I found I had a tolerance limit to how much magnesium I could take on a daily and weekly basis. My health issues have started from the beginning in a dramatic way after dental amalgam fillings, and my system would like to dump the mercury fast- it seems to me that magnesium can help flush it out like a waterfall, with an accumulating effect (the longer I take the magnesium, the more mercury-toxicity effects I see without the sleeping problems). Without first eliminating my fillings and/or using a proven chelation enhancer (fx, Alpha Liopic acid, N-acetyl cysteine, Zeolite powder, glutathione precursors, etc) to help push the resident mercury load in my body, I was just freeing up the mercury to float in my bloodstream and effect other systems like the brain. These secondary effects came gradually, and look like this:
*acute forgetfulness in the middle of a simple activity
*easy distractability/trying to multifunction on 3-4 tasks at once, with poor judgement
*less or non existant dreaming
*insecurity/depressive feelings and cyclical thoughts when alone
* in the heavier stages, after the first symptoms after a few days, illogical and heavy bursts of crying, with the need to get in private to cry and battle it out. It was without meditating on things that made me sad, and it made me feel like crying out in wanting to pass away because of the illogical emotional distress. This stage would pass within 1-3 hours.

3) MAINTENANCE DOSING IN CASE OF MERCURY ISSUES - 1,000-2,000 iu of D3/day. Magnesium in combination with b-complex vitamins (optional) when your sleep becomes restless, lightly, according to your needs, and watch yourself to learn when you are at your threshold level. Learn about magnesium (http://www.krispin.com/magnes.html) and in turn about mercury, detox protocols- and remember that it is neither forever, or deadly right now, since you're still feeling ok enough to be on the internet. <3

4) MAINTENANCE DOSE in winter at northerly latitudes or in sunlight-poor lifestyles (Your car, your windows, your cloudy days and your indoor lamps do NOT result in your skin producing vitamin D3, and a bare face and forearms do NOT produce strong levels of vitamin D3. Diets rich in shallow-water fatty fish, grass and outdoor grazed animal meat and seal/walrus blubber are vitamin-D rich.)
*Aim for blood vitamin D3 levels reccommended by the vitamin D council ( http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d/vita...
) by testing with your doctor. 2500-5000 iu/60-125 mcg per day is ideal for adults, though your individual needs are based on weight, sun exposure and health conditions.
*Use supplemental or topical magnesium if you use over 4,000 IU/100 mcg of D3/day. Magnesium is the primary, most important co-factor of Vitamin D3, and you'll want to prevent magnesium-deficiency issues.


I hope this will help you. This message will not wash your dishes, do your laundry or homework, increase your salary or stop your kids from picking their noses. D3, b-complex and magnesium though are an often effective treatment though for putting Depression right when used together with counseling, patience and care. D3 effects many things, and the more you read about it,
I hope,
The more you might understand that we really are
wonderfully and fearfully made.

(Food sources of magnesium: http://www.algaecal.com/magnesium/magnesium-rich-foods.html)

(How to use Epsom Salt foot baths for magnesium treatment to avoid supplement side-effects: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/use-epsom-salts-13-wonderful-ways.html)

(Can a magnesium deficiency cause insomnia?: http://www.sophisticatededge.com/magnesium-for-insomnia1.html
)
(Effect of Mercury on the body: http://www.drkaslow.com/html/mercury_s_influence.html
(Note mineral deficiencies due to displacement and drain on minerals due to high glutathione production to remove the mercury load.)) Tweet