Pins and Needles
"Pins and needles is often a warning signal of magnesium
deficiency," wrote Francine Prince in Saturday Evening Post two
decades ago. (I read this and other articles and research on
magnesium in an effort to understand the different forms of
magnesium and why my friend Christena's article by Chris Gupta
said magnesium chloride was the most easily and efficiently
absorbed and therefore the best.)
I remembered my doctor associating the pins and needles feeling in
my feet with low vitamin B12. I was sure he was right because my
pins and needles sensations vastly reduced as I had B12
replacement therapy.
But, after my friend, Christena Louise, sent me the Gupta article
on magnesium overcoming symptoms of Parkinson's Disease, I tried
to find the particular form of magnesium mentioned in Gupta's
article, without success -- at least initially.
This is how Christena's email began:
Initially I wasn't particularly struck by the email because I don't
have Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, diabetes or cancer.
But like a fertile seed, the article took root in my mind and I began
remembering a women's health newsletter I subscribed to in which
the pharmacist-authors were zealots for magnesium, and
convincingly so.
After reading the women's newsletter which month after month
emphasized the necessity for, and the strengths of magnesium, I
was convinced. I got magnesium and began taking a tablet each time
I ate anything with calcium in it. (A main thrust of the newsletter
was that we take a lot of calcium in the United States which does
more damage than good unless it is accompanied by magnesium.)
I fully expected the magnesium to make the calcium in my food so
usable for my body that my bones would be nice and dense even
though I was nearing my sixties.
When I had my bone density tested and my bones were dense, I
wasn't surprised, though the administrators of the test appeared to
be. They were giving the test for free, then instructing people on the
medication for increasing bone density. Presumably they were being
paid by the medication manufacturers or distributors with which
they were associated.
I didn't think much beyond, "Magnesium is needed for bone density
and it sure seems to work."
However, now that I'm beginning to get over the tetanus I got last
year (2004) when I had failed to have a tetanus shot in 30 years, I
am keenly aware of serious, debilitating pain in my back, similar to
that I had prior to B12 replacement therapy.
Here's the crunch: for all these years I thought the pain in my back
went away because of having had cyanocobalamin injections as B12
replacement therapy.
For a fact the pain in my back dramatically decreased; and for a fact
I was having B12 replacement therapy. But, what I forgot was that
at the same time that I had money for B12 replacement, I began to
buy and take magnesium so that I could follow the advice in the
newsletter. (I also began to eat more protein which may have had an
affect.)
At the time I got the cheap K-Mart brand of magnesium, which I
expect was Magnesium Oxide, just as the cheap Wal*Mart brand is
the Oxide form today.
When I got tetanus, which is a very unpleasant disease, to say the
least, I stopped taking magnesium because I could no longer control
my own diet since I was too sick to make meals and my meals were
brought in.
So, I have not had much magnesium during the last year, while at
the same time I have had a lot of cobalamin (B12).
Therefore, if it were the cobalamin which reduced my back pain, I
should not have back pain now. But I do.
When I had this realization, the day before yesterday, on September
28, 2005, I immediately decided that I needed to go back to taking
magnesium with calcium-containing-food, and to get a lot more
cheese and yogurt into my diet so that I would in fact be taking
more magnesium. (I had previously been taking one magnesium
tablet each time I had a bit of yogurt or a piece of cheese. In total I
was probably taking anywhere from three to six or nine tablets a
day.)
...."both magnesium as well as chloride have other important
functions in keeping us young and healthy. Chloride, of course, is
required to produce a large quantity of gastric acid each day and is
also needed to stimulate starch-digesting enzymes. Magnesium is the
mineral of rejuvenation and prevents the calcification of our organs
and tissues that is characteristic of the old-age related degeneration
of our body.
Using other magnesium salts is less advantageous because these
have to be converted into chlorides in the body anyway. We may
use magnesium as oxide or carbonate but then we need to produce
or have additional hydrochloric acid to absorb them. Many aging
individuals, especially with chronic diseases who desperately need
more magnesium cannot produce sufficient hydrochloric acid and
then cannot absorb the oxide or carbonate.
Foods containing magnesium.
deficiency," wrote Francine Prince in Saturday Evening Post two
decades ago. (I read this and other articles and research on
magnesium in an effort to understand the different forms of
magnesium and why my friend Christena's article by Chris Gupta
said magnesium chloride was the most easily and efficiently
absorbed and therefore the best.)
I remembered my doctor associating the pins and needles feeling in
my feet with low vitamin B12. I was sure he was right because my
pins and needles sensations vastly reduced as I had B12
replacement therapy.
But, after my friend, Christena Louise, sent me the Gupta article
on magnesium overcoming symptoms of Parkinson's Disease, I tried
to find the particular form of magnesium mentioned in Gupta's
article, without success -- at least initially.
