Magnesium, the miracle mineral...

I'm no doctor.  I'm no nutritionist, but I am a human being with a body that knows its limitations and its struggles.  I know about aches and pains, fatigue and restlessness, mood swings and mental fuzziness.  It is interesting to me that so many of the "symptoms" I have point directly to magnesium deficiency.

I didn't come upon the miracle mineral directly, but rather it was indirectly when I was doing some research about breast health.  I had a mammogram come back that was not satisfactory to the radiologist so I had a re-do and still, he was not happy with it.  Later I went in for an ultra-sound with a surgeon who would do a needle biopsy.  As it turned out, the doctor was not convinced it was a necessary procedure.  At that point, I was a little scared and nervous and wanted to understand more about breast health in ways other than self examinations, which I had always been diligent about, and yearly mammograms.

In my searching I stumbled upon vitamin D3 and read lots and lots of articles about its benefits to breast health as well as for immune health.  The sunshine vitamin is truly good for what ails ya,  and most of us, even in sunny climes, don't get enough.  Those of us who live above the state of Georgia certainly don't get enough D and especially during the fall and winter months.  When I read an article by Kerri Knox, RN who shared that raising a woman's vitamin D levels could reduce her chance of getting breast cancer by HALF, I went to the store and bought some D3.  I took it for a couple months before the next ultrasound/biopsy was scheduled and the surgeon who was viewing the live ultra-sound and comparing it to the old snapshots said he saw improvement!  I have been taking D3 ever since and try to get my natural vitamin D through sunshine whenever I can.  My last mammogram came back fine.  I also found myself to be far more healthy through the cold and flu season after taking D.

It was through the research I did on breast health and vitamin D that I found more information about magnesium.  I thought it was a fairly normal thing as I aged to have more aches and pains, to feel tired and a bit fuzzy-brained, but as it turns out, these are just a few symptoms of low magnesium levels.  I had always, ever since I started having babies, had terrible low back pain.  There were times when I was totally incapacitated from the horrible back spams and pain.  I lived with it.  There was a point when I thought to myself, "Well, this is your fate.  You will just have to live with it."  That was before I found magnesium.  I read this article and also ordered the book The Magnesium Miracle by Dr. Carolyn Dean, MD, ND.  Since then, I have listened to pod-casts by Dr. Dean and read more articles about magnesium on The Nutritional Magnesium Asssoc. website and I started a magnesium regiment daily.  I won't say that I am totally cured of every single thing that ails me, but I no longer have the back pain I once woke up with every single morning of my womanly life, nor do I have insomnia or muscle aches and twitches.  There are many, many other symptoms that point to magnesium deficiency, so please check out the links to see if you might benefit from taking magnesium.

Since understanding how much I needed magnesium for my health and well-being, I started working harder at making sure we eat real foods that are high in the mineral -- whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes.  I realize that I probably can't/won't eat nearly enough to take me from deficiency to proper levels of magnesium, so I take the supplemental magnesium citrate or magnesium malate.  I have  read that the cheaper version of magnesium supplement, magnesium oxide, is much less absorb-able than the citrate form.  I also like to take Epsom salt baths every now and then as another way to absorb necessary magnesium.

Just for the record, I am in no way connected to Dr. Carolyn Dean nor to any of the other people from the websites I have shared with you.  I don't get kickbacks from the Epsom salts industry nor from the supplement industry.  What I do get is a good health kick from these two supplements and I'm so glad that I found them.  I wanted to share my health happiness with you.  Please read the info for yourself and judge whether or not this is for you, and as always, you may want to consult with your health practitioner or doctor.