Magnesium deficiency

[Ari3]

Hi there ,

I have done my zinc magnesium and selenium tests and it has come back as very very low magnesium (red) ,borderline zinc .I have chronic headaches daily tired maybe this could contribute to this ? what is the best way to optimise quickly magnesium and what amount should I take ? Which magnesium is the best ?

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Ari3

If this was a normal serum magnesium test then testing magnesium is unreliable. About 99% of magnesium is stored in bone, muscles and soft tissues, leaving about 1% in the blood. So testing what's in the blood isn't giving an accurate picture of our magnesium status.

A red cell magnesium test is the better indicator of magnesium status, not the standard serum magnesium test.

If you want to read the science, this information is from this article:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

As for which form of magnesium is best, nobody can tell you that. Each form helps with specific things so you have to check and see which form is best suited to you and your circumstances:

naturalnews.com/046401_magn...

drjockers.com/best-magnesiu...

The normal dose advised on the supplement pack is about 350-450mg.

Magnesium should be taken 4 hours away from thyroid meds and is best taken in the evening as it tends to be calming so aiding sleep.

[userotc in reply to SeasideSusie]

SusieAs usual(!), I agree with your comments re magnesium status.

But would you agree that an increase in serum level after supplementing should always increase the body/cell level (albeit ou wouldn't know what the latter is)? And doing that using symptoms as the key indicator.

A speed-read of your link (and other reports I have) doesn't appear to dispute nor confirm that.

We are considering that for my mum because it's easier than getting red cell tests for her although we could/would do that later.

In her case, she doesn't currently supplement magnesium alongside vitamin D because she has kidney disease and so medics would be wary. But my further research indicates we could/should ignore them (no change there then!).

PS her serum level is now 23% through range. She has some symptoms eg restless sleep, but that could be other causes eg off HRT.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to userotc]

But would you agree that an increase in serum level after supplementing should always increase the body/cell level (albeit ou wouldn't know what the latter is)?

One would imagine so but I personally can't confirm that, one would need to do the red cell magnesium test. What's in the blood doesn't always get taken up by the cells. That can be seen when doing a Total B12 test and an Active B12 test. The Total serum B12 can be good but the Active B12 can be poor.

And doing that using symptoms as the key indicator.

If you haven't particularly had any symptoms of magnesium deficiency, and are taking magnesium as a cofactor of D3, then you wouldn't be able to use symptoms as an indicator.

But we are talking about taking magnesium when taking D3 because

1) magnesium is needed for the body to convert D3 into it's active form

2) large doses of D3 can induce depletion of magnesium

[userotc in reply to SeasideSusie]

In mum's case, she doesn't yet take the magnesium as a D cofactor, for reasons indicated. Her sleeplessness etc are the symptoms I meant.

Now seems worth at least trying magnesium supplement to see if her symptoms improve. Whilst serum testing in short term and RBC magnesium testing in the medium term.

Serum D increased last test from ~70-100 nmol/l which may be due to increased D3 supplementation and/or sun. This could be cause of decrease in serum magnesium from 30-23% through range due to depletion(?).