by: Dr. Carolyn Dean
(NaturalNews) Below, I present a lengthy case history as an illustration of a medical system no longer serving the public as it ignores the amazing properties of magnesium that could revolutionize health care. It was sent to me as a testimonial to the miracle-working powers of magnesium.
Dr. Ken's Miracle Magnesium Oil
"Dear Dr Dean,
Firstly we'd like to congratulate you on your recent award from the Heart Rhythm Society. (I was awarded The Arrhythmia Alliance Outstanding Medical Contribution to Cardiac Rhythm Management Services Award 2012 at The Heart Rhythm Congress organized by the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS), Sept, 2012.) Well and truly deserved, in our opinion. And thank you for the wonderful advice and magnesium knowledge you are sharing with us all.
Well, we have a magnesium miracle, too, (thanks to you and my 'bible,' 'The Magnesium Miracle') – which we'd like to share with you – a bit long though, I'm sorry – but there's just so much good news.
Over three years ago, at age 59, my husband was diagnosed with Diabetes Type 2, followed a few months later by a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. Then, a month later (after many months of exploratory scans etc., trying to find the cause of his ongoing pain) he was diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis – even though he had no prior pancreatitis attacks nor any history of gall bladder problems or alcohol abuse. The CT scan showed 'small' calcifications on the pancreas.
He collapsed in the specialist's office during the chronic pancreatitis diagnosis and was further diagnosed with arrhythmia. He did have a blood pressure issue for the prior 30 years. In the 1990s he had 2 liver biopsies due to ongoing elevated liver function blood tests – put down eventually to 'strange pathology' in the absence of anything untoward. He also had couple of heel spurs over the years.
But now, his body was just breaking down – and quickly.
Our family was astounded. We always ate 'healthily', loved our veggies, salads, fresh foods, cooked virtually all our food at home, and ate minimal junk, and minimal alcohol. Obviously we could have done a lot better but certainly weren't slack about how we lived. And apart from his blood pressure we thought he had nothing much else happening health wise.
Following his multiple disease diagnosis, the usual cocktail of meds was given to him (in addition to Ramporil & Noten for BP -2 x day for 30 yrs), Lipitor, 8 months before the chronic pancreatitis diagnosis, although he had no cholesterol problems, Metformin (Diabex 3 x day) for Diabetes, Creon Enzymes and Somac for the pancreatitis and codeine for pancreatic pain etc.
He was walking death. He had no energy, was out of breath as well as suffering great pain and losing weight dramatically and very, very scared as he watched himself deteriorating daily.
His GP of 10 years said he'd increase the meds and prescribe opiates as required. His attitude was 'What can you expect, you've got chronic diseases, there's nothing else you can do about it, they'll just get worse.' Nice guy!!
My husband was put on an Invalid Pension – this said it all from his point of view – he was totally gutted. We live in a regional area, a beautiful place, but a problem medically, as the good docs have years of long waiting lists, and the young, foreign doctors only stay 12 months or so to fulfill their obligations then go back to the cities to practice. So we make do with who we can get, in our case a doctor who doesn't believe the patient should be proactive in their treatment and totally closed minded.
My husband had a total meltdown one night – including hallucinations, anxiety, unable to sleep for fear of dying etc. We were able to get an emergency appointment with another Dr within his GP's practice as his usual GP was away. She spent 90 minutes reading his notes, consulting medical books etc., trying to find what was happening. Eventually she said that all his blood tests going back to 2006 showed consistently very low calcium levels. She made immediate arrangements for him to be seen at the local hospital for further testing (Saturday afternoon), where they also included mg testing and found him to have both hypocalcaemia (.47 mmol/L) and hypomagnesmia (1.86 mmol/L). They gave him IV magnesium, with immediate and virtually miraculous results. They took over with daily testing and gave him another magnesium IV two weeks later because levels went down again.
They also prescribed magnesium oxide (which we now know has very low absorption), and calcium. When we went back to his GP and asked him about the low calcium level for 3 years – he said it wasn't 'very low', and that magnesium was 'just a fad'. Meanwhile, he was getting light-headed and wobbly as his BP was getting lower on the magnesium.
Two weeks after the first IV magnesium, all BP meds were stopped and he hasn't had high BP since then. It's been over 3 years now since this journey began. The GP would still not recognize it as anything other than 'one of those things.' After 30 years of meds? We don't think so!
