There is a cure for epilepsy...

[speber]

I'm also wondering if the way food is 'prepared' might somehow affect the level as well?
Can boiling veggies and then draining off the water remove some Magnesium...for example?
Frying?...(ummmm....frying....aaaaaagggggggggg)

[Bernard]

Robin, I don't know how much the denaturing of the soil might be affecting things, but the study I referenced earlier showed that modifying the diet to purportedly consume 4x the RDA of magnesium was successful in raising the level of ionic magnesium, so I think it is entirely possible to get all the magnesium you need from food if your diet is good.

Speber, I know that cooking/heat can destroy vitamins, enzymes and organic compounds in foods, but I'm not sure about minerals. I would guess that it could affect the compounds that minerals are bound to (in turn potentially affecting whether the body can digest/use the minerals), but I don't know for sure.

Spinach salad anyone?

[RobinN]

In a perfect world Bernard. Hard to recondition others habits at times.
Make sure you wash that spinach first.

I found this site that has some good information about Magnesium with links to research.
http://www.ctds.info/5_13_magnesium.html

Magnesium (Mg) is a trace mineral that is known to be required for several hundred different functions in the body. A significant portion of the symptoms of many chronic disorders are identical to symptoms of magnesium deficiency. Studies show many people in the U.S. today do not consume the daily recommended amounts of Mg. A lack of this important nutrient may be a major factor in many common health problems in industrialized countries. Common conditions such as mitral valve prolapse, migraines, attention deficit disorder, fibromyalgia, asthma and allergies have all been linked to a Mg deficiency. Perhaps not coincidentally, these conditions also tend to occur in clusters together within the same individual. A magnesium deficiency as a root cause would provide a logical explanation of why some people suffer from a constellation of these types of problems.

[RobinN]

Taken the time to really read what you have found Bernard. Very good articles.
The Ionic form that I usually use is dropped under the tongue, so that it goes directly to the ...? blood stream? cell ?
Calling the doctor today to get some more.

[speber]

• The ringing in the ears----- gone (within 24 hours).
• My wife's severe migraines (for the moment anyway)----kept at bay. She made it through a weather change that normally she can't!

While I'm not going to 'sign the lease yet', I am very happy with the initial results. We're both taking 500mg daily(two 250mg tablets)...standard vitamin, not chelated.

[RobinN]

That is really REALLY great news!!! It is so worth a trial for many.

[RobinN]

Correlation between plasma and CSF calcium and magnesium concentrations indicated that convulsions occurred when CSF magnesium and plasma calcium concentrations declined. 4. The neurological mechanisms likely to be responsible for the induction of these convulsions are discussed and the factors precipitating convulsions in magnesium deficiency and epilepsy are compared.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...t=AbstractPlus

In children the clinical conditions most frequently encountered with low serum magnesium were seizure 30 (16%), renal disease 26 (13.8%), metabolic acidosis 18 (9.6%), ideopathic apnea 14 (7.4%) and tachycardia 10 (5.3%).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...t=AbstractPlus

Clinical and experimental investigations have shown that magnesium depletion causes a marked irritability of the nervous system, eventually resulting in epileptic seizures. Although magnesium deficiency as a cause of epilepsy is uncommon, its recognition and correction may prove life-saving. Two case reports are presented which emphasize the importance of recognizing hypomagnesaemia in patients with acute intractable seizures.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...t=AbstractPlus

[RobinN]

Premenstrual chocolate craving is a phenomenon that has puzzled a great many women who are not controlled by this overwhelming urge at other times of the month. Yet chocolate, which is highest in magnesium of all foods, is often a sign of magnesium deficiency. If your diet is high in calcium you may have poor calcium absorption as well. The answer is not to eat more chocolate, but to increase your magnesium by eating more whole grains, nuts, seafood, and green vegetables, and by increasing your magnesium supplements. Your chocolate cravings will vanish when you have enough magnesium in your diet.

http://www.mgwater.com/calmagab.shtml

[John-Forrest]

One of the reasons I don't go to neurologists is they invariably want to pump me up with the maximum dosage of chemicals they can. Then they make this power trip over me saying I better not stop taking them or decrease my dosage (no matter how awful and comatose I feel) - or I will DIE!

I have a regular general MD who is very much with me on trying alternative treatments, being carefull not to go off meds too fast. It's good to find someone open-minded. If your MD is making you uncomfortable, shop for someone else!

Anyway, about magnesium - it's interesting that Epsom Salts were the treatment of choice in the 19th century, so it must had had some positive effects. I'm not sure if magnesium and magnesium sulfate is the same thing. I do know that in ER, they discovered my electrolytes to be DANGEROUSLY LOW.

