After reading Cheeseslave’s post about magnesium, I knew we had to give magnesium oil a try. Between the seven of us under this roof, we have many symptoms that suggest magnesium deficiency:

Back pain (joint pain, pain in general)
Body odor
Cravings for chocolate (beyond the normal “yum”, the “give me chocolate or die” variety)
Exhaustion from exercise (a thirty minute walk requiring a full day of rest for recovery)
Insulin resistance
PMS  (in a house full of girls, not good)
Tics

And at one point or another, many of us have suffered from:
Arthritis – Rheumatoid and Osteoarthritis
Auto immune disorders – all types
Cavities
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Depression
Gut disorders (food allergies)
Headaches (no, it isn’t normal for a kid to have to take aspirin on a regular basis)
High cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood pressure
Hypoglycemia
Insomnia
Migraines and Cluster headaches
Obesity
Restless Legs Syndrome
Syndrome X (insulin resistance)

If it would just help my hubby sleep at night, that would be worth the investment even if it never touched the rest of our issues. We eat plenty of magnesium-rich foods in the form of leafy greens, but have stopped eating grains for the time being and have never eaten large quantities of sea vegetables. Also, the magnesium in magnesium-rich foods depends entirely on the health of the soil in which they are grown, something I can’t quantify, even when choosing the local small farm organically grown varieties I love.

We started out taking a calcium magnesium blend tablet in September of last year. I added a few drops of trace ionic minerals to my kombucha, both to supplement my diet and to “feed” the scoby, as I had done with my water kefir, but didn’t see any improvement at all with any of my issues. After reading this article, I realized I needed to be supplementing transdermally because gut issues will prevent absorption of magnesium taken internally.

The first experience was not awful, but also not entirely pleasant. I used one ounce of magnesium chloride flakes dissolved in one ounce of water, put it in a spray bottle and applied about ten pumps to my upper body. The itching and stinging reminded me very much of a niacin flush. My skin turned red, but both the stinging and the redness went away after about half an hour. Tests on my lower body went better, but less magnesium is absorbed from the lower body. I tried a bath, which didn’t sting at all, and a foot bath which was wonderful. My reading told me that the mucous membranes absorb the most, so I tried swishing some in my mouth. It didn’t sting or itch and didn’t cause any problems but the taste was truly awful. It took many rinses to get the metallic taste out of my mouth. I also put some magnesium oil* in my neti pot one morning. No stinging or itching at all! Nice!

The results were very pleasing. Even the first day my overall pain level dropped to a greater degree than taking NSAIDS. Within a week my emotions were smoothing out and I could take more of the ups and downs of life without overreacting. I wasn’t doing anything else during this time to help, as a matter of fact, life continued on its turbulent way. After a couple weeks I noticed I smelled different, and stopped using my homemade deodorant entirely.

At this point I started the whole family on magnesium supplementation. Everyone took to it well except my youngest who has the extremely sensitive skin and severe food allergies. I kept diluting the oil down 1:2, 1:3, 1:5, even at a 1:10 dilution it’s painfully strong for her. She will itch and sting, her skin turns red, but then it breaks out in a rash that lasts much longer than a half hour. She can take magnesium baths and foot baths, and I can rub it into her feet as long as I don’t go above the ankles and she washes it off after 20-30 minutes. I think if the rest of the family notices improvement they will be willing to put up with the stinging and itching for a short time each day rather than just the weekly foot baths we are doing now.

I also know that rotating locations of transdermal application are important because the receptors in skin don’t work as well after several applications at the same site. So, two days a week I swish mag oil in my mouth for as long as I can bear it (easier than oil pulling, in my book), two days a week I add mag oil to my neti pot, two days a week I spray the oil on my upper body about half an hour before my shower and the seventh day I participate in the “family foot bath.”

I’ll update here any additional improvements we experience, or any problems we run into.

I must remember to mention this all to my mother-in-law who suffers terribly from Reynaud’s syndrome. The lack of interest in the medical community for finding causes and solutions for this circulatory problem is truly shocking, but there are reports that magnesium supplementation can help.

*Note: Magnesium chloride dissolved in water is called magnesium oil even though it contains no oil. This is due to its slippery texture.

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