Magnesium, how important and how to take?
A dear nursing friend of mine suggested I supplement my diet with Mg. She thought it would help in a few areas, such as sleep, cramps, menopause, restless leg etc. I thought I was getting enough with my food intake, my daily green smoothie powder, avocado, cashews, almonds, dark chocolate, oatmeal, spinach etc. I believe women over 40 should receive around 400mg of Mg daily. Maybe a top up with a supplement for a month or so could help. What sort of Mg should I ingest? Any thoughts?
Comments
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Very. Magnesium, Potassium and a bit of Selenium are a must.... unfortunately, our chemically fertilized soils no longer give us what we need. The best way to get your minerals (other than from good soil is from herb tea because the making of tea positively charges the minerals for uptake. The below is from the herbal medicine class I'm taking.
Recommend a mineral tea, to be taken 2-3 times a day, prepared fresh each time, using available combinations of Alfalfa, Red Clover, Nettle Leaf, Mormon Tea, Oat Herb or Dandelion Leaf.
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Thanks Judson for the tea blend, I'll give it a crack. Hey do you realise you have over 2000 posts? It wasn't that long ago you were celebrating 1000! You're a machine!
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@jodienancarrow I'm in agreement with the herbal tea. You could also try rotating them as nourishing herbal infusions. Red clover, nettle and oatstraw are three that Susun Weed rotates through (along with linden and comfrey). Its a longer extraction so maybe getting more of the minerals out.
Vinegar is good at extracting minerals as well so you could make a herbal vinegar with any of @judsoncarroll4's herb suggestions and turn that into a lovely salad dressing.
If you were thinking that you needed a supplement, Magnesium glycinate is the best choice (least likely to cause loose stool). Mag oxide is the worst choice (most likely to cause loose stool). Works if you suffer from constipation but I find that if I take any mag supplement, it will have that effect. @LaurieLovesLearning mentioned an ancient mineral salt in another post, that is applied to the feet. I think that is an excellent way of getting extra magnesium. A foot soak with epsom slats is another choice. Relaxing and good for sore, achy feet, too.
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@torey Thanks for the information. I use vinegar to make calcium from eggshells for my garden, never thought of doing it with herbs for me. When I can't sleep, magnesium is the first thing I reach for.
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Here is one post I did on magnesium.
If you search for Ancient Minerals in the search here, I have posted about it more than once. I will be using it for a soak for my feet today and for quite a while to help resolve restless legs, etc.
The best part of using this is that it doesn't give you any digestive issues. It might make your skin itch depending on the area, but as soon as you wash it off, that disappears.
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I use a magnesium oil spray 3-4 times a week. It has helped me with sleeping better and muscle aches.
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It’s amazing what different mags are out there. Magnesium citrate at night is great to loosen the bowels. Magnesium glycinate is great in the morning for mental balance. These are ones my family is using at the moment. Love a magnesium spray on legs which will sting a bit till your body get use to it for cramps in the legs. Thanks @LaurieLovesLearning for that recipe. I love to add an essential oil massage blend on top.
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@kfoto Remember to not use as saturated a solution for the spray as the rub on oil. Certain body regions of mine did not get used to it (like, my arms)...in fact, it started to feel like a slight burn until it was washed off, so I went looking & experimented.
Feet are one of the best places to avoid either annoying sensation.
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My husband uses the spray kind to help with his leg cramps.
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I use Ancient Minerals spray. About 10 years ago I had a dollar coin sized spot on my shoulder that was in pain for about 2 years. One spray of magnesium chloride and it was gone within minutes never to return.
I also like cell salts or tissue salts. Put 10 Mag phos in some hot water and sip before bed. Preferably IN bed as it will make you sleepy.
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@jodienancarrow Thank for this interesting discussion. I personally am against food supplements. I think it is time to go back to nature and take all the minerals we need from natural food and the more wild food the better! Actually this is exactly what we do in our family and, funny, but with growing age my energy is growing as well. I am much more energetic in comparison to my young days when I was taking all kinds of supplements in form of vitamins and minerals.
There are so many natural products containing magnesium. One just has to adapt the diet.
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Great tips in this post. I going to try both the tea blend and the flakes mixed with water.
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When I was in my internship with KP Khalsa we pretty much recommended magnesium supplementation across the board. If I am remembering correctly (and note, KP typically recommends higher dosages than usual), it was up to 1,200 mg per day up to your personal bowel tolerance. I.e., start with a lower dose and increase slowly, and stop below the level where you start getting loose stools.
Magnesium glycinate is what he would recommend; my integrative doctor recommends NeuroMag (magnesium l-threonate), Magnesium glyincate is cheaper, but threonate is supposed to pass the blood-brain barrier better. KP did not think threonate was that much more effective, and it's more expensive than glycinate.
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@Jolanta.wittib drinking dill pickle juice (the liquid in the pickle jar) is one of the fastest ways to up your magnesium. We drink it any time you get charlie horse cramps. You can also eat the pickles but the juice works faster.
My dad carried a small bottle with him most of the time, but every time he went on hikes with the boys scouts, he made sure he took a swig every mile or so. He completed a 50 mile hike the year he turned 80, had no problems, most everyone else was barely walking as they came back. He made sure my boys had a supply and they were leading the group coming in.
For some reason dill works the best.
