It seems low magnesium can result in a whole host of symptoms similar to perimenopause including:

palpitations
fatigue
cramps
muscle aches
headaches
insomnia
anxiety

Interesting article on magnesium: ***

This is not to say we don't have perimenopause symptoms too but my guess is, if we also get insufficient magnesium in our diets, our perimenopause symptoms will be much worse than they would otherwise. We certainly don't need anything to aggravate things!

Are you getting enough magnesium in your diet? If you're not taking a good supplement, chances are you're not getting quiet enough.

"Magnesium deficiency is actually fairly common; however, it is usually not looked for, and therefore, not found or corrected. Deficiency is more likely in those who eat a processed-food diet; in people who cook or boil all foods, especially vegetables; in those who drink soft water; in alcoholics; and in people who eat food grown in magnesium-deficient soil, where synthetic fertilizers containing no magnesium are often used." ***




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Funny, I just added that to a reply to a woman with leg cramps. It is also good for your nervous system
A Calcium/magnesium tablet a day goes a long way!! )

Estrogen makes our body hold onto magnesium, low estrogen causes electolyites imbalance: sodium/magnesium/potassium, hence the crapy muslces and high BP.
I take 400mg magensium x2 daily, and eat calcium rich yougurt and cheee, and still get achy muscles. I suspect supplements qwork differently than when we get it from food, so this may be the case.

What kind of magnesium do you take? The most common form is magnesium oxide, but it is also the most poorly absorbed. It's also the form most likely to cause diarrhea which means it has even less chance of getting absorbed. Better forms are magnesium citrate and magnesium aspartate. I use the citrate form since it seems to be easier to find than aspartate.

Hi Sunnivara

This is really interesting! Do you know anything about magnesium hydroxide (presumably similar absorbancy to the oxide version?) or magnesium stearate versions. I have one set of backup vits (bought when I forgot to take my regular vits away for the weekend) that contain these two versions. (I can't check my regular vits until later as we are going away again for a few days - its the summer hols here - and I have packed them - but I will check them tonight!!)

I use Magnesium citrate from Solgar, which is one of the reputable companies. I don't have digestive issues with magensium, but think Dr.Ress suggests Magnesium Lactate.
I think it should be combined with some acidic carrier for better absorbtion.

I don't know much about those forms but my guess is, as you said, hydroxide is probably not much better than magnesium oxide. Here's what wikipedia has to say about it and it doesn't sound good:

"Magnesium hydroxide interferes with the absorption of folic acid and iron. The diarrhea caused by magnesium hydroxide carries away much of the body's supply of potassium, and failure to take extra potassium will lead to muscle cramps."

From what I've read online it appears magnesium glycinate is the best absorbed, although I've never seen it available from any of the supplement sites I buy from. I use a combination of Solgar's magnesium citrate and TwinLabs Cellmins Multi Mineral formula which contains magnesium aspartate hydrochloride.

Hi Sunnivara

I think that the similarity of many of the peri symptoms and magnesium deficiency is more than just coincidence. As about 80% of Americans and Brits have mg deficient diets, due in part to reduced minerals in our soils and hence food, as well as diet preferences, many of us are likely to be deficient. However I suspect that there is more to it than just simple deficiency - that there is something in the hormonal upheaval that causes magnesium depletion during peri. I've been doing a fair bit of research into published articles on mag deficiency, but have as yet found no specific peri/magnesium clinical research. If anyone else has found some, please let me know.

However, here are some links to articles that may be of interest:

Good easy overview of mag deficiency:
www.webhealth.co.uk/research/magnesium.asp

Very good but more detailed overview, and also mg, ca and phospherous balance/imbalance:
www.mineralresourcesint.co.uk/pdf/11%20Human%20needs%20for%20magnesium.pdf~search=%22seelig%20human%20needs%20magnesium%22

The problem with most high mg foods is that they also have substances that inhibit absorption, eg high fibre, oxalic acid, phytic acid, but have heard that putting in some lemon juice may help.