As of yesterday, I happened to get 2 bottles of magnesium on sale. What the hey? Anything is a try. Have to see where it goes long term, though.

[speber]

Okay, I'm buying stock in Mg manufacturing company's...we have a swell going here!

JK...(Hay, do you think 'big pharma' is involved with OTC vitamins?...hmmm?.....they might be if this keeps up!)

[RobinN]

I was just reading my bottle of Concentrated Ionic Magnesium. It says to use it throughout the day. I was giving it to Rebecca once a day, then decided to up to two times a day, now I am thinking I should ask her to do it a third time during the day.

We have decreased the seizures this month by half. Two were related to bad food choices, and one hormonal. I am fascinated by this mineral.

[angel]

I was just reading my bottle of Concentrated Ionic Magnesium. It says to use it throughout the day. I was giving it to Rebecca once a day, then decided to up to two times a day, now I am thinking I should ask her to do it a third time during the day.

We have decreased the seizures this month by half. Two were related to bad food choices, and one hormonal. I am fascinated by this mineral.

dosnt Magnesium turn Ionic when digested?

thats what my pharmacist said that it dosnt matter which kind i take because it turns Ionic when digested...

ps I LOVE fresh spinach salad yummy...
I hate cooked spinach yuck some veggies i like raw others i cook .....

[RobinN]

That is my understanding Angel.
Yet... the cell can use the ionic form immediately without going through a process of tranformation. Some of the supplements are being eliminated before they go through this process. A few suffer from loose stools and even diarrhea when taking high quantities of magnesium. This occurs as non digested magnesium acts as a laxative because it has not been converted to ionic form before it enters the digestive system.

So for me, knowing the this, and how it has improved the quality of my own life, I choose to continue to administer it to Rebecca in the Ionic form as well. Seems a bit silly not to. From my research it is fairly easy to know when the body has more than what it needs and I can adjust accordingly.

[angel]

That is my understanding Angel.
Yet... the cell can use the ionic form immediately without going through a process of tranformation. Some of the supplements are being eliminated before they go through this process. A few suffer from loose stools and even diarrhea when taking high quantities of magnesium. This occurs as non digested magnesium acts as a laxative because it has not been converted to ionic form before it enters the digestive system.

So for me, knowing the this, and how it has improved the quality of my own life, I choose to continue to administer it to Rebecca in the Ionic form as well. Seems a bit silly not to. From my research it is fairly easy to know when the body has more than what it needs and I can adjust accordingly.

thanks for the info Robin,

she really didnt get into it that much with me.... I need to ask my uroligest about taking ionic magnesium which im going to have to look for i havnt found any in the small town i live in...... Im not sure what i can take and what i cant ....

love angel

[RobinN]

I was just rereading this thread and found so much of it incredibly interesting. Guess one of my directions in life is to be an expert on magnesium. This was new to me:

The first step in treating the symptoms of magnesium depletion, especially among children, is to eliminate milk from the diet, according to Dr. Barnett. He reports that nine out of ten childhood epileptics drink milk. Calciferol (synthetic vitamin D), like fluorine, tends to bind the magnesium, he says. Milk is loaded with this substance and therefore enhances the problem. The synthetic form of the vitamin is 10 times more active than the natural form--which means it is 10 times more potent in binding magnesium. For this reason the natural vitamin, as found in fish liver oils, will not cause magnesium depletion, but milk can and does.

http://www.mgwater.com/rod07.shtml

[brain]

Spinach salad anyone?

Send me 12 pounds of it my way please
Mr. B!

Thank you!

[Bernard]

Interesting stuff Robin. Another potential link for the GARD diet to be related to magnesium issues that is secondary to the original purpose/design IMO (here's the first - gard diet - magnesium).

[RobinN]

You know Bernard, outside of the Epilepsy sites, this diet is known as the GFCF diet. Some include SFCF like Doctor J does.
For those unaware
GF=Gluten Free
CF=Casein Free
SF=Soy Free
CF=Corn Free
Knowing this helped me when I was first learning what I needed to be eliminating at the store. I know Doctor J's GARD diet hits it from another angle and yet the end result is the same. I think it is all within the same family. It would be great to see it as such, due to all of the talk on Larry King and Oprah about Gluten etc in the diet.
So confusing for many that are trying to make sense of it all at the grocery store.

[Bernard]

You are probably right, but when I look at GFCFSFCF my eyes bug out. I can't imagine what it is like for dyslexic folk. GARD is catchier and easier to remember/say.

Feel free to mention it as a hybrid of the two if you like: GARD/GFCFSFCF

[RobinN]

it is actually known in the other neurologist sites as the GFCF diet.
I will do that, thank you.