# The effects of Magnesium deficiencies...



## hanniballexster

*How many of you have heard about a scenario like this; *a person goes to their GP complaining of panic attacks or irritability or insomnia and generalized anxiety and are diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and/or depression and started on drugs? It happens all the time.

Don't get me wrong, certain medications can literally be life-savers for some people, but in my opinion they are vastly over-prescribed. Why? Because they generate billions of dollars for BigPharma companies and many GPs get a kick back.

When is the last time you heard someone with the above symptoms go to their doctor and have their magnesium level checked with a blood test? I've never heard of it. Yet, magnesium deficiencies can cause all of the above symptoms, and magnesium deficiencies can also lead to an increased risk of heart attack (it can also cause cardiac irregulaties such as heart palpitations and tachycardia).

*Here are some common symptoms of magnesium deficiencies in humans:*

Anorexia (low body weight- not referring to anorexia nervosa)
Apathy
*Anxiety*
*Confusion*
*Insomnia*
Irritability
*Tiredness/Fatigue/Malaise*
Poor Memory/reduced ability to learn/difficulty concentrating
*Panic attacks*

AS you can see from the above list, many of the symptoms of magnesium deficiency can mimic psych illnesses such as anxiety disorders, depression and even some aspects of DP/DR (confusion, apathy, etc).

More _*severe*_ symptoms can include...


*Cardiovascular abnormalities* (such as palpitations and arrythymias)
Tachycardia
*Delerium*
Continued Muscle Contractions (which can lead to stiff and/or achy muscles)
*Perceptual problems *(the sites I visited didn't go into detail about this, but I think most would agree that DP/DR involves a significant change in the perception of self or the external world)
Numbness (I assume they are referring to physical numbness here, not mental/emotional numbness)
*Hallucinations*
Tingling in parts of the body

As you can see, the more severe the deficiency the more severe the symptoms- some of these symptoms could be easily misinterpreted as psychosis (psychotic Depression, schizophrenia, etc) and some of the more severe symptoms can trigger panic attacks (especially if you're already getting panic attacks).

Alot of this information is easily available to find on the web- I advise you to look at as many sites as you can about magnesium, its role in health, and magnesium deficiency side effects. For this reason, I am not listing all the sources I used to write this post, but this site has an excellent chart of magnesium rich foods:

http://magnesiumrichfoods.com/

Here are some *facts about Magnesium* you might find interesting...


It's virtually impossible to "overdose" on magnesium as it is quickly excreted from the body
Most North Americans are magnesium deficient. Stats vary depending on the source, but the average North American is probably ingesting less than half of the RDA.
Magnesium deciciencies, which can cause cardiovascular abnormalities (and mimic psych problems) can lead to heart attacks (incidentally, magnesium is often administered intravenously to heart attack sufferers in most ERs right away)
To retain as much magnesium as possible in food, use as little water as possible to cook it, and cook (heat) for the shortest time possible.
Low Magnesium levels can influence your bodies ability to use iron properly- which can lead to anemia (Iron is very important as well, obviously)

For most healthy adults, (from the various sites I studied), an *RDA of 400 mg* a day is appropriate. 

*Below is a list of foods high in magnesium, next to the food name is the magnesium measurment in milligrams, next to that the weight in grams, next to that its common measure- this is a fairly short list I wrote for myself out of the foods I am most likely to buy/eat- you can find more extensive lists available on the internet.*


Halibut (broiled); 91 mg; 85 grams; 3 ounces
Tuna (yellowfin, broiled); 54 mg; 85 grams; 3 ounces
Buckwheat flour (whole-groat); 301 mgs; 120 grams; 1 cup
Oat bran (raw); 221 mgs; 94 grams; 1 cup
Prune Juice; 36 mg; 256 grams; 1 cup
Spinach (cooked); 157 mg; 180 grams; 1 cup
Tomato Paste; 134 mg; 262 grams; 1 cup
Milk (condensed and sweetened); 80 mg; 306 grams; 1 cup
Chick Peas (Garbanzo Beans); 79 mg; 164 grams; 1 cup
Peas (frozen); 46 mg; 160 grams; 1 cup

Off the top of my head, I also know that bananas, figs, dried fruit (like apricots), artichokes and many types of dry, salted nuts (like almonds) are also high in magnesium.

If you feel like you've hit a wall you might want to try going on a high magnesium- high iron diet.

Oh, and some tips you might want to use if you want to take a more hollistic approach to your health.

