Marvelous Magnesium

I’ve been able to stay healthy enough to limit my doctor visits to a yearly checkup for the past few years. I take one prescription. Much of my strategy involves natural foods and remedies, exercise, sleep, plenty of clean water, and several supplements.

One of my health-building-blocks is magnesium. I take magnesium supplements totaling anywhere from 1500 – 2100 mg throughout the day. The amount varies, depending on what I eat and my activities that day.

How do I know how much to take? The answer to that goes back to the reason I started taking it in the first place: my bowels. To speak plainly, my bowels don’t move unless I kick ‘em with magnesium. I started with low doses, and increased until I reached tolerance (that means that, when my stools got loose, I knew that was a bit too much, and I backed off just a little).

The nice thing about magnesium is, an overdose isn’t dangerous (unless you act foolishly). You might need to stay pretty close to a toilet, but it’s not going to harm you.

Another reason I latched onto magnesium was my restless leg syndrome. I get “jimmy-legs,” as my husband calls them, every night. Often it would prevent me from falling asleep. After starting magnesium, they don’t keep me awake.

Magnesium is great for muscles. That’s why an Epsom salt bath is so good for your muscles – because of the magnesium seeping into you. And I thought of this: your heart is a muscle. I think magnesium must be good for heart health. ❤

Magnesium helps lessen the muscle cramps / twitches / spasms I get every so often, but lately I’ve been getting them anyway. To me, that means I need more magnesium. But I can’t take any more, orally, unless I want to spend my life in the bathroom.

Enter magnesium spray.

(Actually, I put it in a roller bottle; it’s less messy.)

I can use my topical magnesium to help with my muscles, without affecting my bowels.

You can find lots of info about magnesium, and varying recipes for magnesium spray, on the Internet. Here are two I like:

Dr. Eric Zelinski has an informative article and a recipe on his site: https://naturallivingfamily.com/how-to-make-magnesium-oil/

Dr. Carolyn Dean is kind of the magnesium guru. She has developed a formula, which she sells, to increase dosages of magnesium and other minerals without affecting the bowels. She has several websites, but this is a good one to start with: https://drcarolyndean.com/start-here/

I do recommend reading up on magnesium, as this mineral is essential for so many body functions.

I apply it a couple of hours before bed, and I no longer suffer from leg cramps. I also thought to apply it along my neck and shoulders and, oh, my! That’s where I carry my stress, and my neck and shoulder muscles are strung pretty tight. The magnesium roll-on eases that so much.

And one more benefit I’ve noticed: I thought maybe my knees were going bad until I mentioned it to my chiropractor. She gave me an adjustment, but recommended massaging the muscles at the top of my thighs. I’ve been rubbing in my magnesium remedy, and my knees are much better.

Dr. Zelinski’s recipe notes to rinse it off after 5 minutes or so, to allow time to soak in. I don’t rinse it off at all. It does leave a residue, but not one that rubs off onto anything (no nasty white smudges on clothing). When I do rinse, it rinses off right away without soap.

And, even though it’s not made with any oils, it does feel oily.

Here’s the recipe I use:

• 1 part filtered water
• 1 part magnesium flakes
• 2 drops essential oil per ounce of liquid (optional) (suggest something good for muscles, like lavender or peppermint; or something soothing / healing like Frankincense, vetiver, sandalwood)

1. Boil the water.
2. Stir in the magnesium flakes until dissolved.
3. Pour into a glass spray or roll-on container.
4. Add the essential oil.

I don’t know about the distribution of oils in the magnesium mixture, so you may or may not need to shake the container each time you apply.

No need for refrigeration.

I have also seen recipes that call for 2 parts water to 1 part magnesium flakes.

Magnesium flakes are available at some health food stores, at amazon.com, or vitacost.com.

Because magnesium has helped me so much, I wanted to share the good news with YOU!