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Could your health problems actually be magnesium deficiency symptoms? The symptoms can be anything from headaches to PMS. Chances are you may deficient in this mineral as according to Natural News, more than 80% of the population is not getting enough magnesium.
Low magnesium is often over looked. Yet, there are hundreds of magnesium deficiency symptoms that this can cause, in addition to many diseases that can be exacerbated.
Almost a year ago, I went to my family doctor because I was having painful menstrual cramps every month. I asked him what could be causing this and what I should do about it. His response was that it was genetic; there’s nothing that can be done. His only suggestion was to take an over the counter medication to deal with the pain. But, after researching this online, I found that menstrual cramps are one of the common magnesium deficiency symptoms. Eager to try this, I corrected my ratio of calcium and magnesium and within a month voila! No more cramps!
Unfortunately, not many know about the importance of magnesium in the body and the resulting magnesium deficiency symptoms. It is helpful to research magnesium deficiency symptoms to find out if this could be the cause of your health problem too.
Why Are we not Getting Enough Magnesium?
It is very hard to get enough magnesium through your diet, no matter how healthy you eat. This is because modern farming processes have depleted our soil of adequate natural magnesium. Also, there are many other factors that significantly decrease the amount of magnesium absorbed in our bodies. These include:
- Stress – Many of us experience high levels of stress on a daily basis. When we experience stress or anxiety, this causes our bodies to deplete our magnesium.
- Diet- Certain foods can also result in a decrease in magnesium such as caffeine, alcohol, and sugar. It has been estimated that it takes 287 molecules of magnesium to metabolize one glucose molecule.
- Medications- There are many over the counter medicines and prescription medicine that deplete magnesium. These include: birth control pills, diuretics, insulin, and antibiotics.
Why You Need Magnesium
Magnesium is a mineral that is responsible for numerous bodily processes. It is the fourth most abundant mineral in our bodies and is essential for carrying out over 300 reactions within the body.
Magnesium is commonly known for helping relieve constipation, but that is just one of it’s many crucial roles in the body. Magnesium is important for the functioning of your heart, muscles, kidneys, and balancing many other nutrients such as calcium and potassium. Having adequate magnesium levels has been found to ward off diabetes, prevent osteoporosis, and improve blood pressure.
12 Common Magnesium Deficiency Symptoms:
1. Anxiety
2. Weak Bones
3. Low Energy
4. Weakness
5. Inability to Sleep
6. PMS and Hormonal Imbalances
7. Irritability
8. Nervousness
9. Headaches
10. Abnormal Heart Rhythm
11. Muscle Tension, Spasms, Cramps
12. Fatigue
These are just a few of the most common magnesium deficiency symptoms. Additional magnesium deficiency symptoms include: constipation, vertigo, stiff and achy muscles, insomnia, and muscle weakness. There are many more health problems that having low magnesium can cause. If you think you may be experiencing a magnesium deficiency symptom, but it’s not listed above, make sure to do a thorough search online.
Additional Conditions/Diseases Associated with Magnesium Deficiency:
Much research has found that individuals with magnesium deficiency are at an increased risk for developing diabetes, high blood pressure, Parkinson’s, kidney stones, and restless legs syndrome, just to name a few.
How to Find Out if You’re Truly Deficient in Magnesium
When comes to determining if you have a magnesium deficiency, unfortunately, there is not a great way to find out, such as from a test. There are blood tests that can be used to check the level of magnesium in your body to evaluate if you have magnesium deficiency; however, they have been found to be inaccurate. This is because the blood serum tests only give a reading of the level of magnesium in your blood and only one percent of the magnesium in your body is distributed in your blood. Thus, you have to rely on making a diagnosis for magnesium deficiency based on magnesium deficiency symptoms, not a blood test.
It is best to look at the symptoms your experiencing and try supplementing with magnesium and evaluate whether it helped or not.
For me, after looking at the list of magnesium deficiency symptoms, I knew there were at least 3 that I had and it was likely that I had a magnesium deficiency. I also have some anxiety and I’m sure that was contributing to my decreased magnesium.