1. Consider keeping a daily food log of what you eat (not just calorie and fat wise, but also mgs of magnesium, mgs of iron, etc)

2. Try to make at least 50-75% of your diet uncooked fruits/vegetbales (with the skins on.

3. If you are trying to build up iron stores (low magnesium can lead to anemia), especially if you are vegetarian, consume vitamin C rich foods in conjunction with any iron rich foods (the vitamin C helps your body absorb most of it).

4. Try to get at least 1 hour of strenous aerobic activity a day- running, jogging, swimming, even chores (if you do them fast and get a sweat), etc...

5. Replace LDL fats (most processed animal products) with good fats, like oil from cold water fish like salmon, EFA's from cold pressed virgin olive oil, avocados, etc (remember, your brain is at least 60% fat and needs essential fatty acids to run properly), and higher levels of HDL fats in the blood can lower LDL fat ("bad" fat, the typer that sticks to the arteriy walls and can cause clots).

6. Eliminate all processed (white sugar), MSG, preservatives, white flour, food dye, most animal products.

7. If you eat yogurt try to buy organic, unsweetened- the stuff with aspartame or that is sweetened isn't as high in beneficial microbe cultures- even adding many store-bought jams to yogurt to make it sweeter can kill off the microbial cultures because of the preservatives.

8. If you eat eggs for the choline (choline is great for the brain and eggs are high in protein) consider buying the yolk free egg white- you still get all of the protein without all the added cholesterol.

9. Prune juice is great for a variety of reasons- its high in magnesium, high in iron, high in fiber and can restore your digestive system somewhat if you've clogged it up with too much fat and white bread (white bread is essentially white flour, eggs and water- remember what paper mache paste is made from? Same thing happens in your intestines).

10. In general, the more packaging a food comes in, the less valuable it is nutrition wise.

Remember- garbage in, garbage out. Also, you get what you pay for.

Disclaimer: *I am not a medical doctor. Even if I was, I probably wouldn't be telling you this because there is no money in curing "diseases" with food.* Even if a high magnesium diet doesn't make your DP/DR go away it will have other health benefits- if you are worried about getting too much you can always ask for a blood test to check your magnesium level and check your progress. Good luck.


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## ZachT

I thought i was deficient because i could relate to every symptom. Then i went out and bought vitamins that are still in my closet. The only one i am deficient to is vitamin d.

-Zach


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## hanniballexster

Theone2 said:


> I thought i was deficient because i could relate to every symptom. Then i went out and bought vitamins that are still in my closet. The only one i am deficient to is vitamin d.
> 
> -Zach


Hey Zach- how do you know you aren't still deficient? Blood test? Most GPs think the RDA for magnesium is much lower than recent studies have shown is beneficial. Also, vitamins don't always get absorbed into the system as easily as food that is chewed up (more surface space, more chance of it being absorbed into the blood stream... a vitamin is pretty small and depending on the condition of your digestive track, the nutrients might not be getting into your blood.

I, technically, am not anemic according to my last blood test, but my shrink "forgot" to tell me that my iron reserves are VERY low (meaning I could dip into anemia at any time). They way I KNOW my iron reserves are low is that I donate blood every 56 days and you can't donate unless your iron is at least at a moderate level (because they don't want to take half a liter and have you become anemic a few days later). I almost couldn't donate last time, it was so low, but doctors generally have a rather black and white policy about health- something generally has to reach a danger level for them to tell you (for instance, there is no such thing as pre-diabetes... what most GPs refer to as "pre-diabetes" is actually type 2 diabetes in its first stage, or it could be LADA or Gestational).

There are a lot of things wrong with the allopathic health care system, and most of it has to do with greed/money= the insurance companies, drug companies and certain docs themselves.

In short, there isn't much of a profit in keeping someone healthy and medication free. The sicker someone is, the more profit can be gained from them. Compare this attitude to other countries (particularly in the East) where you pay your doctor when you are well and get your health care for free when you get sick.

The doctor's job is to keep a patient from getting sick in the first place- sp why when people get sick after seeing a doctor for checkups once or twice a year their entire lives, do the sick pay? It's completely backward. And the mental health system is even worse (my mother was a psychologist and I grew up around psychologists and shrinks... you should have heard some of them talk! Profit! Profit! Profit!)

At any rate, even if you aren't deficient in any vitamins, that doesn't mean you're healthy- in AMerica even FETUSES are starting to show symptoms of clogged arteries. MOST westerners aren't really healthy (including, right now, myself).

Here's a pretty easy way to tell-

1. Can you easily sprint a mile (my sister runs 10-15 miles a day and has run up to 25 a day before) without feeling winded?

