Why Do You Need Magnesium?

Written By Em McGovern

Why do I need magnesium?

Magnesium is totally lacking in our diets due to our soil and stress. Emotional, physical, pathogenic, and toxins put added stress on the body resulting in the depletion of minerals and water-soluble vitamins. Magnesium is called the stress mineral. 

When we are low in mag we are also automatically low in a number of other things as well. Some B vitamins, like B1, and vitamin D, for example, depend on magnesium. 

Women, especially women looking to get pregnant, are pregnant or postpartum, have a very high magnesium need as minerals are greatly depleted during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Not only can magnesium help lessen the likelihood of pre-eclampsia but it also helps with postpartum depression, anxiety rage, and hormone balancing.

When people ask me if magnesium is safe for pregnancy and breastfeeding my answer is there are fewer things more necessary during pregnancy and beyond than magnesium (and cofactors like other electrolytes)

What are some symptoms of low magnesium?

  • Constipation

  • Behavioral problems

  • Sleep issues

  • Tics

  • Teeth grinding

  • Anxiety/worry

  • Hyperactivity

  • Growing pains

  • Allergies

  • Seizures

  • Glucose dysregulation (diabetes) 

  • Tooth decay

  • Urinary issues

  • Gut issues 

  • Fungal overgrowth

  • Lowered immune function

  • Cardiac abnormalities

  • Pre-eclampsia

  • Postpartum depression 

  • Postpartum rage

  • Fatigue

  • High blood pressure

  • Muscle cramps

  • Eye twitching

  • Osteoporosis 

  • Vision problems

  • Thyroid problems 

  • High cortisol

What magnesium is best for kids?

Typically topical magnesium for kids plus a good basic electrolyte is a good place to start for kids.

An easy electrolyte you can add to water is called E-Lyte from Bodybio.

You can find that in my Fullscript or use the code “holisticmother” on their website.

Topical options

  • Earthley Good Night Lotion 

  • Ancient Minerals Magnesium Lotion (Perfect Supplements or Enviromedica)

  • Magnesium Chloride Flakes in the bath or a foot soak (Perfect Supplements or Enviromedica)

Liquid options

  • Mag soothe bedtime drink from Jigsaw (this can be combined with topical forms)

  • Liquid magnesium from Mother Earth Labs (this can also be done in addition to topical forms)

  • Liquid Magnesium from RNA reset

Capsule options for kids

  • Lifeblud Mag+

  • Smidge Evening mag (can be taken anytime)

  • Smidge morning magnesium (if over 5 years old or dealing with a chronic illness that causes fatigue)

CODES:

What magnesium is best for Adults?

Topical

  • Ancient Minerals magnesium chloride flakes (Perfect Supplements or Enviromedica)

  • Ancient Minerals magnesium lotion (Perfect Supplements or Enviromedica)

Supplemental

  • Smidge Morning magnesium  

  • Lifeblud mag+

  • Bioptimizers magnesium 

  • MagSoothe bedtime drink (if not doing evening magnesium from smidge)

  • Liquid Magnesium from Mother Earth Labs

Codes:

Cofactors to keep in mind for magnesium to be properly utilized in the body

  • Boron keeps mag in the cell (already found in Smidge morning magnesium)

  • Magnesium Bicarb gets magnesium to the mitochondria (Can be found in the Magsoothe product, or you can purchase premade bicarbonate from pristine hydro  or mitigate stress or make your own )

  • B6- gets mag into the cell (beef liver, bee propolis, or pollen, or is already found in the Bioptimizers magnesium)

  • Adrenal cocktails or electrolytes- As our magnesium levels increase, we will have more of a need for sodium and potassium to balance electrolyte levels. I like the adrenal cocktail from Jigsaw and the plain electrolytes from BodyBio.

  • Trace minerals- Biofulvic or Seeking health trace minerals II (contains boron)

CODES:

DIY Boron Water

  1. Mix 1.5 tsp or 6 grams of borax in one litter of distilled or pure filtered water. This becomes your concentrated solution. 

