Magnesium - please help

[mistake87]

I started Magnesium 2 weeks ago (with no improvement) and my symptoms are getting progressively worse.

They have been doing so for months now, but could the supplement be affecting this? I'm still on Keppra too, could this maybe be affecting the worsening?

Please help guys, I'm desperate. As I've posted b for, I've had minor symptoms for over 10 years (maybe from smoking weed), but since Jan it's become absolute hell, I can barely look at screens anymore, and it's getting worse every day.

How do you manage to function with such severe symptoms? It can't keep getting worse.

[Jay1]

It might be worth coming off all the meds and supplements so you can get to know your baseline for a few months. Then you can start rethinking your plan of attack. Maybe get a few benzos to hand for really bad days. But if you can build up a picture of how your hppd feels without any meds/supplements, it can really help.

 

I know it is almost throw away advice, but try as best as possible not to stress about the current situation. Remove as many stressful elements from your life as possible, even take time off work (college etc) if you need to. Also, try not to overthink this current increase in symptoms, these spikes can come and go... thinking about it just feeds the stress and anxiety.

[mistake87]

I actually find it better being at work than at home, at least there is something to occupy me.

Do you think this disorder can get progressively worse over the years without any drug use? I've drank over the years (stopped now) and still smoke cigs but can't help thinking in my case it's just constant and progressive. Literally going through hell.

I work in central London and see two copies of Big Ben on top of each other the ghosting is that bad, even during the day...

Thanks for the support guys, I really need it atm

[mistake87]

My neuro has recommended I stay on Keppra, and take magnesium, riboflavin and co enzyme q10, praying this calms things down a bit

[Jay1]

Don;t be scared to say no to your neuro. If you are getting worse, then removing as many variables as possible has to be the most sensible starting point.

[VisualDude]

How much magnesium are you taking each day?

[onelovez]

iI experience worsening with magnesium too. Same with Vit C, any type of Omega acids in any form, any relaxing or waking up herb/tea..

basically anything that calms down the nerves and anything that excites them.

 

It could be the magnesium for you too. Try lowering the dose by 10 or more and stick to it for a longer time. One guy from a chelation group on facebook claims he is intolerant to Vit C and magnesium in a same way as me (no hppd though, just Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, maybe cause of toxic metals in his body). He became tolerant to it by using very low doses continously from what he says, took him very long time though, like few months or so.

[mistake87]

600 mg a day

My neuro also wants me to add riboflavin and coenzyme q10.

Surely supplements can't worsen the condition?

My symptoms were getting worse on a daily basis anyhow so I guess it's just a continuation of that?

[VisualDude]

The RDA for a healthy guy is over 400 mg / day https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Magnesium-HealthProfessional/

 

Stress increases the need.  The body will actually start using up magnesium before resorting to calcium (even from the bones)

 

So the level you are taking would not seem to be troublesome.

 

 

Another factor is Autonomic Nervous System dominance ... that is if a person tends to be Sympathetic dominant or Parasympathetic.  While that take a little effort to figure out, in the end it is helpful in determining how much magnesium one needs.  It comes down to this:

• Increase magnesium to compensate for Parasympathetic tendency
• Increase calcium to compensate for Sympathetic tendency

 

 

Lastly (being on a roll with TC), one of the pathways involving thiamine requires magnesium:

• Hypomagnesemia  "magnesium is needed for transforming thiamine into thiamine pyrophosphate" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypomagnesemia#Drugs
• Thiamine and magnesium deficiencies: keys to disease "Because mild to moderate TD results in pseudo hypoxia in the limbic system and brainstem, emotional and stress reflexes of the autonomic nervous system are stimulated and exaggerated, producing symptoms often diagnosed as psychosomatic disease" http://www.spectracell.com/media/uploaded/2/0e4622378_1445884980_2417abstract2015medhypoththiamine-and-magnesium-deficiencies-keys-to-disease.pdf

[Jay1]

Surely supplements can't worsen the condition?

 

I think they probably can.... supplements can boost or lower various neuro transmitters that might help or hinder hppd.

[WuWei]

What kind of magnesium are you taking?  It should not be mag oxide, as it isn't bioavailable and is basically worthless.  I use doctor's best chelated. 

 

400mg a day spaced out is a good starting point, especially as a maintenance dose after deficiency has been addressed (took about a week for me).  I've found that, at least for me, much more than that and I start feeling kind of "stoned" throughout the day.

 

It has helped me tremendously, especially my mood.

 

Make sure you're taking D3 with it (everyone on earth should be taking at least 5,000 mg a day unless you work the fields in Africa- it won't hurt you in the slightest).  It will also help with your mood and ability to deal with the symptoms.

 

Take a B complex if you smoke/drink and/or don't eat a lot of B vitamin containing foods.

 

I also take fish oil daily.

 

I think addressing magnesium and D3 deficiency will give you the most bang for your buck, as pretty much everyone is deficient in both of these due to soil depletion and staying indoors out of the sun.

 

Other than that get some regular exercise and practice some meditation and you will be getting 99% of what you can get from supplemental/holistic ways of addressing HPPD in my opinion.

 

I would look at mood stabilizers as a last resort treatment for this condition unless you're positive it's not going to heal itself over time, but obviously address this with your doctor and never stop taking these drugs abruptly.

[Granite]

YES!  I'd bet money it's the magnesium.  For years, I tried to understand why Epsom Salt (magnesium) baths were so bad for me.  I suffer from very bad dryness, skin, hair, sicca symptoms (dry mouth, eyes)..  I've found others who claim to have "sulfate intolerance" but no one has really gotten to the bottom of why some people can't tolerate Epsom Salt baths.  My theory is that the heavy load of magnesium plays havoc on the nervous system through a mechanism I don't fully understand yet.  My symptoms EXPLODED after having an Epsom Salt bath.

[WuWei]

Everyone is different, but I'm assuming the OP is taking mag oxide (most commonly available formulation) so that would mean at 600 mg a day they would be absorbing around 24 milligrams of magnesium (4%).

 

Magnesium baths give you magnitudes more magnesium than that... but I would be more inclined to think the sulfur in the epsom salts would be the problem than the actual magnesium, as magnesium is one of the most basic bodily needs.

 

Telling someone not to take a magnesium supplement is like drinking bad water and having an increase in symptoms and then blaming water for making HPPD worse.

 

Just my $0.02... take a good formulation of magnesium... 400mg a day to start.  You should be anyway, HPPD or no.

 

It's the most important supplement to take and pretty much the only one you need if you eat a good diet along with D3- leave the mutivitamins and weird jungle herbs and concoctions on the shelf.

[mistake87]

I actually stopped the magnesium and my symptoms continue to get worse, daily.

I'm tapering off Keppra too to establish a baseline. Still, what's going on is just crazy. Scared as hell.