We left his surgery and made an appointment with a Naturopath – and had a totally different experience. Fortunately we had the foresight to ask the hospital doctor for copies of the blood tests they did, and we have copies of every report, scan and blood test he's had from specialists, GP etc., since. Our GP gives them grudgingly, but can't by law refuse. From this point and for 2 years, I kept an in depth daily journal of my husband's illness – which has been a fantastic help to refer back to when things go blip on the radar.
Between the time the arrhythmia was picked up in the specialist's rooms and the time his stress test was booked (about 2 weeks over Xmas), he had been given IV magnesium and started on oral magnesium with the Naturopath. He passed the stress test with no problems, so no meds were required. His GP had been warning him of cardio visits and possible stents being inserted.
At this point I'd started my own research on the net and found your website and book, 'The Magnesium Miracle' and bought 2 copies. I also have your e-book 'Death by Modern Medicine', your 'Future Health Now Encyclopedia' and am a member of your online wellness program, Completement Now. For a person like me, whose nursing experience and medical knowledge combined would fit on a postage stamp and still have space, discovering you was a momentous day in our lives, and life-changing. Sorry if that sounds gushy & corny – but it just was. I believe you saved my husband's life.
I have learned so much to help him from my little, very dog-eared 'Magnesium Miracle' bible, and the information relating to his illnesses I've gleaned from reputable sites and forums on the net. From what I've read in your book, it wasn't hard to work out that magnesium deficiency was probably the cause of ALL of the medical problems he now has, and had in the past (BP, spurs, even the calcifications of his pancreas), and his body couldn't cope any longer.
The Naturopath agrees. It makes me very angry, but in the big pharma world – just a bit of collateral damage, I guess. How many others who never find this information… grrrr!
Unfortunately, just as he was starting to make great progress, we went through another failed experiment in allopathic medicine. He fell into depression; he was always a bit anxious in nature, but never needing meds, and never had depression before. He became so depressed his psychiatrist couldn't find a drug that worked without huge side effects. They asked if he would consent to hospitalization to find something to help him. Huge mistake.
They tried massive doses of anxiety and anti-depressives, not taking into account his Parkinson's, which up until then wasn't bad enough to warrant meds. He was doped out of his brain, so sick, and developed severe Parkinson's symptoms – couldn't hold a cup, cutlery, dress himself etc. And on top of all that they wouldn't believe me that he had a magnesium deficiency despite the evidence from previous blood tests. And they wouldn't allow any of the naturopathic meds as they considered the amount he was taking excessive. And of course we didn't have a GP to back us.
By the time they did their own tests and found he had a huge and on-going magnesium deficiency, worsened by the anxiety and antidepressant meds they were feeding him, the damage had been done. He ended up on Sinemet because the symptoms were too severe to reverse.
Three years later, my husband has long ago ditched Lipitor, Metformin, BP meds, Somac, codeine etc. He is now basically non-diabetic with normal blood sugars every 3 months for the over 2 years. He still has no cholesterol problems; liver function tests are normal for the first time since the 90's; no problems with his pancreas although he does take enzymes. His Neurologist, who saw him at his worst, now says he makes his day whenever he attends his 6 monthly check-ups with in-house PD physical tests – and tells him, whatever he's doing, just keep doing it. His psychiatrist said he couldn't believe the change in him – he thought he was going to die. Unfortunately probably because of the Parkinson's disease, the depression still persists if he's off the SRRI (Citalopram), so we have to accept and work with some of the meds, and increase his magnesium, which isn't so bad, considering how he used to be. Maybe soon he might be able to reduce the SRRI gradually seeing as he's doing so well.
A recent comparative CT scan of his pancreas taken at our request, showed that the small calcifications are still there, but nothing has worsened – so that's a real bonus. And no further heel spur problems, so the magnesium is keeping the calcium properly dissolved and the calcium is now doing its proper job and not attaching itself to the soft tissues.
My husband has no problems with either constipation or insomnia, which are so common with Parkinson's disease. And with his vitamin B supplements he has so much energy I find it difficult to keep up with him. People can't believe how well he is and many have said they thought he was dying. This year has been his best yet. My husband takes approximately 1700mg elemental magnesium every day – and 500mg calcium. It's a lot. I use extra Ancient Minerals Magnesium Oil when he used to complain of muscular and pancreatic pain which gave him relief in conjunction with heat packs.
