re: magnesium - dosage?

For those taking magnesium - how much are you taking daily. Also, in divided doses? Or, all at once? Pills or powder?

I take 400mg/day. I divide out the pills into 3 doses as the variety I'm on can be hard on the stomach.

Yeah, I was wondering about the stomach thing myself lately. I switched to a mag only version from a calcium and mag combo and I'm finding more upset stomach days.

I think I'm also doing 400mg/day

But I've been doing more reading and I think I'll ask my pain specialist if we can go up to 600mg a day.

Important to note, this should be seperate from your calcium, as taking it with calcium will affect it's absorption.

If you need to take calcium as well, take it at a seperate meal.

I do 1000mg per day in two 500mg doses. But it's for high blood pressure not migs. And keep in mind I weigh more then most of you here and I take it in opaque gelcaps that dissolve much slower then tablets or caplets.

The RDA for magnesium is 400mg and as most of you know the RDA's are a rock bottom minimum amount needed to stay alive. They are far from optimal doses. And just because you take a 400mg pill doesn't mean you are absorbing all of it.

There is research coming out that is indicating magnesium may end up being more important for bone health then calcium. Which is why you can find so many calcium complexes with D3, boron and magnesium. But with the exception of boron most of them are very low when it comes to a functional amount.

People will take a calcium complex that has 800IU of D3 and think they are getting an adequate amount of D3. Or 200mg of magnesium.

Just about every mineral complex formulation I have seen is horribly deficient in the individual nutrients.

I spoke to a doctor (endoconologist) a few years back about Vit.D. He indicated that Vit. D may be more important than taking calcium. This was before all the recent hype on Vit. D. AT the time I was taking 1000 IU daily. He suggested I could go up to 2000 IU's. I now take 2400 IU's daily. Now, about magnesium. How much is too much? (for migraines that is)

They only sure way to find your own working dose is to increase the doses until it either works or you get a side effect from it. Mag is a vital macro nutrient that has multiple benefits. It's so important our bodies store it and that is why I don't view it as a pharmaceutical with a prescribed dosage. It doesn't work that way.

Each day your body will utilize different amounts of it. When we take a pharmaceutical drug our liver immediately goes to work at eliminating it. That is a complete contrast to capturing it and storing it for future use.

Thanks for the info. I've been enlightened!

Me again....just want to make something clear....you are saying that when you reach a dosage (magnesium) that produces side effects you are taking too much. (obviously) That is your body's way ot telling you. When you then lower that dosage and side effects stop you have reached the amount your body needs. Right? (I don't want to poison myself (: G.

I was unclear on my doage. I'm actually taking 400mg twice a day.

gailgigi wrote:Me again....just want to make something clear....you are saying that when you reach a dosage (magnesium) that produces side effects you are taking too much. (obviously) That is your body's way ot telling you. When you then lower that dosage and side effects stop you have reached the amount your body needs. Right? (I don't want to poison myself (: G.

It would be more effective and faster to find a dose that is working for someone else here and then go up or down from there. Since your body stores mag it would not be real crystal clear when you are taking too much until you have some bad problems. Then you could have them for a while until the levels drop.

I started at 600mg knowing that the RDA of 400mg is not optimal. And I stopped at 1000mg for several weeks to see how that works for my BP. Next month I will take it to 1200mg if I can tolerate it. But I weigh 230 lbs so someone weighing less then that shouldn't go up that fast.

Yes, that was my concern. Overdoing it. Thanks for the info!

I'm beginning to wonder if all my diarrhea is from the 800mg of mag. I'll cut it out tomorrow and see if it slows the movements. UGH

I have been taking a Calcium,magnesium, zinc with D supplement. Should I be taking a separate dose of magnesium for better absorption?
I started it about 2 months ago and haven't had a migraine since, not sure if it is a coincidence or just luck but I am definitely keeping my fingers crossed that is for sure.

I've cut out the mag for three days now and no change...so I guess I'll start back up on it, but at half the dose.

Before I had my migraines under control with bio-identical progesterone therapy, I started with 250 mg magnesium oxide. It didn't do the trick so I bumped up to 500 mg magnesium oxide (250 mg twice a day). I stayed at that level and it reduced the severity and frequency of my migraines but didn't stop them altogether.

Since starting progesterone therapy, I only take magnesium when I feel migraine symptoms coming on (usually mid-cycle and at PMS time) and it, along with ibuprofen, and earplugs for sound sensitivity, gets me through.

My MD said 500 mg a day is not too much even though the RDA for women is 320 mg (it's 420 mg for men). For me, the telltale sign that I'm getting too much is a loose stool.

Fantastic book on magnesium is The Magnesium Miracle by Carolyn Dean. She links magnesium deficiency to migraines, fibromyalgia, and many other conditions. I've referred back to it many times.

If magnesium gives you relief, I think the next question is what is causing the magnesium deficiency, with the idea that you move up the ladder until you find the root cause of the problem.

Angela

I've read that if you take your magnesium before going to bed, you sleep better. I've tried it for about a week and it seems to work. But, a week is not enough time to test the theory.

Martin

I am taking 400 mg per day. 200 in the am and 200 in the pm.
No problem with loose stool, but then I had the opposite problem before from the pain meeds.
I am also on the bio-identical projesterone with very good results.