Magnesium

Source for the following table :

Magnesium Basics





I have read that the body prioritises magnesium in the blood and will get it from other parts of the body when it runs short. So testing isn't very reliable, whether it is done on whole blood or just the red cells.

 

Exatest lab measures magnesium and other minerals in the cells, not RBC.

 

@Hutan

Are you saying that you have burning sensations after applying mg oil? I feel prickly sensations on my skin, but that comes from the salts of mg, it's very uncomfortable. I water it down with more water after 20 minutes.

 

@Hutan

There might be a difference between 'food grade' mg chloride and the regular compound.

I buy all my bulk organic spices, sea veggies, coconut oil, olive oil et from this store once a year. I noticed that they sold 'food grade' mg chloride flakes that is ok for consumption too. On their website they give instructions on how to make Mg oil:

https://www.omfoods.com/products/miscellaneous-magnesium-chloride-nigari-flakes

There is also an epsom salts compound that you can drink for constipation, you have to ask the pharmacist for it b/c they keep it behind the counter. The regular epsom salts used for baths contains impurities. That's my understanding.

 

I was under the impression that getting stinging from topical magnesium supplements and sprays was an indication that magnesium levels were low. Once magnesium levels are no longer deficient then the stinging should reduce or go away.

These links might be of general interest for people interested in magnesium:

https://www.sevenminerals.com/blogs/health-center/magnesium-itching-why-does-magnesium-oil-sting

https://drjockers.com/best-magnesium-supplement/

 

The reasons they give for mg oil stinging doesn't make much sense to me, the claims they make are almost bizarre tbh.

They go on to advertise "no sting magnesium bath flakes". Would that mean you're not deficient or that it's not helping?


#1 Choose a magnesium product more suitable for sensitive skin
Instead of directly applying magnesium oil to your skin, you can choose a product that may be more suitable for sensitive skin, such as magnesium flakes or magnesium oil with aloe vera.

No I use an aloe vera mg base gel and the 'itchiness', prickly sensation is just as irritating. Sometimes it itches and sometimes it doesn't within the SAME week. So the 'higher the itchiness the more deficient" claim they make is nonsense.

 

Many pwME experience vertigo/vestibular disturbances and vertigo migraine that might be an indication of mg deficiencies.

 

I bathe in magnesium flakes & i must say a soak in that or dead sea salts does seem to calm & relax me a lot more than a bath with regular bubbles, which may of course be pure placebo! I rinse my 'delicate areas' afterwards, but have never experiences irritation. Magnesium 'oil' itches like crazy but it doesn't sting me, i gave up on it because its such a faff & i hate the feel of it so it needs rinsing off, too much effort.

I'm under the impression that you cant overdose on mg so ive not been concerned about the fact that I also do take it orally but only because it's in combination with calcium, boron, zinc, K2 & D3 as a bone support formula that i was advised to take for osteopenia.

I think the idea about it only stinging if you're deficient is likely a pseudoscientific thing like 'if you get a headache on your 'juice cleanse' it means its working and your body is releasing toxins into the blood to be cleared' type of thing. The evidence for it seems to be that it stops stinging/itching after a while, but that could easily just be desensitisation after your skin has become used to it.

But of course, as always i may be wrong

ETA: i started on it because back in the day (ie when i was newly dx & not wise to the quackery) i consulted Dr Myhill who did a blood test 'red cell megnesium', which showed 'very low', but given how alarmingly pseudoscientific & poor her advice seems to be on other things i scrapped paying attention to it, but i carry on with the baths for enjoyment sake.

 

How do hair tests for magnesium fare? Provides a measurement indicative of longer time period and may be interesting as it not blood based .

I can remember cortisol being assessed via hair for one study discussed here and pre CAC scans seemingly hair testing was used for calcium levels ( advised by a bioscience/ chemistry lecturer years ago )

 

I have no faith in hair tests at all, no matter what is being tested. In my opinion, there is probably too much risk of shampoo, conditioner, hair spray and other hair products contaminating the results. Also if someone uses air freshener at home and walks through it it might affect the results, and also anyone walking beside a road with traffic might cause problems from exhaust fumes. No doubt there could be other problems I haven't thought of.

This is just my opinion, and I'm sure there are people who would disagree with me, but I would be hard to convince that hair tests were reliable.

 

Does anyone have any thoughts on pico- and nano-magnesium in water, supposedly highly absorbable (orally) directly into the bloodstream and into cells through the mucosa because of their small size, such as this stuff and this stuff?

 

I don't have any thoughts on those except that they seem to be very expensive.

A couple of years ago I bought a 500g bag of magnesium citrate powder (food grade) for under £10 from Ebay or Amazon. I take it at a dose of quarter of a level teaspoon in orange juice. I keep it in a plastic box with an airtight lid, and I still have loads left.

Ebay had a much greater list of choices and prices than Amazon when I looked today.

 

Thanks, Arnie. I think they're expensive because they've undergone a different kind of process.

I have reason to think that I can't absorb magnesium very well through the gut and so the ordinary stuff isn't going to help me much (and hasn't).

 

As far as I am aware the smallest size you can get for magnesium is a single magnesium ion. Hard to see how you can have half an ion!
Epsom salts dissolved in water comes as magnesium ions. They attract water molecules around them but so they will in any aqueous solution.

Magnesium ions will be absorbed much quicker than magnesium hydroxide particles as milk of magnesia but nobody takes that as a way to supplement magnesium as far as I know.

A nanometre is roughly the size of a single hydrated magnesium ion. A picometre is smaller than a single atom so I don't know what that is supposed to be about.

 

Lactate is the best form of magnesium for me. The powder seems more potent than capsules. I use Premier Research's Magnesium Powder, which is lactate. I order it from Amazon.