Posted by Jlx on October 13, 2006, at 15:16:35
In reply to Re: magnesium, posted by Meri-Tuuli on October 13, 2006, at 14:19:20
> Hiya.
>
> > And don't forget the option of a nice long bath soak with Epsom salts -- magnesium sulfate.
>
>
> My mother goes on about the health benefits she receives from swimming in (finnish) lakes... she maintains that the minerals etc get absorbed into her skin...I always thought she was talking gibberish, but maybe she has a good point.She very well might. Traditional healing spas where there are hot sprngs and the like, are full of magnesium and other minerals. http://commongroundmag.com/2006/10/springs0610.html
> BTW, you're probably sick to death of this, but can you give me a very brief guide as to how magnesium helped you and specically which type?
I was on Zoloft and Provigil -- and still suicidally depressed -- when I stumbled across George Eby's website about depression, magnesium and stress. I thought it was worth a try. (I had already ordered some when I asked my psychiatrist about it! Who, incidentally, did say that fish oil "might help" when I asked him about that too.) Eby was recommending Carlson's brand magnesium glycinate then, so that's what I bought. I took either 600 or 800 mg the first day, don't remember exactly. The next day I felt enormously better, as in brighter, not depressed, more energy, more hopeful -- as if my black and white world was switched overnight to color. I actually could hardly believe it. I was expecting magnesium glycinate to be like every other supplement I'd tried -- no effect, or "can't be sure" even after a month. I felt so good, so much better, I couldn't bring myself to take those meds again.
I also cut out my usual dairy foods, which I think was key to my magnesium success because it was probably not just the magnesium I was deficient in but the imbalance of calcium to magnesium that was the problem. I had had a calcium kidney stone previously from taking supplements and had quit taking them, so it was just food that I was getting too much calcium from.
I felt great for about 2 months, then some depression came creeping back but in general, I would say that magnesium helped me feel about 50-60% less depressed over the approx 3 years I've been taking it.
Now I usually take magnesium taurate and/or magnesium orotate or magnesium malate, and much less than I did at first -- 200-600 mg as opposed to 600-1,000 mg.
I still notice a direct effect in that if I'm particularly irritable or if I am having very dark self-tormenting thoughts, I take more magnesium and it helps.
I think magnesium (with tyrosine and selenium) also helped clear up some thyroid problems and also my dry skin. I had this horrible dry itchy skin that was mostly impervious to bath oil and lotion. The very next day after my first day of magnesium glycinate, I woke up and reached up to scratch my forehead as usual and found soft moist skin instead of the usual dry scales! I also sat up in bed and stretched like a cat, like my muscles and joints were eased.
Naturally I've taken quite an interest in magnesium since then, reading "The Miracle of Magnesium" by Carolyn Dean, M.D., and "The Magnesium Factor", by Mildred Seelig, M.D. for instance. (I see on Amazon that Carolyn Dean, who is also a doctor of naturopathy, is coming out with a new book on magnesium in Dec.)
While the connection of magnesium to depression is not clear cut, there are some reasonable scientific explanations for why it would be helpful. Magnesium is a natural calcium channel blocker into the cell, for instance, and too much calcium can be excitotoxic to the brain. Magnesium also expands blood vessels and is related to the relaxant function of muscles (while calcium, the contracture). It's also involved in over 350 enzymatic functions in the body so it's not unreasonable to think that nothing works right without it, especially considering the stress response which depletes magnesium.
Well, that wasn't brief, was it? :)
JL
poster:Jlx
thread:692859
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20061013/msgs/694518.html