Magnesium to bowel tolerance?

[scratchingmakesmeitch]

Hi all,

Based on a blood test, my fam. physician prescribed me Mg glycinate and said I should start at 100 mg/night for 2-3 nights then increase by 100 mg until bowel tolerance.

I was so worried about diarrhea, that I increased the nightly dosage every week instead of every 2-3 days - I'm at 400 mg/night now.

1) Will the longer period affect the final bowel tolerance level?
2) Why do we dose according to bowel tolerance? How is that connected to what I actually need?

Thank you in advance!

[Paxiled]

Which is interesting, because Vitamin D supplementation will keep magnesium low if you don't eat foods high in it.  I think you have a dietary problem, not one a doctor can solve as they are not usually trained in nutrition. See if eating foods high in magnesium does the trick.

[scratchingmakesmeitch]

Thanks Paxiled. She said my Mg levels were low. I'm also taking Vitamin D because that was low too.

[Paxiled]

You don't say what your physician found, and you also don't say if he discussed your diet with you.  Most Americans are somewhat low in magnesium.  One reason is eating too much dairy.  Dairy is extremely high in calcium but nearly devoid of magnesium, and from the time we're young we are sold by an advertising program to eat tons of dairy despite the fact no adult mammal other than humans consumes it.  It's marketing.  Because calcium is in electrical balance with magnesium (and all the other electrolytes), too much of one will result in leaching out the other.  This is exacerbated in today's society by our supplementation of Vitamin D, which reinforces the absorption of calcium to the detriment of magnesium.  A balanced way to get magnesium is to eat green leafy vegetables, including the harder parts, as they are more balanced in containing both minerals in the proper proportions, which is generally two to one calcium to magnesium.  Something else that can make magnesium not absorbed are many medications, which use the same pathway to get to the brain.  Now, I'm just assuming that bowel tolerance is when you get diarrhea, which is what some people get when they take too much magnesium.  So tell us, why is your doctor giving you prescription magnesium?  What led up to it?