  2. Drink 1-2 tsp or 5-10 ml of this solution, mixed into a glass of water or food three-five times daily spaced throughout the day. Continue with this amount for 3 to 4 months before dropping back to a maintenance dose of twice daily.

DIY magnesium Bicarb

  • Watch this video to learn how to make your own using magnesium hydroxide from Crucial Four.

What should very sensitive individuals do?

  • Start with topical magnesium (earthley good night lotion or ancient minerals magnesium lotion), Adrenal cocktails or electrolytes, and Trace minerals or Biofulvic.

  • Next, add magnesium Bicarbonate or the liquid ionic magnesium from Mother Earth Labs or RNA Reset 

  • From there, you could try supplementing other forms.

Which form is best for me? 

I’m sure by now you are aware of the many different forms of magnesium. Some forms are better than others, and they all serve slightly different purposes. Because of that, I recommend supplementing with magnesium that has multiple forms in it because this will cover a lot of bases and give you the most benefit. I do not think it's wise to only take one form, especially at higher doses which is why the products I mention above contain multiple forms of magnesium.

How much should we be taking? 

The general guideline is 5mg per pound of body weight

Keep in mind this is the recommended amount for general health. When the body goes through periods of illness, stress, or other big physical stressors, our magnesium need increases, so it’s not out of the question to need to double or triple that amount based on your own unique needs

Sample of what a day of mag & co-factor would look like for an adult

  • Morning- Smidge morning magnesium or Bioptimizers magnesium breakthrough & Biofulvic

  • Mid Morning or mid-afternoon- Adrenal cocktail or Electrolytes

  • Bedtime: Smidge Evening magnesium or Magsoothe 

Sample of what a day of mag and cofactors would look like for kids

  • Morning- Liquid magnesium & Biofulvic or trace minerals 

  • In the water throughout the day- Bodybio Electrolytes

  • Evening- optional mag soothe


Why might supplementing magnesium make us feel worse?

The following info is from Dr. Carolyn Dean:

  1. You’re not taking enough: When people feel worse with magnesium, I believe that the 700-800 enzyme systems that require magnesium just get jump-started, and They Want More! (I used to write that magnesium was necessary in 325 enzyme systems, but now, according to many and documented by Dr. Andrea Rosenoff, that number is more than twice what we previously thought. 
    This doesn’t mean that you’ll increase your magnesium ad infinitum! You will reach a saturation point of your magnesium stores and will be able to decrease your magnesium intake. To determine your magnesium saturation point, get a Magnesium RBC (Red Blood Cell Count) test. The range is usually given as 4.2-6.9 mg/dL; the optimum level is between 6.0-6.5mg/dL.

  2. You’re taking too much: You can also feel worse on magnesium if you take too much, too soon. This usually happens if you have fatigue and weakness from magnesium deficiency. Anyone in this category should start very slowly on any new supplement or drug. If you take a high dose of magnesium right from the start it’s like taking muscles that powered a bicycle and expect them to power a jet. Your body might just be so weak that revving up 800 enzyme systems all at once makes you feel jangled and even anxious because you don’t know what’s going on. Start with one quarter of the recommended dose of magnesium and work up as your body adapts.

  3. You have low blood pressure from long standing magnesium deficiency and adrenal fatigue. You may have heard that magnesium can lower your BP so you worry about that happening when your BP is already low. This is another instance where you must begin by supplementing at about one quarter the recommended dose of magnesium and slowly build up. Electrolytes and natural trace minerals are important in this case as well to support adrenals and thyroid and improve potassium levels.

  4. You’re on heart medications and as your health conditions improve, your meds are becoming “toxic.” That’s because you may not require them anymore! Check with your doctor when you are using magnesium to treat health conditions and want to wean off your meds. For example, magnesium helps lower blood pressure. If you continue to take the same amounts of BP meds, your BP might get too low. This is not a “side effect” of magnesium. It’s a side effect of taking drugs when you don’t need them. Magnesium balances blood pressure. If you have low BP to begin with and are not on meds, start magnesium very slowly because, as I describe in #2, you want your body to slowly adapt to a mineral you may have been deficient in for a long time.