How to Increase Your Magnesium:
There are several ways you can increase your magnesium.
1. Use Epsom salts – Add Epsom salts to your bath or make a foot bath. Magnesium is highly absorbed through the skin (transdermally) .
2. Apply magnesium oil – Similar to Epsom salts, magnesium oil is made from adding the magnesium flakes (see them here) to water. You can add them to your bath, make a small mixture and spray it on your skin or rub it on with a washcloth. You can also, buy it pre-made.
3. Eat foods high in magnesium – such as leafy green vegetables and nuts. (however, with magnesium deficiency, it would be tough to raise your levels enough solely through diet) This is a helpful chart that lists foods high in magnesium.
4. Take a magnesium supplement.
My Experience with Treating Magnesium Deficiency:
After I started researching magnesium deficiency, the more I explored it, the more I thought I found the cause of my health issues. However, my doctor ignored me when I brought up the fact that magnesium deficiency may be behind my menstrual cramps or difficulty sleeping, so I had to find out for myself if my self-diagnosis was right. I started to increase my magnesium slowly, first by adding more green vegetables into my diet and taking baths with Epsom salts. This did make a great improvement and decreased the occurrence of my magnesium deficiency symptoms; however, I still felt that I wasn’t getting an adequate amount. So, I started making and applying magnesium oil, once every morning and this helped very much. After a full month, nearly all of my symptoms had been resolved.
When trying to increase your magnesium levels, you may need to use a combination of ways to ensure you’re getting enough. You can base this off your symptoms. Also, one sign to watch for, while you increase your magnesium, is diarrhea, if you’re getting too much this will occur.
Do you think you’re not getting enough magnesium? Have you experienced any of the magnesium deficiency symptoms?
Sources:
http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/magnesium
http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/magnesium-supplement-oral-route-parenteral-route/description/DRG-20070730
I just found your article through Pinterest. I don’t know if I ever would have thought about my magnesium levels if I hadn’t read this. I eat magnesium-rich foods but I can’t say that I’m reaching my recommended 310 mg each day. Perhaps it shows through my hormonal imbalances and anxiety that has been picking up lately. I’m going to try adding in a magnesium supplement to my diet. Thank you for your article!
Glad you found it helpful! Yes, it’s hard to get enough through diet alone. Epsom salt foot soaks and baths work great too!
I have 5 of 10. Must Try some of advices for getting more magnesium
Hope you see some results!
You can actually get a test for magnesium levels. It’s called a magnesium RBC test, and it tests the amount in your red blood cells, not the serum. Also, a great way to test for it is to get a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis, which also gives you a status on most minerals and metals and is very helpful for balancing all minerals. Some people may have these symptoms you mentioned, but if you add too much magnesium you can throw other minerals out of balance, such as potsssium and sodium.
Thanks for sharing!
I have almost every single one of these symptoms. Should I assume that I need a higher amount of magnesium to start?
Have you tried increasing your magnesium? I increased mine to see if my symptoms improved.
I was searching for an article like this on the internet for a link between low magnesium levels and caffeine and found it answered a great deal of questions about my health! So I want thank you for publishing this article!
I have terrible constipation. I drink lots of water, eat vegetables, etc. The only thing that works is taking Milk of Magnesium; however, was wondering if there was a good supplement that would do the job or Milk of Mag is fine
Milk of mag is good. Have you tried using Epsom salts or magnesium flakes? They always work for me when I have constipation.
About a year ago, I lost some weight…about 20 pounds and I was underweight and had not had my period for about 5 or 6 months. So I gained some weight, about 4 pounds and I stopped exercising. And, my period came back. But it wasn’t regular and I’d skip like every other month and if I exercised, it wouldn’t come back at all. Now, it’s stopped again, this is the third month I haven’t had it. Do you think that it is lack of magnesium? Or could it be lack of iron? Please let me know what you think. Thanks!
I think I would go to a doctor/naturopath to try to investigate it more.
This sounds like something I need.