Another way of improving absorption of mg (and other minerals) is to take a FOS prebiotic (fructo-oligosaccharide). Clinical trial results in magazine of American Soc of Bone and Mineral Research:
www.jbmronline.org/doi/abs/10.1359/jmbr.2001.16.11.2152

A couple of interesting articles on the extent of mineral depletion in our foods:

Short overview of meat and dairy:
www.foodcomm.org.uk/pdf%20files/meat_dairy2.pdf

By same author, very detailed, but tables 1-4 are revealing, and also appendix 1 lists symptoms of mineral deficiencies:

www.mineralresourcesint.co.uk/pdf/mineral_deplet.pdf

An interesting sentence in one article caught my eye - apparently if you present to a doctor with anxiety and muscle tension in continental Europe, they give you magnesium, whereas in the UK and US they consider it a psychiatric problem and give you ADs etc.

The best article I have found, (unfortunately not on the internet), is 'Neurotic, neuromuscular and autonomous nervous form of Magnesium imbalance', Durlach J et al, in Magnesium Research 1997, vol 10 no. 2, p169-191. Very medical paper, so have had to look up many of the terms, but symptoms of chronic mag def are:

Central/psychiatric: anxiety, hyperemotionality, fatigue, headaches inc migraine, insomnia, lightheadedness, dizziness, nervous fits (panic attack particularly), fainting, neuroses.

Neuromuscular disturbances: cramps, twitching, tingling in hands and feet, stiffness of extremities, neuro-muscular hyperexcitability.

Autonomous functional complaints: chest pain, tight breathing, pseudo-asthma, gastrointestinal spasms, palpitations, premature heart beats, irregular heart beat, Reynaud's syndrome (poor circulation, cold extremities), high or low blood pressure. Low blood sugar (reactive hypoglycaemia), increased receptivity to histamine giving psuedo-allergic reactions.

Mag deficiency usually presents as nervous crises, neurotic, attack of the nerves, etc, with any of the above symptoms, often with panic attacks and hyperventilation often causing self perpetuation of the crises.

I've had just about all of the mag def symptoms, except thankfully insomnia, and usually all at the same time and pretty much continuously but they have improved greatly since taking mg supplements for about 3 months.

They say the best way of finding out if you are mg deficient is to take mg supplements at 5mg/kg body weight /day. If some improvement after 1 month then you were deficient. Blood tests can be done, but there is an overlap of ranges of mg in serum and plasma between normal and deficient people, so not necessarily clear cut. Also some people are resistant to supplementation, but combining with vit E, selenium can help.

They have also done an article on the best forms of supplementing mg, but have mislaid it at the moment, but they do say that the most bioavailable is in mineral water.

Hi Squiggle

Re magnesium hydroxide, it seems to be used as a laxative, so prob not good for absorption purposes. Will try to find the article on good ones for absorption. Citrate is supposedly one of the more bioavailable. Stearate seeems to be used as a filler or coating on many pills, so probably not very effective.



Ellie J

Ellie,

I would be very interested in knowing the best forms of magnesium.

I've had most of the symptoms you listed. Also, since you seem so educated about this I was wondering what else you knew about mag. deficiency and new bone growth. Coincidentally, about 3 months before my symptoms started I broke my arm and it would not heal because I wasn't growing much bone.

I've been taking a mag/calcium/zinc sup but it's off the shelf and I don't have faith that I am absorbing it well.

Any info would be appreciated.

Lisa

Wow, you've been doing a lot of research. Thanks for all the info!

You really hit a nerve with that paragraph though. It is interesting ... and rather sad. I really don't believe that anyone with a relatively normal life (i.e. barring abuse as a child) just develops depression out of the blue for no reason. I believe there is almost always an underlying nutritional or medical reason. It makes me SOOOOO mad that doctors consider "depression" a disease in itself rather than recognizing it as a symtpom. They are far more likely to prescribe you Paxil than vitamin supplements, good food, and exercise. I'm sure it has a lot to do with pharmaceutical company greed and it's such a shame we're all paying for it with our health.

I am hypothyroid and had to go through 3 doctors to get properly diagnosed and treated. Despite me telling them I believed I had hypothyroid symptoms, especially since it runs in my family, the first 2 doctors completely blew off the idea of hypothyroidism, blamed my fatigue and moodiness on "stress" and would gladly have prescribed me an antidepressant. It was so frustrating! The third doctor was a ND so she actually talked to me about things like diet, and supplements. Why do MDs never even discuss nutrition, as if it doesn't matter? Makes me so mad doctors are still so ignorant in so many ways and yet some expect us to view them as all-knowing gods.

