Magnesium Deficiancy/Supplement?

[Robby712]

Is anyone here on a Magnesium Supplement?  If so what is your dose?

I was online trying to find out why I have been getting crazy chocolate cravings (and giving in to them) lately.

It turns out many of the foods we must avoid, beans, nuts, whole grains, Bananas, etc... (generally high potassium foods) are also sources of magnesium.

Low levels of magnesium in the body can lead to:

Deficiency symptoms have three categories:

    * Early symptoms include irritability, anorexia, fatigue, insomnia, and muscle twitching. Other symptoms include poor memory, apathy, confusion, and reduced ability to learn.
    * Moderate deficiency symptoms consist of rapid heartbeat and other cardiovascular changes.
    * Severe deficiency of magnesium could lead to tingling, numbness, sustained contraction of the muscles, and hallucinations and delirium.

I personaly have enjoyed almost all of the symptoms in catagory one, and a few in the other two categorys.

link:  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/MEDLINEPLUS/ency/article/002423.htm

Anybody have any input?

Thanks in advance,
712

[Romona]

I take 400 mg twice a day. Check with your doctor to find a good dose. Too much can cause problems too. It really helped me. I am post transplant though.

[Gramapat]

I cannot keep magnesium in my system no matter how much I take.  I am supposed to take 256mg 4 times a day.  I don't - I'm lucky to remember to take 256 once a day.  Even when I faithfully took it 4 times a day, my level was still too low.  It seemed like I was going in for blood tests all the time to check my mag levels.  The doctor would call and tell me to up my pills until finally one day she said - "There is no way to tell how much mag you are actually absorbing from the pills.  Just try to take at least 8 pills throughout the day (512mg) and we'll leave it at that."  Since then she has told me to go back up to the 256mg 4 ties a day.  I now know that when I start getting cramps in my calves or feet or hands that my mag level is way too low and I start taking it more often until I forget again.

I don't crave chocolate.  I crave salty foods - which are okay for me to have because otherwise I become dehydrated and my blood pressure falls too low.  I have a colostomy and urostomy and still produce a lot of urine so I lose too much fluid through my ostomies.

Your doctor can order a blood test to check your magnesium.  I would ask for him to do that.