Magnesium Supplements

[EDEN17]

A lot of things I've read and also a few times when I've visited my GP he has mentioned that anxiety causes a drop in the body's magnesium levels. I take a daily vitmain which seems to contain everything except magnesium. Does anyone take it and notice and significant results? Thanks

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi and welcome to NMP

Adrenaline and cortisol cause magnesium to be extracted from your bones plus anxiety places a strain on your body so you are burning through your nutrition faster which adds to this.

Some useful threads:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthr...ight=magnesium
http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthr...ight=magnesium
http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthr...ight=magnesium
http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=160480

[EDEN17]

Thanks Terry glad to be on board. I'll remember to use the search box next time ☺
Cheers

[icingsugar]

In Italy the doctor put me on magnesium drinks that you take 3 times a day and I did notice an improvement but could have just been coincidence as by this point i'd been having attacks everyday for over a month and was beginning to calm down a little. But my doctor in the UK when I mentioned this said she didn't really believe in magnesium supplements as helping with panic attacks, and in the UK I was taking magnesium in pill form which didn't seem to help strangely enough so I'm not sure what to think

[bartin]

If you search deep down in this article
http://www.nutrientsreview.com/minerals/magnesium.html
you'll find it says there is insufficient evidence that magnesium supplements help in anxiety.

Magnesium supplements may help when you have low blood magnesium levels confirmed by a blood test.

When someone says magnesium helped him/her in anxiety, you don't know if this is a real effect or placebo effect. Magnesium can help relieve constipation so it certainly can help you feel better in this way.

[SADnomore]

I think it makes a difference which type you take. If you take a typical type from the grocery, it probably won't be bioavailable to your body. Insufficient evidence doesn't simply mean that it doesn't work, but rather there may not have been enough studies done with it tailored to measure it's effects on anxiety. ... I think the bioavailability of supplements isn't even considered by most MDs. My doctor said he has no training or knowledge in supplements (lots in pharma, though, I know). A nutritionist or dietician would know more, and hopefully understands the difference. Most OTC vitamins are made up of chiefly fillers, and pass through the body unabsorbed. Absorption is key, vitamins and minerals need to be available to work!

[Davit]

Whether it makes you feel good or not magnesium is necessary for proper function of neurotransmitters.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I agree with Marie & Davit.

If you spin back a few years you will remember that the NHS was firmly against the use of hypnotherapy as it there was no clinical evidence to support it. Now they state that it is more effective in treating refractory IBS than CBT! They have loads of their employees trained in it to.

I have read before that some people have tested some of the commercial magnesium products and found them to be lacking in bioavailibility. On top of this, if you eat a lot of processed foods you may be lacking in an effective digestion process thus it can't absorb properly anyway.

A lot of the food we eat is not fully absorbed due to the modern diet hence a lot of people going back to natural and the popularity of probiotics which show promise in a lot of applications.

Magnesium can be more easily absorbed if it is chelated which just means bound to an amino acid which pulls it along with it and amino acids are very bioavailable.

There are forms such as Angstrom magnesium. These can be absorbed in the mouth to avoid the digestion process. I'm not sure if ionic magnesium is the same as this?

The most bioavailable form seems to be transdermal since the skin is very good at absorbing anything and it bypasses the digestion process again.

Any point to think about is how much. We have to remember that we are burning through our nutrients at a faster rate than those without anxiety hence RDA's are as valid to us as they are to bodybuilders in my opinion! Those guys & girls need a lot more because of demand, to an extent we are the same.

RDA's are for Mr & Mrs Average just like BMI doesn't work if you are a bodybuilder as it will tell you that you are obese! There was a NHS case last year where a lady was told to lose weight and cut down on her calorific intake and it ended up in the papers because she was a competing bodybuilder.

I find that the trouble we have in assessing all of this is that these kinds of articles are general whereas we need something more specific for anxiety which is known to reduce magnesium in the body and burn through nutrients quicker.

On the face of it, it looks like a good review aimed at magnesium supplementation studies but I am mindful that the reviewer is a health writer compiling information from other sources so there is a part of me that is going to want to read those studies to determine if he/she has interpreted them correctly. I realise the website states its independence from possible influencing sources but sadly so do all the dodgy ones so its always worth looking at the studies themselves and comparing to more reputable websites to see if they agree.

[Pinguanxious]

I take magnesium bishlycinate (chelate) and it's amazing for my mood, I also tried an Epsom salts bath the other day.... Amazing!!!

---------- Post added at 22:10 ---------- Previous post was at 22:08 ----------

I took it originally for sleep but it improved my anxiety, I tried magnesium citrate too, but that actually caused me panic attacks! Could be a coincidence but I'm a believer of magnesium

[Davit]

Antibiotics in large doses will waste magnesium. They cost me my teeth, they got soft as icing sugar and broke off. No one told me. But then I was on doses four times max for two months at a time. Doses this high destroy your veins even with a saline lock so I had to have a Picc line. Six in total over that many years. Hopefully you will never get in that condition. Septic Staph infection can kill. For all you HA sufferers you can only get this from an operation in a less than clean Hospital. (I think that means most of them now).