I googled the biociable magnesium, and found this reference. It looks like magensium -lactate (extended release) is the most bioviable form of magnesium indeed:
The bioavailability of magnesium, like many other drugs, has been
studied widely by scientists. A common way to conduct experiments on
the bioavailability of supplements is to study the supplements' rate
of solubility in a weak acid solution, similar to that of the human
body.

Bioavailability is most often affected by what form of anion or salt
-- such as oxide, gluconate, chloride or lactate dihydrate-- that is
used in the supplement. It is digested not in the stomach, but in the
small intestine. Overall, magnesium supplements are a highly
effective way of gaining magnesium for the body. A study conducted in
1992 concluded that rates of absorption by supplement and
intravenously were comparable and the supplements did provide
sufficient magnesium absorption. Healthy people absorb 30 to 40
percent of magnesium administered orally.

A factor that can also decrease bioavailabiity of magnesium is what
kind of coating the supplement has-- a study found that if the
magnesium supplement has an enteric coating-- a coating such as that
that aspirin would have to prevent being broken down in the stomach--
the supplement is less effective (1). When four different forms of
magnesium supplements are studied, "results suggested lower
bioavailability of magnesium oxide, with significantly higher and
equal absorption and bioavailability of magnesium chloride and
magnesium lactate" (A) (Study 2 below). There is a graph with the
results of the study here:

http://dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov/fa...ium.figure1.jpg

The effectiveness of magnesium supplements is therefore dependent upon
their inherent bioavailability, but also on how much elemental
magnesium (the magnesium itself) is included in a supplement.

Studies have found that magnesium L-lactate dihydrate is perhaps the
most effective form of supplemental magnesium. It is available in a
sustained-release formation that ensures maximum absorption by the
small intestine. The measured solubility and bioavailability of
magnesium L-lactate dihydrate is higher than that of other studied
formats of the drug, and patients taking it appear to have a low
incidence of side effects.

Sources:
A. http://dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov/fa...s/magnesium.asp
B. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enteric_coating
C. http://www.premierchemicals.com/corner/articles/update.htm
D. http://www.geriatrictimes.com/g020208.html

Citations:
1. Fine KD, Santa Ana CA, Porter JL, Fordtran JS. Intestinal
absorption of magnesium from food and supplements. J Clin Invest
1991;88:296-402.
2. Firoz M and Graber M. Bioavailaility of US commercial magnesium
preparation. Magnes Res 2001;14:257-62.

Hi Iradan

Very useful information, thanks for that. I've also found some info, but still following leads at the moment, and have found some links between magnesium levels and progesterone and estrogen, things they discovered back in the 1960's but seem to have forgotten or ignored, so am following those lines a bit further. I wish my French was better as they seem to have done much more research on these things, and I reckon googling in the French site could be quite helpful. (My parents live in France, but unfortunately they're not on the internet.) Hopefully will be able to summarise what I've found out by the end of the weekend.

Ellie J

Elli,
My take on the magnesium and calcium, that we must have sufficient E and P to "deposit" the minerals, and their primary deposited into bones. When we are defficient, our body dips into the storage, and gets what is needed. When our hormones are low, magnesium simply goes through. I also wonder if calcium from food and supplemental goes where we want it to (i.e.bones) or gets deposited in artheries, causing calcification and plaque formation. So, it takes hormones to "hold onto" calcium/magnesium, so we can be still defficient while taking mega doses of the supplements. I have also read that mineral defficiency, is the root cause of most age related ilnesses...

Wow - great info Ellie & Iradan

Ellie - I have been checking out all the UK supermarket & pharmacy versions of magnesium that I can find. They all seem to be hydroxide forms. What do you take and where is it from?

Sorry Ellie _ I'm going doolally - just found I'd asked you this same question on another thread and you'd answered it. Holland & Barrett... I need to go & get some I think.