  5. You’re on fluoridated medications that bind up your magnesium and make you deficient even when you’re taking magnesium. See a list of fluoridated medications at the Fluoride Toxicity Research Collaborative.

  6. You’ve started taking iodine (in doses above the RDA) that speeds up your metabolism giving you heart palpitations that has nothing to do with magnesium deficiency.

  7. You’re taking too much Vitamin D: Here’s what happens. You feel great on your magnesium and then you begin to get magnesium deficiency symptoms after adding a high dose Vitamin D supplement. Magnesium is required to transform Vitamin D from its storage form to its active form and for many other aspects of Vitamin D metabolism. That means if you take the extremely high doses that allopathic doctors are now recommending you can plummet into magnesium deficiency and not know what the heck is happening. In general, I don’t recommend more than 1,000-2,000 IU of Vitamin D daily for this reason. And never take Vitamin D without magnesium.

  8. You are taking too much calcium and it’s pushing out your magnesium. Magnesium is the dynamo behind calcium. They are both necessary and equally important for strong bones and many other processes in the body. Calcium (in the carbonate, citrate and gluconate forms) is only 4-10% absorbed. Unlike magnesium, calcium doesn’t flush itself out with diarrhea if you take too much. Calcium, instead, causes constipation and builds up in the body. Some researchers are saying calcium supplements are responsible for an increase in calcification causing heart disease, kidney stones, gall stones, heel spurs and fibromyalgia. Part of that buildup has to do with the fact that few people take magnesium with their calcium. It also has to do with the type of calcium taken. What’s the solution? We should try to get as much calcium as we possibly can from food sources. Go to The World’s Healthiest Foods, type in calcium to get a list of calcium-rich foods. If you do the math, you’ll see that we get much more calcium in our diet than magnesium.

  9. You’re just taking magnesium and becoming dehydrated because you don’t take any other trace minerals. Take 1/8-1/4 tsp of sea salt in every pint of water you drink. How much water per day? Half your body weight in ounces of water.

  10. Magnesium is getting into your cells and detoxifying chemicals and heavy metals. Sometimes this can feel like a healing reaction. I recommend that you build up your dosage slowly as the cells detoxify and are finally able to work efficiently.

FAQ

  • Can kids take Smidge magnesium?

    • Yes, I like the topical options in addition to the liquid options above. Don’t forget electrolytes!

  • Is topical magnesium enough magnesium for kids?

    • Often times topical mag, magnesium baths are enough to help children enough with magnesium but for chronic illness, you may need to add in magnesium supplementation as well. Especially if showing any signes of deficiency.

  • What are your favorite topical magnesium? 

    • Earthley

    • Fatskn

    • OrganicDarlings

    • Code: holisticmother for all 

  • Is there somewhere I can purchase all these magnesiums in one place?

    • Yes, join my Fullscript here and click on the magnesium protocol. You will be able to find most of what I mentioned there. 

  • Is magnesium safe for pregnancy?

    • This is something I would personally take while pregnant.

  • Is magnesium safe while breastfeeding?

    • This is something I am absolutely doing while breastfeeding. 

  • If I get negative reactions to magnesium what do you recommend? 

    • Start with adrenal cocktails and magnesium foot soaks, then add in trace minerals (biofulvic or seeking health trace minerals II) then add in topical magnesium, then finally you can start magnesium supplementation. You may need to add an additional adrenal cocktail when you begin mag supplementation. 

  • Should men take magnesium?

    • Most definitely. 

  • Is it possible to overdo magnesium?

    • Yes and no. I think most people need quite a bit of magnesium, the potential issue with supplementing too much is your need for other minerals goes up as well. This can be remedied by doing the adrenal cocktails or electrolytes.

Em McGovern
Previous

What Is Briotech?
Next

Why Do You Need Beef Organs?