Lupus & magnesium

by Claire
(Cornwall,Ontario,Canada)

I have lupus, fibromyalgia, Raynaud's disease, advanced osteoporosis, celiac disease & cardiac spasms.

I am 62 yrs old & weigh 126 lbs.

I am confused to how much magnesium should I take?

I have refused chemicals to treat my diseases.I have managed quite well on my own with supplements & vitamins & strict no gluten diet.

I am presently taking Mag 200mg 3 times/day & 1200 mg of calcium daily.

Do you think I take enough Mag.??

Comments for Lupus & magnesium

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Enough Magnesium
by: Kerri Knox, RN-The Immune Health Queen!

Hi Claire,

Good for you for taking care of yourself and finding some other solutions to your problems.

For someone with chronic illnesses such as yours, I would say that 200 mg is definitely NOT enough magnesium by far.

There is really no Toxic dose of magnesium. You simply get loose stools when you get too much, so you have self feedback on what is too much and what is enough.

However, if you have kidney disease, you absolutely need to talk to your doctor before you take any supplements- including magnesium.

So, I usually have people get a Separate magnesium supplement in addition to their multivitamins. And be sure that it is in the form of anything but magnesium oxide. Either citrate, glycinate or anything that says 'chelated' is fine.

Take 100mg at a time 2 or 3 times a day, increasing the dosage by taking it MORE FREQUENTLY throughout the day if you have a schedule that can accomodate that. Keep increasing until either:

You reach 900 mg in one day

OR

You get loose stools.

If you get loose stools, then decrease the amount per day to the LAST DOSE that did NOT make you have loose stools.

That is how you optimize your magnesium levels. Now, once you are 'saturated' with magnesium, this dose may begin to be too much and you can get loose stools at the same dose. Just keep taking whatever dose is highest that doesn't make you have loose stools.

Kerri Knox RN Immune Health Queen

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Health Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Easy Immune Health.com

Magnesium and Vitamin D
by: Kerri Knox, RN-The Immune Health Queen!

Oh, I forgot to mention that if you haven't had your Vitamin D Level Checked then you really should do so ASAP and get your levels optimized to between 40 to 80 ng/ml.

You may actually want to get your Vitamin D Level to within the high end of this range in order to most benefit your conditions.

You will probably need to be taking around 5000 IU's of Vitamin D per day in order to meet your needs, and some people need much more than that to initially get their levels up to within the optimal range.

You should also be taking high doses of Vitamin B 12, as people with chronic health problems- and particularly celiac disease- have a very high incidence of Vitamin B 12 deficiency and can benefit a lot from that.

I offer an excellent preparation of B 12 called Beyond B 12 that is an excellent high dose SUBLINGUAL vitamin b 12 in the form of METHYLCOBALAMIN, the only kind that anyone should use. And it also has an assortment of other b vitamins essential to good health as well.

Kerri Knox RN Immune Health Queen

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Health Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Easy Immune Health.com

Methlcobalamin B12
by: Anonymous

Hello, thank you so much for your useful site, I've learned a lot about Magnesium.

I would just like to add however, a brief comment that for some of us, those with sleep/wake cycle problems (and perhaps the cardiac insufficiency/mitochondrial failure may be part of this too) the Methylcobalamin form of B12 is not ideal, and Hydroxy B12 is much more appropriate.

Hydroxy B12 does not have the same sleep/wake cycle resetting effect, and does not reduce the total number of hours you can sleep. Or rather it does, as some of the Hydroxy is converted to Methyl B12, but the effect is much more mild.

I am severely ill and taking Maethyl B12 made me far more so, and even worse it took at least 2 months to wear off. I need my 10 hours sleep as i am very ill, and I could only get 5 or so and woke so early...I felt I had had a stroke. It really was a nightmare.

So anyway, Methyl B12 great for most...but not if you have a reversed sleep/wake cycle as part of your illness...a natural need to sleep later and wake later. As forcing the issue...well, like I said, can be hell on earth!

Hmmm. That's interesting but...
by: Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen!

Hmmm. That is interesting about the Methylcobamin had on you, but the vast vast majority of people with sleep wake disturbances are going to BENEFIT from this resetting of the sleep wake cycle.

In fact, there are VERY few people who have a 'Natural Need' to stay up very late, and in fact it is likely part of what is MAKING you ill!! Not that I'm discounting YOUR reaction to Methylcobalamin and I am hearing you about 'forcing' it, but in most cases, methylcobalamin doesn't force it and very large studies have shown this to be true- even in large multicenter double-blind placebo controlled trials. I'm simply making the point that there are going to be a LOT more people who BENEFIT from the sleep wake cycle reset than are going to be harmed by it.

So, back to my original point about there being almost no one who has a 'natural need' to stay up late. There had been TONS of studies saying that teenagers had a 'natural need' to be up later and that their body rhythms changed at this time.

But now, studies are coming out showing that teens who stay up later than 11 on a regular basis have MUCH more depression and are MUCH more likely to commit suicide or have suicidal thoughts!!

And this staying up late MAY be CONTRIBUTING to diseases like Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia by contributing to Adrenal Gland Fatigue. There have been many many studies showing the decreased adrenal gland size and decreased ability to respond to stress.

It's VERY possible that those with smaller adrenal glands have a predisposition to Chronic Fatigue/Fibromyalgia/Mitochondrial disease- and staying up late (among other stresses) contributes to this!!

Take a look at my post on Cortisol Levels and Sleep for more detail on this.

Kerri Knox RN Immune Health Queen

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune System Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Immune System

Stop taking the Calcium!!!!
by: queenbeetv

Stop taking the calcium. Just take magnesium citrate or magnesium malate. Your pain will start to go away once you stop taking the calcium.

Osteoporosis is a magnesium deficiency disease, not a calcium deficiency.

Magnesium needs
by: Anonymous

Claire said " I am presently taking Mag 200mg 3 times/day & 1200 mg of calcium daily." so, she is taking 600 mg of magnesium daily which may be adequate. Her calcium intake may be too high depending on her diet and whether or not she's getting enough calcium from what she's eating. She would need to evaluate that. Dr. Carolyn Dean states as a society we are probably getting enough calcium in our diet, but even she recommends some supplementation.

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