Yes I am also wary of exceeding max recommended doses of vits. The UK recommended max for magnesium is only 400mg but is a lot greater in the US. My cardio said it is safe to take the higher dose if I need to but I haven't yet. I found Superdrug do a good combi-vitamin (Well Woman for hormone balance) that has 400mg of Magnesium in it - but this is the hydroxide sort unfortunately. It's £6 for a months supply (not too bad) , includes a good selection of vits/minerals too so shame the mag is the wrong type. I need to look again!

palpitations
fatigue
cramps
muscle aches
headaches
insomnia
anxiety
.............this is all so confusing.....aren't these also the same symptoms as low progesterone?How does a person truly know if it's from low magnesium without being tested?

Hi Moonlight,

I suppose if you take the mag and it helps then it is a good thing. I told my family doc I was taking it & it had helped my palps - she said it was harmless to do so but without a blood test it she didn't know if I was low in it.. she didn't offer to do the test though , maybe I should have asked but I have had enough of tests right now. Anyway, not sure what the docs base their levels on - I mean maybe we need a higher level of mag in our bodies during Peri or maybe the whole world is taking too little mag these days and the healthy bodily level the docs say we should have is too low in reality!. After all we don't eat nuts in the wild like our ancestors.

In the UK thre is a Company called Higher Nature, they are excellent for good forms of vitamins and minerals, postage and package is free they do a catlogue or internet and they also have excellent nutritionalists that you can speak to free of charge who will advise on best products etc, if you put in Higher Nature on goolge you will find it, I use a lot of food state vitamins as well as they are supposd to be better, in Uk the company I use is Natures own they are very good and will give advise as well.


I seem to be messing these replies up the orignal message is coming up with my name sorry all, could someone tell me how to put a reply up the correct way

I have been taking magnesium on the advice of a nutritionist to help with my IBS/constipation. I take magnesium citrate and have been told that I can take up to 900mg daily. However, when I mentioned this to my doctor, he said to be careful as magnesium would irritate the bowel. My understanding is that it's a muscle relaxant, though, not an irritant. Any advice would be very welcome.

Rio

Thanks Clarissa - that was really useful. I have found the websites, had a quick look & saved them to my favourites list. I need to work out what exactly I need but they do seem to do some of the better forms of magnesium!

Devon was great, some rain but not too bad. I am back in Oxfordshire today & the sun is shining!

To add a post I just click on reply then delete the irrelevant stuff before I type my own stuff in. Haven't yet worked out how the quote button works but i use reply to do my quoting!

To make it even more confusing these are also symptoms of hypothyroidism and low iron.

Sunnivara......yes,you are right about that.And it is all SO confusing it makes me wanna scream.I don't really wanna buy a bunch of crap and do a trial and error kind of thing....that seems kind of dangerous and senseless to me.
I am quite tempted to just get on synthetic HRT and forget all the other herbs and supplements.....my mother took HRT for over 20 years and it didn't harm her.........

I'd recommend just get one decent multi-mineral supplement. I'm not convinced that even those of us who eat healthy diets including fruits, and vegetables, and whole grains are getting enough minerals since most of our food is grown in depleted soils these days, forced to grow too fast, and harvested before it's reached nutritional maturity. So a basic mineral supplementation would probably do you some good whether you decide to take HRT or not ... IMHO.

magnesium attracts water to your colon, and it works as laxative. I think if you take magnesium based laxatives like milk of magnesia or epsom salts, it can be habit forming, and eventually stretch your colon too. takin Magnesium supplements alone is not the best idea, magnesium works with calcium, so it's better to take it together. Better yet to eat calcium/magnesium rich food like yougurt with live cultures, kefir, fresh veggies and fruit. Grapes and prunes contain xylitol, which works very well, and they taste great too.
I know that Vit.C- 500 mg helps with constipation, and eating yougurt with active cultures or kefir, and lots of veggies and fruits works like a charm for me.

You know what I read recently?? Magnesium is the foundation for making......progesterone!! Many people swear by the "Calm" brand of magnesium, it's a powder you mix in water.

Also, epsomsalt baths are a great way to get magnesium into your body & very relaxing too. They also detox the nasties out of your system. 1 Cup per bath, gradually working up to 2 Cups.

Erin

Hi Erin,

Welcome to PS. Your post just goes to show....you are never too old or to PERI/Menopausal to learn something new.

On a more serious note, thanks for posting the info on magnesium! Hugs, Susan