Feel free to discuss any topic of general interest, so long as nothing you post here is likely to be interpreted as insulting, and/or inflammatory, nor clearly designed to provoke any individual or group. Please be considerate of others feelings, and they will be considerate of yours.
While searching for reasons why so many MC patients are low on energy, I remembered that my energy levels have increased significantly since I have finally resolved my long-standing magnesium deficiency. Sure enough, when I searched for the right keywords I found an article published 11 years ago by USDA's Ag Research Magazine that discussed research about energy consumption relative to magnesium levels. And apparently the original article was published 2 years earlier in the Journal of Nutrition. The article contains some interesting test results:
A study by ARS physiologist Henry C. Lukaski and nutritionist Forrest H. Nielsen reveals important findings on the effects of depleted body magnesium levels on energy metabolism. Lukaski is assistant director of ARS's Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center, Grand Forks, North Dakota. He and Nielsen, with the center's clinical nutrition support staff, showed that inadequate magnesium is associated with a need for increased oxygen during exercise. They found that during moderate activity, those with low magnesium levels in muscle are likely to use more energy—and therefore to tire more quickly—than those with adequate levels.
The study's first phase provided 10 postmenopausal women with a controlled diet adequate in magnesium for 35 days. In the next phase, a low-magnesium diet provided less than half the recommended daily intake for 93 days. The last phase provided a diet adequate in magnesium for 49 days. The volunteers were subjected to exercise tests at the end of each dietary phase, along with biochemical and physiological tests.
After consuming the low-magnesium diet, volunteers showed a significant overall loss of magnesium. They had lowered muscle levels of magnesium, and their red blood cells were at the low end of the normal range.
The data shows that during the low-magnesium-status phase, the volunteers used more oxygen during physical activity, and their heart rates increased by about 10 beats per minute. "When the volunteers were low in magnesium, they needed more energy and more oxygen to do low-level activities than when they were in adequate-magnesium status," says Lukaski.
I can personally verify the finding that red blood cell counts decline with lowered magnesium availability. For years, my red cell count was always below the normal range or near the lower limit and my doctors always shrugged it off as an unimportant coincidence. I'll bet a GF cookie that the next time my red cell count is tested it will be inside the normal range.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Anxiety and Depression
3 important things about Magnesium, Anxiety and Depression
1. Magnesium deficiency can product symptoms of anxiety or depression, including muscle weakness, fatigue, eye twitches, insomnia, anorexia, apathy, apprehension, poor memory, confusion, anger, nervousness, and rapid pulse
2. Serotonin, the ‘feel good’ brain chemical (that is boosted by Prozac), depends on magnesium for its production and function
3. Magnesium supports our adrenal glands, which are overworked by stress
Summary of this section: People do not get anxiety, panic attacks or depression because they have a deficiency of Valium or Prozac, our bodies do not require these substances. However, we can develop a myriad of psychological symptoms because of a deficiency of magnesium, a nutrient our bodies do require.
Adrenaline wastes Magnesium
It is not just a theory that stress causes magnesium deficiency, and a lack of magnesium magnifies stress. Experiments where adrenaline is given via IV, there is a decrease in magnesium, calcium, potassium and sodium. Without enough magnesium to relax arteries and muscles, blood pressure rises and heart muscle cramps. Post adrenaline, the body recovers in 30 minutes, potassium rises, however it takes much longer for magnesium to reach normal levels.
There are over a dozen major metabolic processes that are affected by adrenaline, including heart rate, blood pressure, blood vessel constriction, muscular contraction. Each of these functions requires magnesium and leads to wasting of this important mineral if they symptoms continue.
The body requires more magnesium when on a liquid protein diet / high protein diet
Anxiety
During stress reactions, calcium is also required to stimulate the release of adrenaline, but calcium excess causes a flood of adrenaline. However, having sufficient magnesium will buffer excess calcium and keep it in normal levels, limiting the stress response. Magnesium is important because it naturally diminishes the excitability of the nervous system and lowers the level of calcium around nerve cells.
Gabes Ryan
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
Fatigue is one of my last complaints. It comes and goes but sometimes it is unbearable.....my candle is very dimly lit. I was hoping since my bowels have improved that my energy would also. I have a lot of the same symptoms Tex had for years, feeling short of breath or air hunger with no lung disease or asthma. I also get a lot of "skipped" or "hiccuping" heart beats that sometimes last waaay too long for my liking. I've been hesitant to add more oral mag because I still get the occasional watery D that I can only attribute to hormones. Looks like adding oil and more lotion during the day is in order! I think with oral and topical I should be getting around 450 elemental mag. I am a runner (now a sleep runner) so I probably need to use more. Thanks for the info!
I have decided that I do better at this time in my life with applying Mag oil to my legs every morning and take 200 mg elem mag with breakfast and then another 300 mg elem mag with dinner. I think I am getting around 600-700 Mg Mag a day this way. I am teetering on light end WD mixed with some solid...not sure what my deal is...I'm linking it to hormones and my recent introduction of Jarrow B's-Right.
To Succeed you have to Believe in something with such a passion that it becomes a Reality - Anita Roddick
Dx LC April 2012 had symptoms since Aug 2007
I'll bet a GF cookie that the next time my red cell count is tested it will be inside the normal range.