This is how Christena's email began:
Initially I wasn't particularly struck by the email because I don't
have Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, diabetes or cancer.
But like a fertile seed, the article took root in my mind and I began
remembering a women's health newsletter I subscribed to in which
the pharmacist-authors were zealots for magnesium, and
convincingly so.
After reading the women's newsletter which month after month
emphasized the necessity for, and the strengths of magnesium, I
was convinced. I got magnesium and began taking a tablet each time
I ate anything with calcium in it. (A main thrust of the newsletter
was that we take a lot of calcium in the United States which does
more damage than good unless it is accompanied by magnesium.)
I fully expected the magnesium to make the calcium in my food so
usable for my body that my bones would be nice and dense even
though I was nearing my sixties.
When I had my bone density tested and my bones were dense, I
wasn't surprised, though the administrators of the test appeared to
be. They were giving the test for free, then instructing people on the
medication for increasing bone density. Presumably they were being
paid by the medication manufacturers or distributors with which
they were associated.
I didn't think much beyond, "Magnesium is needed for bone density
and it sure seems to work."
However, now that I'm beginning to get over the tetanus I got last
year (2004) when I had failed to have a tetanus shot in 30 years, I
am keenly aware of serious, debilitating pain in my back, similar to
that I had prior to B12 replacement therapy.
Here's the crunch: for all these years I thought the pain in my back
went away because of having had cyanocobalamin injections as B12
replacement therapy.
For a fact the pain in my back dramatically decreased; and for a fact
I was having B12 replacement therapy. But, what I forgot was that
at the same time that I had money for B12 replacement, I began to
buy and take magnesium so that I could follow the advice in the
newsletter. (I also began to eat more protein which may have had an
affect.)
At the time I got the cheap K-Mart brand of magnesium, which I
expect was Magnesium Oxide, just as the cheap Wal*Mart brand is
the Oxide form today.
When I got tetanus, which is a very unpleasant disease, to say the
least, I stopped taking magnesium because I could no longer control
my own diet since I was too sick to make meals and my meals were
brought in.
So, I have not had much magnesium during the last year, while at
the same time I have had a lot of cobalamin (B12).
Therefore, if it were the cobalamin which reduced my back pain, I
should not have back pain now. But I do.
When I had this realization, the day before yesterday, on September
28, 2005, I immediately decided that I needed to go back to taking
magnesium with calcium-containing-food, and to get a lot more
cheese and yogurt into my diet so that I would in fact be taking
more magnesium. (I had previously been taking one magnesium
tablet each time I had a bit of yogurt or a piece of cheese. In total I
was probably taking anywhere from three to six or nine tablets a
day.)
- The first day of my renewed interest in, and consumption of,
magnesium a friend got me a pizza and I had five tablets over
two meals and one snack of heavily cheesed pizza. (I hadn't
had any pizza in 50 weeks.)
That night I slept particularly soundly, and even dreamed.
Usually I don't fall deeply enough asleep or sleep long enough
to dream. (Prior to B12 replacement I seldom got four hours a
night unless I took a strong sleeping pill. So, I'm certainly not
complaining about the 7 hours of sleep a night that I get now.)
Based on the sense of relaxation that I feel, I believe that in
less than six months I am going to experience a dramatic
reduction of pain in my back. : )
...."both magnesium as well as chloride have other important
functions in keeping us young and healthy. Chloride, of course, is
required to produce a large quantity of gastric acid each day and is
also needed to stimulate starch-digesting enzymes. Magnesium is the
mineral of rejuvenation and prevents the calcification of our organs
and tissues that is characteristic of the old-age related degeneration
of our body.
Using other magnesium salts is less advantageous because these
have to be converted into chlorides in the body anyway. We may
use magnesium as oxide or carbonate but then we need to produce
or have additional hydrochloric acid to absorb them. Many aging
individuals, especially with chronic diseases who desperately need
more magnesium cannot produce sufficient hydrochloric acid and
then cannot absorb the oxide or carbonate.
Foods containing magnesium.
| http://www.health-boundaries-bite.com Your fingernails reflect your health -- Learn some warning signs --
|
Pins and Needles: health boundaries that bite
"Many of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease can be
overcome with high magnesium supplementation...
...In a trial with 30 epileptics 450 mg of magnesium
supplied daily successfully controlled seizures...
...In an American study the death rate due to diabetes
was four times higher in areas with low magnesium
water levels...
...Many studies have shown an increased cancer rate in
regions with low magnesium levels in soil and drinking
water..."
overcome with high magnesium supplementation...
...In a trial with 30 epileptics 450 mg of magnesium
supplied daily successfully controlled seizures...
...In an American study the death rate due to diabetes
was four times higher in areas with low magnesium
water levels...
...Many studies have shown an increased cancer rate in
regions with low magnesium levels in soil and drinking
water..."
I haven't finished this page, so it rather unexpectedly jumps
to the following:
to the following:
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