2. Can you do at least 60 situps in a minute (I could at age 5)?

3. Can you lift your age in chin-ups?

4. Do you take prescription medication for non-psych related health conditions.

5. Is your resting pulse rate less than 70 (I smoke and mine is 60-64).

6. Is your blood pressure 120/80 or less (mine's about 100/70 when I am stressed and 90/60 most of the time)

Most of North America is grossly unhealthy, so much so that unless you are seriously unhealthy, most people assume they are "fine".


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## ZachT

hanniballexster said:


> Hey Zach- how do you know you aren't still deficient? Blood test? Most GPs think the RDA for magnesium is much lower than recent studies have shown is beneficial. Also, vitamins don't always get absorbed into the system as easily as food that is chewed up (more surface space, more chance of it being absorbed into the blood stream... a vitamin is pretty small and depending on the condition of your digestive track, the nutrients might not be getting into your blood.
> 
> I, technically, am not anemic according to my last blood test, but my shrink "forgot" to tell me that my iron reserves are VERY low (meaning I could dip into anemia at any time). They way I KNOW my iron reserves are low is that I donate blood every 56 days and you can't donate unless your iron is at least at a moderate level (because they don't want to take half a liter and have you become anemic a few days later). I almost couldn't donate last time, it was so low, but doctors generally have a rather black and white policy about health- something generally has to reach a danger level for them to tell you (for instance, there is no such thing as pre-diabetes... what most GPs refer to as "pre-diabetes" is actually type 2 diabetes in its first stage, or it could be LADA or Gestational).
> 
> There are a lot of things wrong with the allopathic health care system, and most of it has to do with greed/money= the insurance companies, drug companies and certain docs themselves.
> 
> In short, there isn't much of a profit in keeping someone healthy and medication free. The sicker someone is, the more profit can be gained from them. Compare this attitude to other countries (particularly in the East) where you pay your doctor when you are well and get your health care for free when you get sick.
> 
> The doctor's job is to keep a patient from getting sick in the first place- sp why when people get sick after seeing a doctor for checkups once or twice a year their entire lives, do the sick pay? It's completely backward. And the mental health system is even worse (my mother was a psychologist and I grew up around psychologists and shrinks... you should have heard some of them talk! Profit! Profit! Profit!)
> 
> At any rate, even if you aren't deficient in any vitamins, that doesn't mean you're healthy- in AMerica even FETUSES are starting to show symptoms of clogged arteries. MOST westerners aren't really healthy (including, right now, myself).
> 
> Here's a pretty easy way to tell-
> 
> 1. Can you easily sprint a mile (my sister runs 10-15 miles a day and has run up to 25 a day before) without feeling winded?
> 
> 2. Can you do at least 60 situps in a minute (I could at age 5)?
> 
> 3. Can you lift your age in chin-ups?
> 
> 4. Do you take prescription medication for non-psych related health conditions.
> 
> 5. Is your resting pulse rate less than 70 (I smoke and mine is 60-64).
> 
> 6. Is your blood pressure 120/80 or less (mine's about 100/70 when I am stressed and 90/60 most of the time)
> 
> Most of North America is grossly unhealthy, so much so that unless you are seriously unhealthy, most people assume they are "fine".


Good Point.


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## York

I just saw my GP this friday, and I asked him the same. I've been coming into his office for more than a year, telling him about my symptoms of DP and anxiety, but also extreme light and sound sensitivity. Only after seeing a reflexologist did I find out magnesium might help me, and after three days on magnesium I was 75% better from ALL symptoms.
I also found out magnesium is a component in migraine medication in the U.S, and I've been telling him about having migraines as well. I've asked him "is it possible that I lack something since DP and anxiety started after giving birth?". Still he never took as much as a blood sample, but suggested Effexor.

Thank you for this post.


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## G.i.t.s

No one of us has a deficiency of magnesium. But you are on the right way,
because we have not really def in magnesium but a plays a role in some of us with dp too.
I did months of researches about minerals because they seems to fit good.
But i came to the conclusion that it cant be.

But there is another point. i wrote a part of it yesterday in an other thread, where i describe that dp is by some of us an neurological/endocrinological Problem.

An example:
Stress -> ACTH -> corticoids/sexualhormones

ACTH is the hormone that gets emitted in periods of stress by the hypophysis.
It shows his functions in the adrenal glads. Because of ACTH the adrenal Glads
emitt more important hormones like some corticoids.

