Magnesium v. calcium

[Irena]

Hi,

 

I haven't written here for quite a while although I still visit the site quite regularly. My son Stanisław, who's now almost 14, is doing great. He still has some very mild tics (like occasional eye blinking – very, very mild) but it is only me who sees them and I'm absolutely sure that all the others are convinced that his tics are the thing of the past. I do hope it will stay like this. We are still on supplements (multi, magnesium, taurine, Omega 3, P5P, follinic acid&MB12 and probiotics) but we skip them sometimes and it is not an issue. We also try to eat healthy.

 

I owe you so, so much. Without this site and generosity and kindness of Chemar and Kim I would have not known where to start from and I wouldn't have even known that there were things I could do to help my son. Thank you again!

 

I decided to write about my own recent experience with calcium and magnesium as these two minerals are so essential and almost all of us use them.

 

I started having palpitations and anxiety. I thought it was stress and maybe late reaction to very stressful first six months of the previous year (Staś broke his arm while riding a snowboard, after several weeks he had an operation, the bones had to be put in place once again, because of that he could not write his exams with all the others, etc). I also thought these could be perimenopause symptoms (I turned 44 yesterday). Well, probably, it has been all of these. Anyway, I knew I needed magnesium. So I started supplementing it. I chose Solgar's combo of calcium and magnesium citrate as it had the recommended balance of 2:1. (plus Omega 3 and NOW Vit-Min +75 with high B vitamins)

 

But it didin't help. I started showing another symptoms of very low magnesium. I developed arrhythmia (not only occasional palpitations but also those very annoying additional heart beats) and twitches of big muscles like thigh or stomach muscles. Apparently my body still lacked magnesium.

 

Then I remembered that Peter Gillham (the one who developed Natural Calm) wrote something about relations between calcium and magnesium which differed from the 2:1 relation. Here is what he says: "Normal cells contain 10,000 times more magnesium than calcium. If the amount of cellular magnesium falls, however, calcium flows into the cell. With such an imbalance, calcium puts the cell into a hyperactive state. This can cause muscle contraction and lead to painful cramping. Muscles need magnesium in order to relax."

 

And much, much more http://www.petergillham.com/product-line/p...atural-calm.php

 

So I put aside the combo and started using only magnesium (Solgar's chelated magnesium 500mg) (plus Omega 3 and multi). Within a week things changed dramatically. I don't have palpitations or anxiety any more only a single additional heart beat from time to time (nothing comparing to what it used to be). My whole body and mind have calmed.

 

I'm awaiting for the delivery of Natural Calm which I ordered a week ago.

 

Sorry for such a long post but I though this may help someone who's been supplementing cal/mag and cannot see desirable results. As Peter Gillham says it is hard nowadays to lack calcium as very often it is added to foods like cereals or orange juice. I know it can be different with someone who does not eat dairy products but it is worth knowing that this 2:1 balance of calcium to magnesium may not work for everybody (Gillham recommends 3 parts of magnesium to 2 parts of calcium).

[Char]

Irena,

Hi, Thanks for sharing your update on how your son is doing with his tics. Did the supplements help your sons tics or was it a number of things? Did you find that as your son got older the tics got better? Did your son ever have any focus problems? I am just wondering because it is always great to hear how kids are doing with tics when they are older, especially when the tics are so mild. It gives me hope to hear update stories like yours. I hope one day my sons tics are just as mild as your sons. Thanks for any feedback you give. Char...

[Irena]

Char,

I believe it was a number of things. First of all I could see an immediate improvement after changing his diet, removing artificial colours, MSG, preservatives. I learned to read labels and I never stopped. We also withdrew foods he reacted to (we did Alcat test to find out what the offending foods were).

After Organix (OAT) test we also started fighting candida using caprylic acid (Mycopryl by BioCare) and probiotics + other things like oregano oil, olive leaf, etc and healing his leaky gut (Permatrol by BioCare).

And, of course, right from the beginning of our battle we started supplementation.

Also, we changed all the screens into LCD ones.

 

And I believe time helped, too. You can often read the tics are at their worse at the age of 9 to 12. It seems it was the case with my son, too. My son will be 14 in March.

 

We are not so strict about the diet any more. As the tics are not real problem any more I don't insist on his keeping the diet all the time and he is only too happy to eat what others do. But I know it is not good form him. His skin starts itching and he scratches himself badly.

 

I think it is worth reminding what his tics were when we started this natural path. He had eye rolling, blinking, head shaking, shoulder shrugging, arm twiches and some vocal tics (squeaks).

 

When I look back I am more and more convinced that it all resulted from a damage of his immune system probably right after he was born. For some reason he was born aenemic. Despite this he was given all the due shots. I remember when he was 1 or 1,5 he started waking up in the middle of the night and cry and cry and nothing helped. It wasn't a normal cry. His doctor told us it could be that his nervous system was not mature enough and reacted to all what was happening during the day. Now I am absolutely sure it was the damage done to his nervous system by MMRII. But I didn't realised it then. Now I know this kind of cry is characteristic for a nervous system damage. I thank God with all my heart that the damage was not greater and he is not autistic.

 

And I also thank God for Internet, this board and my, deficient as it is, knowledge of English which made it possible to find all the information about natural approach to tics still not appreciated in Poland.

Irena