In your book you mentioned that when consuming large amounts of magnesium, over time the body would be saturated and the dose may need to be lowered slightly. He was starting to get loose bowel movements that I couldn't put down to anything else but too much magnesium. But his mg serum levels are never any higher than .8mmol/L. (towards the bottom end of 'normal').
To test the saturation theory, I held back a dose of magnesium and this worked to normalize his bowel movements. This situation coincided with the psychiatrist deciding to get an EKG to check his heart Q-T intervals following the release of new information on possible side effects of taking Citalopram in excess of 40mg/day – even though his dose doesn't exceed this. This was followed by an echocardiograph. The echo showed arrhythmia (atrial fibrillation) and he was referred to a cardio specialist.
A routine blood test taken at this time showed mg levels had dropped to .7mmol/L. His GP said that he'd spoken to the cardio who would be putting him on Warfarin. We couldn't believe he'd come this far only to have it all come crashing down, and we both worried for 6 weeks until the appointment. In the meantime, after again consulting your book, I started to rub his back with 20 sprays per day of Ancient Minerals, (and still withheld the dose of oral magnesium to stop the laxative effect) and after about 10 days, I could no longer hear his irregular heartbeat. Everything was normal, strong and regular to my ear on his chest anyway.
The cardio did another ECG. It was perfect – no problems and as a compromise to the Warfarin asked him to take one half aspirin/day instead with a review in 6 months. Not perfect, but way better than Warfarin, and we may be able to delete this too in due course.
The next blood test shows the magnesium level rose again back to .8mmol/L. Proof that we have to keep his mg levels to this number or he develops arrhythmia. We did try taurine because you suggest it for heart problems, but unfortunately he was not able to tolerate it!
We grow most of our own veggies and copious herbs organically with the addition of magnesium into the soil and a fertilizer. Living in a sub-tropical climate we grow beautiful fruit – mangoes, macadamia nuts, citrus, berries, figs etc – and coffee, which we process ourselves and limit to 1 cup/day. I'm fortunate to have a man who loves good, healthy food so everything we can possibly make at home is done here – that way we know what's in it and can tweak it to suit us and without unknown additives, preservatives, or refined products. We aren't puritans but just try our best.
We're always tweaking recipes to make them as nutritious as possible without him missing out on the foods he's always loved, and enjoyed including Thai curries and similar foods by tweaking and so far no further pancreatic problems. To this end I'm following the Weston A Price/Sally Fallon concepts, within reason – i.e. olive and coconut oils, fats, grains, nuts, seeds, etc – but nowhere near as much fat as they use; and small portions of meat, chicken, fish and huge salads or veggies and herbs.
Also starting to experiment with fermented veggies using whey that sounds like an alternative to the probiotic properties of kefir to which my husband is sensitive, though I put it into my breads and cooking without a problem. Over time he has put on some of the weight he lost (which the GP said he wouldn't because of pancreatic insufficiency) and has stabilized.
We're still on the lookout for an open-minded GP who will work in with us and the Naturopath, and at least take an interest in what my husband is taking rather than telling us to please ourselves what he takes or who he see. But perhaps because of his dis-interest, we're learning so much about how to read the med reports and tweaking to get things back on track, so it's not without its plusses. And if we can slow these chronic illnesses down as long as possible – we're winning – thanks so much to you Dr Dean."
What an incredible story!
It's quite possible that this gentleman has a case of magnesium wasting. It's diagnosed by doing a 24-hour urine for magnesium and then getting a measured amount of magnesium in an IV after which you do another 24-hour urine to see how much your body flushed out. Magnesium wasters flush out a lot of magnesium, and may need four times the normal dose – or more!
The couple asked about my ReMag product that I'm private labeling and if it would work with her husband's current magnesium regime. ReMag is a Pico-Ionic magnesium that's absorbed directly at the cellular level. I use this form of magnesium because you can use high amounts and not get the laxative effect until all the storage sites of magnesium are saturated. When dealing with serious magnesium deficiency, many other forms of magnesium will cause the laxative effect long before magnesium saturation. For example, I've used four times the recommend dosage for atrial fibrillation and other heart conditions and found it just as effective as IV magnesium. ReMag is also in a base of 72 other ionic trace minerals, which I'm sure the body uses in ways we haven't even studied yet.
