WARNING regarding magnesium supplements

Hi everyone!

I have only posted one or two times on this whole site but the support has been amazing so I just wanted to return the favour by giving my own advice.

This is of course my own personal experience so I do not want to make people worry but it is worth being aware of.

I have been on 60mg fluoxetine for approx 5 weeks and decided to try magnesium supplementation which seems to be so popular for anxiety etc at the moment. My warning? PLEASE talk to your doctor before trying magnesium - I took 300mg magnesium citrate daily for one week and my depression and anxiety actually got worse. My theories are that I was either not magnesium deficient much anyway and my body couldn't handle it OR that the magnesium citrate (often used as a laxative) was interfering with the absorption of my fluoxetine. Since coming off magnesium a couple of days ago I am suddenly feeling much better!

So to summarise I would say talk to the doc first about which type to use and if you even need to use it and especially ask about potential interactions! I'm disappointed because I thought it was going to be really helpful but perhaps it's not for me or I was using an inappropriate form of magnesium.

Good luck to those who have really benefited from it :)

Lozza2

Thats under the RDA value and far lower than the safe doses it has been clinically studied with so I doubt its due to not being deficient. I think its very significant that you are only 5 weeks into your med though and at that time when we are still adjusting, it makes sense there was some form of interaction given how you tested it.

I tend to find asking pharmacists is a good option, some GP's are very poor on these meds alone but if your GP seems knowledgeable (some people on here have shown they have good GP's afterall) then its worth it, especially at the harder stages of anxiety or when starting meds as you can be so sensitive to all sorts of things.

I found I was very sensitive to most things but as I moved through recovery stages I could then take them without any side effects. So, maybe when you are more settled you will see a better result? I would look towards a different form of magnesium (some detailed threads onto the Natural Remedies board about all this and how to bypass the digestive system with some forms) though as citrate is well known for side effects compared to some of the others which don't affect your digestion.

Another possibility is that it was the side effects period but you would know yourself based on when that week was.

I agree with you on checking things. For some things its overkill e.g. it tells you to check vitamin C if you are on any meds and that could mean an antihistamine, antibiotic and something very strong but really you could gain the same amount of vitamin C as in some of them by eating a load of strawberries! But there are things on the counter such as Ginkgo Biloba and these have NICE recommendation for further study in helping with mild GAD which sounds very promising except that it is also listed as a bad interaction with SSRI/SNRI's! So, someone could easily make a mistake there and you won't know without checking an online interaction checker (something I always do first) or asking a medical professional about it.

Good luck with your recovery!