Magnesium induced Brain Fog

[Lone Wolf]

I am extremely sensitive to Magnesium - brain fog lasting 2 days. Very similar to MSG reaction.
I am posting here hoping to learn why.

My Holistic Dr just says "don't take it" but if I can understand the mechanism that makes me feel terrible, maybe I can learn what to take to feel the opposite effect. Some energy or sense of well being.

I have leg cramps that wake me up at night, which started a magnesium journey.
If I take even one drop of Magnesium Citrate (Dr Deans Pico-Ionic minerals) or any sleep aid with magnesium, I will feel like a concrete block for a brain the next 2 days.

A brief soak in Epsom salts causes the same reaction (magnesium sulfate) which is also the active ingredient in "muscle relief" sprays that produce the same result. I realize 99.99% of the population does not have this reaction.

It happens to me EVERY time I take any magnesium. I skipped it for a year, introduced small amount, same reaction. Good quality electrolyte supplements with any magnesium will cause the same reaction for me.

I did a search of this forum, found a thread of someone who seems to have similar reaction but didn't seem to provide answers that I can relate to: Magnesium is killing me (due to GABA oversensitivity)

I am age 67 CFS for 36 years. immunoglobulin G out of range low (primary immune disease)
(++) = MAO A; ACE
(+/-) = COMT 158, 62; VDR Taq, Fok; MTHRF 677, 1298; MTR; MTRR 415, 257; BHMT 1, 2, 4, 8; CBS 699, 360

 

[Wishful]

I've got plenty of abnormal responses that I'd like to understand the mechanisms of, and little hope of finding them. The body is just too complex, with too many interactions between various mechanisms, and there's still too much of the body that is still a mystery even to the world's best experts. It's not impossible to find the mechanism, but sadly, "don't take it" is the best most of us can hope for.

It's also possible that your response is unique to you, so there would be no research about the mechanism.

 

[linusbert]

i had a stronger negative reaction to it (than now) last year and fixed it with fixing my vitamin D.
now i still get high blood pressure the next 1-2 days after taking magnesium.

electrolytes need to be balanced... what you experience could maybe be the effects of calcium or sodium deficiency aggravated by magnesium.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Thanks folks - appreciate the input.
I found a 10 year old thread where someone had similar reactions to me - yet others had no problem with magnesium. magnesium bad reactions

electrolytes need to be balanced... what you experience could maybe be the effects of calcium or sodium deficiency aggravated by magnesium.

Wow - that reminds me of what Amy Yasko says about Calcium as it relates to excitotoxins such as MSG (which I am also VERY sensitive to yet most of the planet is immune)

As with glutamate, calcium is something your system needs. But too much calcium will work with glutamate to overexcite your nervous system. One way to look at the interaction between calcium and glutamate is that glutamate is the gun and calcium is the bullet. In experiments looking at the impact of minerals on excitotoxin death it was found that “Calcium, it appeared, was the culprit. Apparently glutamate opened a special channel designed to allow calcium to enter the neuron, and it was calcium that triggered the cell to die…It appeared that excitotoxins, including glutamate and aspartate work by opening calcium channels, at least on certain subtypes of receptors. When those neurotransmitters are allowed to come into contact with the receptor in too high a concentration or for too long a period of time, the calcium channel gets stuck in the open position allowing calcium to pour into the cell in large amounts” (Russell Blaylock, Excitotoxins the Taste that Kills).

 

[linusbert]

e, the calcium channel gets stuck in the open position allowing calcium to pour into the cell in large amounts”

how to get it back into closed state?

 

[Lone Wolf]

I am no expert, other than my personal experience with any MSG (often disguised with names like "natural flavors".
If the theory is true that the Glutamate opens Calcium channels to enter the neuron, I can only say that after 24 to 48 hours the crisis resolves itself. Personally I will have a very unpleasant day, sometimes 2 full days after MSG but it won't last more than that as long as I don't eat "leftovers" of the offending food.

Magnesium has similar result for me, and I acknowledge that is very uncommon - but so are my genetics.

 

[lenora]

Hello @Lonewolf. There are other types of mg. that you can try....Mg. Taurate, for example. Perhaps the Mg. Citrate is too much for your digestive system.....and perhaps you're getting plenty of it in food.

I would quite it all for a reasonable amount of time, and then start smaller doses of the Taurate. If that doesn't work, then just give it up until you have an appt. with a doctor who may be of some help. Yours, Lenora

 

[Lone Wolf]

Thanks - yeah I have stopped the Magnesium and do have an appointment with the Holistic Doc.
I wasn't aware of the Taurate and will look into that.

 

[Judee]

@Celandine, mentions magnesium causing vasodiation in this thread: https://forums.phoenixrising.me/threads/daughters-recovery-details.90429/

When I had a NASA standing test it felt like all the blood drained out of my brain and I had a migraine and worse brain fog for about 2 days afterward.

I had never thought about magnesium being a vasodialator.

??

 

[Mick]

answers that I can relate to: Magnesium is killing me (due to GABA oversensitivity)

Hi, it's Mick from the thread that you linked to. I have some answers, finally. The only thing that could help was to take duloxetine. I guess this is the first real solution to be found on the Internet. So far I could only find that there are doctors who claim that you have to get used to it but it's not entirely true. Rather, I am sensitive to magnesium all the time, to varying extent. Then also vitamin d and calcium. After taking magnesium with duloxetine for a long time (like 3 months) I was able to stop taking duloxetine. There are a few caveats, however: duloxetine is stimulating for my brain and it's not always true for everybody. Conversely, people that I suggested it to take reported that it made them sleepy. After 3 months something changed and I kind of got used to magnesium and didn't have to take duloxetine anymore but this is rather associated with the fact that I reached vitamin D level just below 30 which is high for me (I almost never can reach this level and if I do I get hypercalcemia, another weird behaviour of my body). This level of vit. D alone was quite stimulating so I simply couldn't take duloxetine and vit. D together. Besides that I took very small doses of duloxetine - 10 mg or less. Duloxetine is delivered in special enteric-resistant capsules so I used capsules of the same type - you can either buy them or use what you have at hand as long it is enteric-resistant. Or duloxetine may be compounded in such small amounts. Of course the dose of 30 mgs may completely suit you or may be even too small. Anyways, even at 10 mgs per day I wasn't able to fall asleep after a few days of taking it so there had to take a break from it every few days. Duloxetine - a very very strange drug indeed because its action is twofold - one is stimulating, the other is numbing. Which one action will take over in your case - that is totally random. And try vitamin D first for some time because this may do in your case. Getting duloxetine, especially in such strange circumstances, may be difficult. What would you say? "I want to finally take magnesium to get rid of cramps"? Besides... you may get rid of leg cramps if you take taurine or quinine (which is also difficult to obtain most of the time). But if you have tetany then magnesium and calcium is the only way to go.