Magnesium

[Midhurst]

Hi all,

I am considering trying magnesium for migraines. What is the correct dose and would you recommend me telling my GP. I'd value anyone's input if they have tried magnesium or have found it helpful.

Thanks very much.

[Jeffner]

Magnesium glycinate works the best for me, taking up to 500mg a day, split into 3 daily doses. Also magnesium oil on the back of the neck and shoulders is good, and magnesium salt baths too. The oil can be slightly itchy, so build up your tolerance, or leave on you skin for 15-30mins and wash off. I think it’s best to try different magnesium’s as they all work slightly differently. Magnesium malate was quite good for me too. Magnesium oxide is the cheapest one, but is more likely to cause an upset stomach.

Hope it helps

[Midhurst in reply to Jeffner]

Thanks so much Jeffner I will give Magnesium a try I really appreciate your reply.

Thanks again.

[asmckay]

Avoid Magnesium oxide - we don;t absorb it well. I would start with this, unless youn have a sensitive stomach, in which case, go with a glycinate. One capsule at nighttime. If you tolerate it, you can add in a second., ion the afternoon or also at night.

There is plenty of research which shows the benefits of magnesium for headaches / migraine. I think I'd try it, then talk to the doctor if it helps...

amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07...

[designer111 in reply to asmckay]

Yes oxide is the one that i sknown to be not as good. Makes your bowel movements very loose I believe. There are other versons. Unfortunately it did not work for me. You will need to take every night for 3-5 months to see a change. Or as suggested you can use a magnesium spray (bought from Holland and Barrett for a few pounds) and spray onto your shoulders and neck in the evening.

[asmckay in reply to designer111]

Migraine is complex and there are many factors which can play a part - and magnesium often helps. It is certainly worth a try. It is worth also considering nutrients which help magnesium absorption - vitamin D3 (sunshine), selenium. A good multivit may be useful in addition to the magnesium - I use this one nutriadvanced.co.uk/multi-e... . I work with sleep - we make the Zeez Sleep Pebble - and in that context, often recommend magnesium in one form or another. If people don't have enough magnesium in their body we can't get the Zeez to work. My experience is that magnesium often has a n effect very fast PROVIDED THAT WE ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH VIT D... Generally, we respond to supplements of water-soluble nutrients (like magnesium) quite quickly, whereas it takes a while to build up those nutrients (like Vit D) that are stored in fat cells. . GOOD LUCK

[Midhurst in reply to designer111]

Thanks designer111 for your reply. I will give Magnesium a go.

Thanks again.

[Midhurst in reply to asmckay]

Thanks so much Asmckay.

I really appreciate your reply.

Thanks again.

[asmckay in reply to Midhurst]

You are welcome. Good Luck

[Fran16]

I take 400mg in two separate doses and in theglycinate form. I also take 400 mg of vitamin b2 and 200mg of enzyime q10all recommended by a neurologist. Hope this helps. I have been having increased migraine in last 3-4 years (now 64 and had migraines since I was 11) up to 4!a week. Reduced to 1 or 2! Good luck

[Midhurst in reply to Fran16]

Thank you so much Fran16 I think I will give it a go. I've had them since I was 4 and I'm 54 now. I hope your recommendations work for me. Thanks again.

[Fran16 in reply to Midhurst]

Just need to add I have been under the dr.and tried preventatives like increased Amitriptyline and nortrypline. I am now on propranolol 100 mg as well as the vitamins. I don’t know which is working but I was getting so fed up I just tried everything. This regime suits me and when I get a migraine I take a triptan straight away and strong co-codomol (2 x15mg) and they don’t knock me out anymore- I can live my life! Good luck! X

[Onthemove1971 in reply to Fran16]

I also do best on a higher triptan dose. Normal is 50mg I need 100mg. Most of the time it takes it away.

[ruefreedom]

I am a student at a nutritional college. Recommended is magnesium citrate which is supposed to be a form that is well absorbed. Cytoplan is the company to use, its one of the few natural food state companies and though not the cheapest does give a high quality product as does their multivit/min product

[Midhurst in reply to ruefreedom]

Thank you for your helpful reply ruefreedom.