As for the 500 mg of supplemental calcium. I ask people to consult food lists and check the amount of calcium they are getting in their diet and even in their water. If it's close to 700mg, then they don't require a supplement. Even drinking a cup or two of bone-broth every day can give you enough calcium for all your body functions.
I recommended that her husband continue with Ancient Minerals Magnesium Oil because Dr. Norm Shealy says that transdermal magnesium stimulates DHEA receptors in the skin and helps balance that hormone. You can also use 2 cups of Epsom salts in the bath for transdermal magnesium absorption. If there are any issues of sluggish bowel movements, I recommend Natural Calm magnesium citrate powder to be taken in water.
Also, for the treatment of depression and to help wean off SSRI's I recommend EMPowerplus at www.truehope.com. This natural formula is 90% effective compared with antidepressants which are only 40% effective. This means that drugs are even less than the 50% effectiveness rate show with placebo!
Truehope has funded 20 clinical trials in hospitals and universities with the results published in peer reviewed journals. I know the "inventor" and owner of the company, Tony Stephens. He formulated it with a friend, David Hardy, who is a pig farmer! At church one day, Tony told David he was desperate for a solution because his wife had committed suicide on Prozac and two of his kids were also depressed and he didn't want to lose them too! David told Tony that he put together a vitamin/mineral formula for his pigs when they got depressed! So, Tony and David formulated a similar product for humans and in the process have saved thousands of lives and minds.
About diet, I agree with the writer's summation that the Weston A. Price approach is the most sensible out there but I also don't use as much fat as they recommend. It's a high protein diet with the focus on natural foods. You can find out more by going to the Weston A Price website.
I think this letter speaks for itself. It shows the supreme arrogance of allopathic medicine that makes people believe it's got all the answers when it doesn't even know the questions! My magnesium-genius friend, Morley Robbins just asked me why there is no curiosity in doctors that makes them not ask why their patients aren't getting better, why they are getting fatter and why drugs don't work.
The basic answer is that in medical school we were told that our training would teach us ALL there was to know about the diagnosis and treatment of disease and if we came across something that wasn't taught in medical school then it was either a lie or quackery! That means nutrition, homeopathy, herbalism, acupuncture, naturopathy – all lies and quackery. How else can a supposedly-educated doctor say that the most important mineral in the body IS A FAD!
Unless a doctor has a mystical revelation (which sometimes occurs when he/she or a family member gets sick) they never leave the confines of allopathic medicine. There is also the very serious threat of losing their license if they step outside the standard practice of medicine that keeps doctors in check. The current monopoly in medicine of allopathic drugs and surgery as the only treatments is crippling our society and is unsustainable. People have to learn how to take care of themselves in very basic ways to avoid doctors, hospitals and drugs.
Besides the fact that magnesium is deficient in the soil, cooked and processed out of our food and we're eating a fifth of the amount we got 100 years ago, the most shocking fact is that all drugs deplete magnesium. Drugs that doctors prescribe to help you are just as likely harming you. Here's what I wrote in my book, 'The Magnesium Miracle'.
"Ironically, one of the foremost magnesium experts, Mildred Seelig, M.D., began her research career in the 1960s working for drug companies. It was there she first noticed that many of the side effects of drugs were actually magnesium deficiency symptoms. It seemed to her that many drugs cause increased demand for and utilization of magnesium – for example, by creating acidity in the body, which then draws on available magnesium from the cells to try to neutralize the acid and minimize its toxic effects. Other drugs seemed to deplete magnesium from the body or, conversely, manifest their positive effects because they pulled magnesium from storage sites and increased the level of magnesium in the blood."(14
So, in effect, when you take a drug, magnesium, like the true heroine she is, will rush in to help offset the drug. In doing so, you can experience some magnesium benefits. IN FACT, the so-called "beneficial" effects of many drugs may be due to this flood of magnesium. Of course, that can only happen for so long before a person's magnesium stores are totally depleted. THEN, after 6-8 weeks the drug side effects really take hold. Sounds familiar doesn't it. Drug companies MUST know this. They were told by Dr. Seelig in the 60's what was happening. But they obviously didn't listen to her. That's why she quit and went full-time into magnesium research.
I thought magnesium supported 325 biological enzyme systems on the body but the count if more like 1,440, or 80% of the 1,800 we know about. So, magnesium makes your body work well and it also makes most other supplements work properly in as well. Please make it a point to save someone's life today – simply tell everyone you know to investigate magnesium as a solution to dozens of symptoms they may be having!