For How Long do I need to Take Magnesium?

by Dash
(USA)

Can Magnesium Help with Blood Pressure?

Photo by Idhren

I am taking 100mg of magnesium citrate on a 2x a day daily basis. Does it build in the body and then the body needs less as time goes on, or does one need to keep taking it forever?

Since taking it my blood pressure is down to about 133/82 to 127/69 (lowest so far) from 196/92 average from taking magnesium for about the past two months. I also doubled up my calcium intake.

I just "knew" that my leg and heart spasms were due to something in the electrolyte area but I was afraid to take anything without a doctor and no one would listen. Now the one that did help me will be leaving and I am going to be relying on what I learn here....

dash

Comments for For How Long do I need to Take Magnesium?

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Taking Magnesium forever...
by: Kerri Knox, RN-The Immune Health Queen!

Hi Dash,

I'm SO glad to hear that you were brave enough to experiment with some magnesium and to find out how great it is. 200 mg of magnesium per day is a TINY amount- and look at how much it has done for you.

I, too, wish that doctors would be willing to look at the extensive research and to recommend these inexpensive, safe nutritional supplements in order to fix these problems that are actually CAUSED by their deficiency.

Doesn't that make more sense to fix the problem then to cover it up with chemicals that cause more problems?!

But back to your questions.

200 mg a day is a VERY conservative dosage. The answer to how much you can take is addressed on my Magnesium Dosage Page. Since magnesium is water soluble, you will just get rid of what you don't need by having loose stools.

As far as how LONG you need to take it for, you need to 'get' magnesium forever. But if you are having symptoms, then it's likely that you are VERY deficient and it may take months of taking magnesium at high dosages in order to fill up your tank.

But over time, the cells do get saturated and you probably won't need so much. You'll find out because you'll be taking the same dose for weeks or months and then begin to get loose stools. That tells you that you need to back off a bit.

Once you are symptom free, if you eat a diet high in magnesium, you may not need supplements at all.

Let me know if you have any other questions, Dash. Glad to like the site and I'm happy that you are using it to your great advantage!

Also, be sure to check out my growing Magnesium Facts Page where I have research studies on magnesium and the benefits that it can give you

Oh, be careful with the calcium. Most people don't need to take more than 1000 mg of Calcium per day if you are getting enough vitamin D, magnesium and trace minerals. We actually get quite a bit of calcium in our diets, but we just don't absorb it well without vitamin D and magnesium.

And taking too much calcium CAN cause problems.

Kerri Knox RN Immune Health Queen

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Health Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Easy Immune Health.com

Problems from too much Calcium
by: DASH

Calcium. How much is too much? I increased my calcium from 2 pills a day to 4 when I started taking magnesium. They want to do a new bone scan on me to see how I am doing. I am not sure if I want another scan yet.

Aside from that....... what is the difference in calcium carbonate and calcium citrate in how the body assimilates it? And I took calcium RELIGIOUSLY since I was 28 years old, and I am now 66. That is why I was astounded to find myself with osteopenia? Anyway, I took calcium carbonate all those years. I started upping my dose of the carbonate kind to 2400 mg a day about a month ago.

Since I am in trouble with my bones and there is no one to tell me what to do in the medical community, except they told me to do what I already had done for 40 years and it had not worked. What would you suggest?

My vitamin D level is high enough to make the calcium absorbable I would think. I get confused sometimes as what route to take. Thank You so much for this site and for the help.

Too Much Calcium
by: Kerri Knox, RN-The Immune Health Queen!

Hi Again Dash!

Well, that is just WAY too much calcium! If you are getting enough vitamin D and magnesium to help absorb the calcium, then I don't recommend that anyone take more than 1000 mg or so without the SPECIFIC recommendation of a bone doctor.

Two VERY underestimated bone building substances are Vitamin K and Strontium. Strontium is on the pharmaceutical formulary for osteoporosis in the UK and Vitamin K has had some impressive research recently in relation to bone health.

As you have seen, the medical profession tells us calcium, calcium, calcium. But after YEARS of taking calcium, you have osteopenia! It takes more than calcium to build bones, and most of us get plenty of calcium in our diets if we eat decently. But we need to ABSORB that calcium and ALSO get the trace minerals that help to build bones. But no one talks about those!

And unfortunately, most of that calcium carbonate- that ironically is in most calcium products- just simply doesn't get absorbed. Instead, you would do much better to get a lower dose of calcium citrate or just about ANY other calcium on the market!

Keep at it Dash and get Well!

Kerri Knox RN Immune Health Queen

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Health Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Easy Immune Health.com

cannot keep track of all vitamins
by: scontratso@aol.com

I am a big believer in taking vitamins for health,but keeping track of what is best and how much to take is a full time job. Isn't there a multi vitamin pill that can do it all? Or how about no pills and just eat well balanced meals. How can a normal person stay healthy without making it a career of high wire balancing act.