To add magnesium into your soil add we add Epsom salts in the dirt under your plant, add a small handful into the loose dirt mix well add a thin layer of dirt and plant your plants. This really helps with the bloom rot in tomatoes.
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@bcabrobin Well, isn't that interesting. I commented to my husband that maybe that is what's needed before a judo tournament as those intense fights can be taxing. 🤔🤫🤭 The sport authorities highly discourage herb use, due to doping & contamination issues. It is too bad, since pharmaceutical use is usually okay (depending on what it is of course). Being an Olympic sport, this is just the things one has to abuse by.
No drugs here...just good ol' food to keep one fit & working well.
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I have been taking magnesium for leg cramps for several years. I've tried many kinds but I've been taking MagSRT for about 6 months now. I decided to try it because it's time released. It's also not a huge pill either. So far I like it - no leg cramps.
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So glad I found this thread. My husband and I both get leg cramps. The last several months I have been having a lot of foot pain as well. I'm on my feet constantly at work on a concrete floor. Plus I am developing several very hard callous spots. Some in odd places like the ball of my foot just behind the toes and some are like little round protrusions which get very hard and hurt to even touch. At some point I am able to just peel or pull a little hard ball off those spots.
Have been planning on finding some type of foot soak to see if it will help. Now I want to find the Ancient Minerals and try it with that. Thank you all for the ideas and suggestions.
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@vickeym another thing to consider is what you wear on your feet. This year I outlaid very good money for socks and boy am I impressed. Life time guarantee and they have silver thread incorporated into the fabric. Have a slight compression feel, your feet don't sweat. They are classed as hiking socks and when we did a 4 day hike earlier this year, we were the only ones not going to first aid for blister relief, it was the socks that saved us. I also lashed out and bought a good pair of hiking boots, light weight with ankle support. If you want more info, I can PM you with details.
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Our family uses a spray Magnesium that helps out cramps or sore muscles. Magnesium really helps.
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@Thomas That spray is most likely magnesium chloride flakes mixed with distilled water. It is much cheaper to make your own.
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I have used the magnesium oil on my feet in the past. Haven't been recently. I should start using it again as I have been having some excruciating cramps in my feet.
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I make something very similar in body butter form and I love it. I put it directly on my feet and calves.
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I make a mg spray and spray 8-10 sprays on legs and arms before sleep. Definitely tingles and burns- Don't spray after shaving😲
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Be sure your Mg is bioavailable of it is wasted money. They are more expensive but worth it.
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FATTIES ALERT
As a fatty, I've been on lots of diets, lost lots of weight, and gained it all back with extra EXCEPT ONCE. I got permanent weight loss from one of Dr. Mark Hyman's Detox Diets--the one week one. I went on it for 10 days, lost 12 pounds that month without counting anything. Years later, I still weighed 5 pounds less. The detox may have helped, but one thing unique to that author is his Ultra Bath with Epsom Salt--Magnesium chloride. I couldn't afford to take a bath a day, but even one a week keeps the weight down and no useless suffering.
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@jodienancarrow That is a good point. Would love to know more about the socks. I bought some that were very elastic thinking the similarities to compression would help...These just cut into my leg and ankle and leave my legs hurting from that too.
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After 1.5 hours of volleyball, after standing all day as an election judge/equipment manager, and after long times spent standing while teaching, I used to get bad leg cramps during the night. The cramps would wake me up painfully, and last long enough until I could work out the cramp, before getting back to sleep. I tried supplements of magnesium, calcium, and potassium. I tried green smoothies. I tried fruits like bananas and kiwis and watermelons. I tried tonic water. I didn't try tea. None of these prevented the night cramps!
Nothing prevented the cramps until I tried a sports spray made of magnesium, eucalyptus, pepperment, and arnica. It was Life-flo Natural Living Magnesium Oil Sport Spray from Fruitful Yield. Spray it on, cover the leg with a mid calf soccer sock, and I was good for the whole night!
Then I came across H2 molecular hydrogen tablets. Basically, as I would describe it, the H2 molecular hydrogen water acts as an antioxident countering the free O-H radicals resulting from exercise.
I take one Dr. Mercola's H2 molecular hydrogen drink post bedtime and one in the morning. No more cramping and waking up in the middle of the night! At $0.50 per tablet from Amazon, it was more effective, lower cost to use, and less messy than an oil spray and the resulting dirty soccer sock each day. A byproduct of the dissolving tablet is 80mg of Magnesium.
I recently spent a long day on my feet, from 5am to 930pm on my feet as an election judge/equipment manager Nov 3rd. Still no cramps after relying on the H2 molecular hydrogen tablets! However, some female friends have experienced loose bowels. Guys I know have had no problems with the tablets.
Hope this may help some of you like it helped me!
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Welcome to the forum @EstherCook & @RandallCollins!
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Is there any reason you wouldn’t absorb the magnesium? My mom is constantly low and takes a supplement, not sure what kind, and her numbers never go up.
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I should add that there is an initial sticker shock to buying the Ancient Minerals flakes. Using it in a bath is pretty cost prohibitive, and in my opinion, very wasteful of good salts. Buying a pre-made spray is expensive as well.
Making your own spray is extremely cost effective and super easy. The salts last a very long time this way, even when making a super saturated solution.
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