10/14/2013 First says "Wired and Tired" cure is calcium

[triffid113]

The title of the article caught my eye and so I thought I'd pass it on (not because I thought it was THE CURE, but it may help some. In fact a calcium-magnesium supplement makes a HUGE difference to me.

This is a case history - a woman tired all the time yet unable to sleep and suffering brain fog, brittle nails, and muscle aches.

She was diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and sluggish thyroid, but Synthroid did not help her.

She went to a naturopath to get a complete workup and was diagnosed with a calcium deficiency. She was told calcium is needed by the thyroid and the adrenal gland (I did not know this - never read this, will check into this). She had read in the news that calcium is dangerous and had stopped taking it. The naturopath told her it is safe when a "natural form" is taken with trace minerals. (I think this 'natural form' is bogus unless it means that NATURALLY one takes calcium WITH TRACE MINERALS. In fact, it has been proven that w/o Vitamin K you cannot absorb calcium into your bones and it simply clogs your arteries. Also zinc and copper are important trace minerals for using calcium as proven here: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=5154620).
So she started taking a whole foods calcium supplement with magnesium, D, and K, and eating more calcium-rich foods like spinach, chard, and Greek yogurt. In 3 days she was sleeping like a log, feeling energetic, and whole.

(My additional comments: I believe it is the magnesium that allowed her to sleep. If she would have taken a cal-mag 1:1 supplement (such as citrate, NOT carbonate or oxide, which are scarcely absorbable) at 1.5 times the daily dose spread out over the day she could have slept like a log in one day (it works for me unless I am over-caffeinated late in the day).

Also chipping nails is a symptom of inadequate copper, not calcium, and if her trace minerals included copper then that is what fixed them. Trace minerals magnesium, zinc, copper, and manganese, as well as D and K are very important to absorbing and properly utilizing calcium).

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But even more important than her problem and cure, case study only of course, is that she got a nutrient workup and proceeded to correct a deficiency. Someone else's deficiency may be different. You can get a mineral workup from a hair analysis such as www.evenbetternow.com ($100) wich sends to the lab www.tracelements.com (w/o having to pay for a doctor visit). You can get D levels checked at your doc or www.lef.org or www.directlabs.com. You can surmise your K levels if any form of osteopenia or arthersclerotic plaque has been detected in you. In Michigan, Beaumont hospital is running a 7 test for $70 which includes EKG and ultra sound of major arteries. (ok, maybe you can detect K levels by blood test but I never needed to as I was provided other feedback which said - not enough. There are always health fairs willing to do a bone density check).

 

[triffid113]

The most interesting part of the study quoted above:

Rather than draw conclusions from indices of status, perhaps the question we should be asking is: do dietary supplements of Zn and Cu reduce bone loss in osteoporotic patients? The most compelling evidence to suggest that they do comes from the work of Saltman & Strause (1993). They conducted a double-blind placebo-controlled study in which a group of 137 post-menopausal women were divided into four groups.

Each group received a placebo, Ca (250 mg, four times daily), trace minerals (mg/d Zn 15, Cu 5, Mn 2-5) or both Ca and trace minerals.

Bone mineral density was measured at baseline and after 2 years of the supplementation regimen.

The results revealed that the percentage changes in bone mineral density were:
placebo - 2.23,
trace minerals -1.66,
Ca -0.5,
Ca + trace minerals +1.28. [BONE MASS GAIN!!]

The change in bone mineral density in the group treated with Ca and trace minerals was significantly different from that for the placebo group (P = 0-036), clearly supporting a therapeutic role for Zn and Cu in the treatment of osteoporosis.

[The only UNUSUAL element listed in the trace elements above was that the copper was about THREE TIMES what you normally find in a multi vitamin!]

 

[alex3619]

I get twired quite often, and I use calcium and magnesium fairly often, sometimes for calf muscle cramps. Yet not once has it fixed my twired or sleep issues from being twired, or modified them in any way. I think it very much depends on what is wrong with a specific person: the lemon rule. Most treatments are lemons, but you have to try them to find out if they are sour or sweet.

 

[minkeygirl]

Nothing fixes my "twiredness". What we all know is everyone is different. What works for one won't for another.

 

[Valentijn]

I get twired quite often, and I use calcium and magnesium fairly often, sometimes for calf muscle cramps. Yet not once has it fixed my twired or sleep issues from being twired, or modified them in any way.

I've also used magnesium for muscle twitching and cramps, but it doesn't seem to affect being "wired and tired." The only thing I've found which helps with that is NAC, presumably by lowering my elevated glutamate levels (I also have several pretty rare SNPs on my glutamate receptor genes).

 

[ukxmrv]

Wouldn't she have noticed it before - that is when she was taking calcium and then read that it was dangerous?

If it was as simple as this we wouldn't need the internet groups and info. Hair analysis was commonly discussed in the ME groups before there were any medical type treatment and things like calcium and magnesium (and supplements mentioned above) used for decades now.

My own supplementation by a npath in the late 80's and 90's was an expensive waste of my precious time and money. None of the people with ME that I knew in my local support group were cured or had immediate good reactions - part from magnesium and a few other things for muscle pain. So many of us were trying a dairy free diet then that calcium supplemention (and a whole lot of other things) was well discussed and tried.

The copper is an interesting one as I may have been Dr Cheney early on who said that many of his patients couldn't tolerate copper as a supplement.

If this approach was working to help a large number of people then we would know by now as it has been going on for so long now. It's great for those it works for of course.

 

[SickOfSickness]

She didn't have ME/CFS. She had vitamin and mineral deficiencies that caused symptoms like fatigue and may have been told it was CFS.