The biggest problem is overdosing on the wrong vitamins which can also be dangerous adding toxins to your body. This can also cause serious health problems. The shelves at Wallmart are loaded with 100's of vitamins. Extremely confusing, and every other web site tells you that you need one or the other. There is way too much information out there. Can someone make it just a little clearer????

If everyone were the same..
by: Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen!

If everyone were the same, then your request would be easy. If things were really that easy, then almost no one would have any health problems.

As far as diet is concerned, you could 'just' get all of your nutrients if you ate either a 'perfect' vegan/vegetarian diet or a perfect paleo diet. Even then, it's unlikely that you'd get all of the nutrients that you need because our foods are denatured, grown with toxic pesticides and picked green and stored in storerooms sometimes for months before you see them.

So, if you want to live on an organic subsistence farm and grow your own foods and raise your own pasture raised animals, then you could probably do that. Me, I choose to take a regimen of 'Core Supplements' that include a High Quality Multivitamin and Mineral Supplement and ensure that my money is spent on amazingly high quality organic and pasture raised as local as possible foods while following the guidelines in the Weston A Price diet as outlined in The Healthy Urban Kitchen.

See, easy!

No, really I know it's confusing, but there is simply no way that you are going to get the 'magic bullet' that is going to keep you totally and completely healthy and at your peak without doing some serious research and finding what works for YOUR specific body- which is totally and completely unique in all the world.

I'm happy to help, that's what this site is here for, but I can't write one paragraph and answer a question for you in which their have literally been libraries of information written on....

Kerri Knox RN Immune Health Queen

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune System Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Immune System
Side Effects

PS: If you found this website helpful, please consider using the
Easy Immune Health Product Store the next time you purchase your supplements online. Your support allows me to keep this site running and educating as many people as possible. Thank you!

My partner...
by: Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen!

PS. I mentioned your dilemma to my partner who is the owner of the website The Tendonitis Expert and he said, "It's easy. Stop eating processed foods".

And when he says "Processed" he means don't eat ANYTHING processed. In other words, we're not JUST talking:

No sugar
No white flour
No artificial anything
No crappy 'pretend it's whole wheat' wheat bread

but he also means:

No battery-raised and antibiotic injected animals
No soy or grain-fed chickens or their eggs
No pasteurized or homogenized dairy
No non-organic fruits and vegetables

and on and on.

NO processed foods and nothing that your great-great-great-great grandfather wouldn't have eaten.

and I'll add that you SHOULD eat lots and lots of REAL LIVE fermented foods.

See, easy....

Kerri Knox RN Immune Health Queen

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune System Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Immune System
Side Effects

MIGRAINES AND MAGNESIUM INFUSION
by: Anonymous

Hi All, I am a 60 year old female who has suffered from Chronic Migraines for over 13 years now. I have seen pain Doctors, DONE every trigger point injection and ephemeral injections plus neck surgery with no relief. So I decided it was up to ME. I went to the web and began. I went and seen a NUROLOGIST who recommended magnesium INFUSION. I said why not, so I got a little piggy BACK bag by IV and the next day the headache was gone like magic.

Now fast forward 3 years of NO medical coverage and it was back to the web. I am now doing the Transdermal Magnesium Gel. I started it about a week ago and am still playing with how many sprays a day I need to keep the headaches gone. I feel fine other wise.

Vit d level
by: Anonymous

I have taken magnesium citrate at 400-500 mg every night for months now. I had a blood test that said vit d2 was 61 nmol/L and was abnormal. Is this to do with the magnesium i take. My form said the maximum i should be is 50. I am in uk so le els may be different than usa.

You're confusing units
by: Kerri Knox, RN

You are confusing UNITS of Vitamin D. Please see my page on Normal Vitamin D Levels and pay attention to the UNITS.

Your Vitamin D level is 60 nm/L, which is quite deficient. It would be in the OPTIMAL range if you were using ng/ml, like we use in the US.

It's like comparing km/hr to miles/hr. If you don't use the right units, you might get a ticket for going too fast when you thought you were driving the speed limit. Units matter. You are quite deficient, and your vitamin d level has nothing to do with the magnesium you are taking, you are just confusing your units.

Kerri Knox RN Immune Health Queen

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune System Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Immune System
Side Effects

PS: If you appreciate the free help that I give on my site, please consider making your next supplement purchase through my Health Store in order to help keep this site in operation.

magnesium
by: rick

ive been taking it, and feel much better, I don't trust doctors anymore, they push so many pills for big pharma, and then the government lets food companies put preservatives that cause cancer in our foods, its hard to find foods that don't contain some type of sugars or high fructose corn syrup in them, anyway, watch what you eat, look at the labels, theres so much money in cancer treatment that if they had a cure, they wouldn't tell us...good luch, God bless yall

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