And 2 of that corticoids are cortisone and mineralcorticoids.
And now we are on the point, because the mineralcorticoids control the electrolyte/mineral part of the human body like calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, boron, copper, iod , phosphorus and sodium for example.

So you could have enough magnesium in your body but your body cant use it right.
So you can show a lack of magnesium without having one.


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## babybowrain

Actually right before I went really crazy I THINK I took magnesium supplements, but I don't know if I ever was deficient in them. It wasn't too much magnesium because I asked the pharmacist for a safe amount for me and things like that and I took like half of what you're supposed to take. Then I went really crazy and stopped taking them...maybe the aburptness of not taking them suddenly caused the crazyness or something.


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## hanniballexster

babybowrain said:


> Actually right before I went really crazy I THINK I took magnesium supplements, but I don't know if I ever was deficient in them. It wasn't too much magnesium because I asked the pharmacist for a safe amount for me and things like that and I took like half of what you're supposed to take. Then I went really crazy and stopped taking them...maybe the aburptness of not taking them suddenly caused the crazyness or something.


I'm not sure stopping a vitamin/mineral suddenly would cause this, because it's not a medication, there shouldn't be sudden, extreme withdrawal reactions (like there are for meds). I know that if I remember to take 350 mg of magnesium or more a day and refrain from drinking alcohol I feel about 40% better than usual. 40% might not sound like much, but it's significant enough to give me hope. I think the causes of DP and DR are going to be different for a lot of different members here- some people develop it after smoking drugs/hallucinogens, some people after a period of extended panic or trauma, some have no idea why, etc... and whether it's anxiety based, or a vitamin deficiency, or a build up of toxins in the body/brain, or a nuerological condition, or all or none of the above is hard to figure out for GPs dealing with one patient, so I doubt any member here can really know WHY another member has it. The best we can try to do is offer advice on what has worker (or not worked) for us and try to support each other.

With that in mind, you might feel crazy, but you aren't crazy. Your perceptions of your body and the world feel/are distorted, but you aren't crazy (psychotic)... at least, if you are referring to DP/DR as being crazy, I'd say that's incorrect. You might feel crazy, or like you're losing your mind (I've thought that many times myself since this started), but rest assured, you aren't crazy.

Your symptoms can't physically hurt you.

They might be extremely emotionally/mentally draining and if you are depressed, might make your depression worse (because living like this is scary!)... but you are NOT crazy and you'll physically be okay.

A lot of people have DP/DR for months, even years and it goes away on its own for no known reason. I've spoken to a few people like that irl. They don't know why it left, just that it did. And yes, like almost everyone on this site, they were scared it would never leave, a lot of them didn't know what had caused it, and they didn't know why it went. But it did, eventually.

The brain is plastic- it can repair itself from a lot of damage, even physical damage. So don't give up hope, okay?

But you aren't crazy. Keep telling yourself that. Everytime you feel you're going crazy, repeat that- that the sensation that you're going crazy is just that... a sensation. A fear (maybe a phobia by now, I don't know you that well).


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## babybowrain

Thanks but I meant something else other than dp







Hallucinations and delusions and things like that, although it was mild according to my mom.
Edit: the fact that I post stuff and aren't being very detailed about my condition probably confuses people, but I feel comfortable here and visited when my dp/dr was bad. Now I just have some strange left over symptoms here and there but not the feeling of unreality itself.


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## hanniballexster

babybowrain said:


> Thanks but I meant something else other than dp
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hallucinations and delusions and things like that, although it was mild according to my mom.
> Edit: the fact that I post stuff and aren't being very detailed about my condition probably confuses people, but I feel comfortable here and visited when my dp/dr was bad. Now I just have some strange left over symptoms here and there but not the feeling of unreality itself.


How did you get the unreality to go for (I have that, it bugs me, to put it lightly)? Did something specific seem to change it, or did it just eventually go on it's own?


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## babybowrain

hanniballexster said:


> How did you get the unreality to go for (I have that, it bugs me, to put it lightly)? Did something specific seem to change it, or did it just eventually go on it's own?


Well I can think of a few things. I matured from being a teen and went away from the pressure of school for a while. Then I started putting more interest into things around me like my clothes and room and art and things like that. Then I had some things happen that were bigger trouble than the dp and that kind of made me forgot about dp. Now I'm taking a small dose of respiredol and that might be it.


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## ElectricRelaxation

magnesium taurinate is AMAZING for anxiety, on top of that is an NMDA antagonist which helps with preventing tolerance to a lot of supplements/meds. too much magnesium will give you diarrhea though, trust me not fun at all.


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