[Onthemove1971]

Thank you for wanting to discuss this. About 20 years ago when I first started getting migraine I saw a Neurologist and he recommend starting magnesium. Life got busy I continued to struggle with migraines without a way to stop them. At some point I started taking magnesium oxide because it was what was cheap and easy to access. Nothing I was doing was helped. Fast forward to 3 months ago, I started listening to the "Heads up" podcast, done by migraine specialist from the UK. They did a show on Magnesium and discussed the many types so I change to Magnesium glycinate and started taking it 3x a day. I also added in Feverfew 2x a day. I can feel the magnesium wear off and when I take the lunch dose I can tell how much it helps me. My migraines have gone from daily to maybe 3x a week. This is a huge difference.

So the bottom line is, please don't continue with the same medication options if you are still have lots of migraines. Change.. start with one type of magnesium ( it will take almost 3 months to start to help) increase the dose to a max of 1500 daily ( I know this seems like a lot, trust me). If that doesn't work change to a different type.

Hope you get less migraines and that they don't hurt as bad.

Take care

[Midhurst in reply to Onthemove1971]

Thank you onthemove1971 for your helpful advice I really appreciate it.

[LadyEvoDriver55]

A consultant I saw suggested Magnesium Citrate at 500mg per day for my migraines. I took that for over a year but unfortunately it did nothing for me. He told me to combine it with 400mg Riboflavin but that just made my urine look bright yellow and upset my stomach, so after a few months he said to stop that. Despite continuing the Magnesium, and having heard positive reports from other sufferers, my migraines didn't respond. I hope it may work for you though.

[Midhurst in reply to LadyEvoDriver55]

Thank you for your reply LadyEvo55 I really appreciate it.

[babs1234]

I’m taking 400mg

[Midhurst]

Thank you Babs 1234 for your reply.

[kferrer]

Magnesium Citrate is a good overall health supplement. But for migraines, I would add in magnesium glycinate and/or magnesium L-threonate. I use a formula called OptimagNeuro that I get through my nurse practitioner. It's only available through a professional but I have seen similar products on the internet through online retailers that I trust.

[Redlester in reply to kferrer]

which online companies can you get the OptimagNeuro from ? I am currently using glycinate and it is doing nothing for me as my migraines are becoming worse and increasing in frequency.

[Midhurst in reply to Redlester]

Hello Redlester,

I have been using magnesium for about 3 weeks but haven't noticed a change. Someone on health unlocked said t can take 5 months. Unfortunately as we know what works for 1 migrainer May not work for another. I hope you find something that works. I am trying out the curable app, I'm hoping it will make a difference, but have only just started using it.

[kferrer in reply to Redlester]

I found this on Amazon. It looks like what I take. I have to get mine through my nurse practitioner

amazon.com/Magnesium-L-thre...

[Redlester in reply to kferrer]

Thanks for the link. How long have you been using it for and do you think it is making any difference?

[kferrer in reply to Redlester]

I only use it when I feel a headache coming on. It seems to take care of it. I did try using it every day but I couldn't tell if it stopped headaches from beginning or not. I don't find the other forms of magnesium I've tried help a whole lot either. I've been trying 400 mg of riboflavin daily. It's too soon to know if it helps.

[Redlester in reply to kferrer]

is there a link between migraines and riboflavin? I used to take it but stopped for some reason I now can't remember - I am feeling on an almost daily basis that I have a migraine threatening and when I don't feel like that I actually have a migraine - so it is almost constant now [which I think is hormonal] and I just cannot consume enough magnesium. At the moment I am just using M Citrate and some M Glycinate at bedtime but I think I am going to have to run a L threonate trial.

[kferrer in reply to Redlester]

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/152...

The above is one study that is out there and there are others. I stumbled on this when I developed riboflavin deficiency symptoms for the first time in many years and did some googling to see what I could find out. For me, could be related to MTHFR. Or not.

