Re: Norman: test for Magnesium?

[Guest guest]

Norman:

I am under the impression magnesium resides mostly in cells, so

blood levels are not a good measure.. if I'm incorrect- tell me about

the accurate test you're referring to.

Nelly:

If the magnesium in whole foods doesn't bother you then I'd try to

get it from food..

If a supplement just races through you without being absorbed- then

that's a waste of time money and wear and tear on the intestinal

tract.. Have you tried weaning your self up with a pharmaceutical grade

powder?

Barb

>

> You can get tested for magnesium levels; if they're normal, there's no

> need to put yourself through the unpleasantness of taking magnesium

> supplements. But if you are deficient, then yes, correcting it is

[Guest guest]

To quote Steve again:

" Serum magnesium is a good, but not perfect test. It's much

better than it's given credit for being (to hear all this crap that

gets posted in places like this, you'd think it was nearly worthless.

Wrong). In all of the human and animal experimentally induced

hypomagnesium studies, serum levels fell in almost every subject before

intracellular ones did (this is a vastly more common condition than the

other way around, which has been described clinically, but rarely).

Goodhart and Shils has a good review chapter in their text, since

Maurice Shils himself was author or coauthor of many of the pioneering

and best human volunteer experiments. Including some stuff which

wouldn't be possible today, and possibly never again, due to the

increasing stickiness of ethics committees to let volunteer subjects

experience any sign or symptom of deficiency of anything, worse than

feeling tired.

" In someone not on diuretics, urine magnesiums are easy to check, and

reasonably sensitive. The RBC test is best reserved for people with

normal serum levels who have nevertheless have classic risk factors

(diet, alchohol, diabetes, diuretics) and some serious problem like

heart dysrhythmias or tetany or a difficult to correct K+, who don't

have an IV (such as outpatients), and who you don't really dare let

wait for the few days it takes to begin to orally replete on an empiric

basis, or who are non-compliant and won't DO it on that basis. That

doesn't leave it a test you're going to use a lot. "

That's about the limit of my knowledge, though I could look in the text

he cites; I have a copy, but have never looked at that particular

chapter.

On Sun, Mar 30, 2008 at 01:20:57AM -0000, Barb Peck wrote:

>Norman:

>

> I am under the impression magnesium resides mostly in cells, so

>blood levels are not a good measure.. if I'm incorrect- tell me about

>the accurate test you're referring to.

>

>Nelly:

>

> If the magnesium in whole foods doesn't bother you then I'd try to

>get it from food..

> If a supplement just races through you without being absorbed- then

>that's a waste of time money and wear and tear on the intestinal

>tract.. Have you tried weaning your self up with a pharmaceutical grade

>powder?

>

>Barb

>

>

>

>

>

>>

>> You can get tested for magnesium levels; if they're normal, there's no

>> need to put yourself through the unpleasantness of taking magnesium

>> supplements. But if you are deficient, then yes, correcting it is

>

[Guest guest]

Yes, I have tried to take minimal amounts of mag, in fact I used to drink a mineral water that was rich in mag (I stopped it because I worry about regularly drinking water that has been stored in plastic bottles) and I seemed to tolerate it OK. But not in tablet form. Hard for me to be sure what exactly gives me intestinal problems as my gut gets very easily disturbed.

In fact I am not even sure I am depleted of magnesium. I don't have a GP and I prefer not to overload my ID doctor with demands for tests. I just joined in the conversation re magnesium and as everybody seems to agree that we all need magnesium, I mentioned that I could not take any in supplement form, but I am not even sure I need more.

Nelly

[infections] Re: Norman: test for Magnesium?

Norman: I am under the impression magnesium resides mostly in cells, so blood levels are not a good measure.. if I'm incorrect- tell me about the accurate test you're referring to.Nelly: If the magnesium in whole foods doesn't bother you then I'd try to get it from food.. If a supplement just races through you without being absorbed- then that's a waste of time money and wear and tear on the intestinal tract.. Have you tried weaning your self up with a pharmaceutical grade powder?Barb>> You can get tested for magnesium levels; if they're normal, there's no> need to put yourself through the unpleasantness of taking magnesium> supplements. But if you are deficient, then yes, correcting it is ------------------------------------