[Redlester in reply to kferrer]

Ah, very interesting kferrer - I think I am going to have to try this to see if it makes any difference for me. After I replied to you yesterday I googled it and it does seem to be a thing. Sorry for seeming to ask 20 questions, but have you had your MTHFR tested and what makes you think there is a MTHFR link? I ask because I have not yet been tested but strongly suspect I have a methylation defect so I could be in the same boat.

[kferrer in reply to Redlester]

I haven't had MTHFR tested yet but I'm thinking about it for myself and my husband as his sister has it. However, the expense is giving me pause. Plus, depending on where you have it done, there may be privacy issues. I was googling about MTHFR and came across a health blogger named Christ Masterjohn who wrote an article suggesting that MTHFR folate and B12 issues could be a genetic riboflavin issue. That got my attention because I've been dealing with B2 deficiency symptoms off and on for years.

[Redlester in reply to kferrer]

I know how you feel re the testing. I am coming to the conclusion that so many things that I have going on point to a MTHFR issue that rather than test [and there might be things that come up that I DON'T want to know about] and the privacy and the expense, I'm thinking that maybe I should just do a trial of the MTHFR treatments and see what happens. If things improve then my gut feeling allied to what has come up in research was right after all.

[Redlester in reply to kferrer]

sorry - meant to ask - how do you take it? the whole 400mg all in one go say at breakfast, or do you split it and take half in the morning and half later in the day?

[kferrer in reply to Redlester]

I got 100 mg capsules and I spread them out through the day. We may get genetic testing done one day. I just keep trying different things and hoping some of them help. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.

[Redlester in reply to kferrer]

thanks kferrer - I think I will try them and see if they make any difference. I am currently working with magnesium and am on 3 caps per day of magnesium bisglycinate so am taking about 375mg and so far I think it is helping but it does make me feel very dozy and I think I might be chronically magnesium deficient.

[Onthemove1971 in reply to Redlester]

I was shocked when told no more than 1500mg.. that seems like a lot, but my body needed a dose every 3-4 hours and I can feel it wear off and then once I take my noon dose I can go most of the day without a bad migraine..

It is really making a difference for me.

[Redlester in reply to Onthemove1971]

is this the magnesium you are referring to OTM? or the riboflavin? if it is the magnesium then 1500mg is a massive dose - I have done some research and the dosage of magnesium for migraine is 400-500mg - I am finding the dosage I am taking [see above] to be helpful, touch wood, but it will be interesting to see what happens as I move to a different phase of my menstrual cycle - will it still work then???

[md5299]

thedizzycook.com/magnesium-...

[Midhurst in reply to md5299]

Thanks for your reply md5299. It was really helpful. Tanks again.

[Redlester in reply to md5299]

yes I read this too - though it seemed a bit like a sell for the particular brand they were advocating for- so I looked around and came across this which is a bit more objective but very informative

superfoodly.com/magnesium-l...

having done a bit more googling it looks like it is hard to get a brand which doesn't contain magnesium stearate which I try to avoid at all costs and it looks like the Magtein brand they list an alternative might actually be good - but hard to get in the UK

amazon.com/gp/product/B011M...

[Onthemove1971]

Just wanted to check on your progress... I have taken Magnisium for years, but it clearly was the wrong type. I was taking Ocite and it was helping but not to the max benefit. About 4 month ago I changed to Magnesium glycinate. I noticed a big difference, but they were not gone until I started the glycinate. I noticed a HUGH difference when I added a middle day dose. It made everyone less painful. Then I increase from 100mg to 450mg. This was the magic amount. I was told by a Neurologist I should take up to 1500 everyday. I know this seems high but I feel amazing 3x daily 450mg. I might play with the dose.

In addition I take 2 feverfew, sorry I dont know the dose. I think I will try to ween off of that, it is really hard taking so many pills.

I just can't day enough about how much it is helping me. The only other thing I take is 100mg of Imitrix when needed and no more than 15 doses in a month.

I hope you are getting some success. I remember when I started it took at least 3 months before I really noticed a difference.

Take care

[Midhurst]

Thanks so much for your reply I have only been tsking it for a few weeks I haven't noticed a difference yet. But I am also using the app curable which I'm hopi g will help.