How Magnesium Changed My Life

Let me start off by saying DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor. I do not intend to tell you what to do. I am writing from my own personal experience and research. You research all of this yourself. I will not give out recommended dosages.

Now that all of that's out the way <insert smirk emoji>

This is stuff that I talk about; it's not that I don't ever share this kind of stuff with people. However, it's different to be vulnerable when talking about anxiety in person but an entirely different story blasting it on the internet. But I've had a lot of people ask, so here it goes!

Magnesium has changed my life for the better and I will never ever go back.

Except right now, I am going to go back to where this story begins. Lol

As a child I was very ummm high strung... and that's probably putting it nicely.

I ended up being diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety in 7th grade. You can read all about that in my post 'Living With ADHD' under the lifestyle tab.

Throughout life I have noticed the anxiety side of things get much worse. I started passing out at the age of 15 and went through a ringer of doctors to figure out what was wrong with me. With randomly passing out being what I did best, you'd think one of them would've been able to. Nope. Still to this day I am undiagnosed.

I will also add here that I would have episodes of my chest hurting me and everything feeling tight and like I couldn't breathe.

Fast forward to when I was about 19/20 years old. I started this thing where I would wake up in the middle of the night in absolute panic. My stomach would be hurting me so severely I would think for sure I was dying. Sounds dramatic, yes, but in the heat of the moment I would be convinced by the amount of physical pain and absolute terror I would experience.

I would wake my husband up telling him I was feeling like I was going to throw up and I felt like I needed to go the ER. I would be breathing rapidly and feel out of control. I would have him go get me water to sip on and tums (thinking the tums we're going to keep me from throwing up).

After I would sip on the water and start calming down, my stomach would ease up enough for me to go back to sleep.

This happened every couple of months or so.

Every. Single. Time. I was convinced that it was some sort of stomach bug that I was able to fight off.

However, as time went on and this would happen I would get more and more terrified that it was going to happen again.

If you have never awoken to pure panic, you don't understand how truly terrifying it is that you have no idea what is going on.

So about a year and a half ago (after having yet another episode) is when I started to come around to the idea that this wasn't me catching a virus and fighting it off. So I went to Google and typed in something along the lines of 'waking up to a panic attack.'

I was completely clueless to the fact that this was a thing. It's called Nocturnal Panic Attacks.

I was mind blown. Because even though I had been diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety and would have the occasional chest tightness, surly my anxiety wasn't bad enough that it was causing all of this.

But it was. As I read and researched nocturnal panic attacks, I went down a rabbit hole of what to do for them and what is believed to cause them. I research a lot because well, I just love it.

I am not one to turn to medication so I obsessed over finding out as much info as I could because I didn't want being medicated to be my reality, but I also knew I needed help. It's bad when you're scared to fall asleep out of fear of being abruptly woken.

So that is when I came across magnesium.

Magnesium is responsible for over a couple of hundred body functions. So it's no surprise that an individual with low magnesium can have a long list of symptoms.

As I am reading about low magnesium causing anxiety, I also find that it is linked to ADHD, depression, poor sleep, abnormal heart rhythms (which I have also had episodes of), fatigue, etc.

The list goes on and on.

So get this... low magnesium causes muscle tension which will then trigger the fight or flight response in the body. That's panic.

Magnesium acts as a natural muscle relaxer, helping the tightness and in turn helping the panic and also helping your quality of sleep.

Magnesium helps to release serotonin. If serotonin is not being released, there's depression.

One particular article I read during this research stuck out to me because it was written by a medical doctor. Sadly, in today's time its hard to find an MD willing to treat with natural medicine. Here I am a year and a half later and had no idea I would one day be writing this or I would have saved that article to link here.

This doctor wrote about how it's so common in these days for people to be magnesium deficient because for one, we don't eat enough magnesium rich foods. Secondly, the food we do eat is not grown in magnesium rich soil. So our bodies are really deprived of this amazing mineral.

He also wrote about how he used magnesium to treat anxiety and depression with his patients and he stated that it was just as effective, if not more, than anxiety and depression medications.

This was music to my ears because I was just not wanting to medicate.

So I started taking magnesium supplements and I will tell you this..... I have not had an anxiety or nocturnal panic attack since I started taking them a year and a half ago! Not a single one.

I no longer worry about panic setting in. If I neglect taking my supplements and I feel my chest tightening or a panic attack coming on, I immediately go for the magnesium and within minutes I feel better.

Here are the three different supplements I take and what I use them for.

First is Vitality's Calm Gummies.

I take these daily and I just go by the recommended dose. These are just what I consider the base to get my magnesium in. The only time I take more than the recommended dose is when I feel panicked (which doesn't happen if I stay on top of taking them daily).

I will take a dose and a half in that case because chances are if my levels are depleted enough to cause a panic attack then I need a little more.

The second and third supplements I use are only on the occasion. There's Vitality's Calm Drink with melatonin. The melatonin is the reason I don't take this one frequently. Melatonin is something that our bodies produce naturally. So if you give your body melatonin every night, your body will come to expect it and eventually slow its own production down.

I only take this if I have been having some sleepless nights and need the added boost. I am going to fair warn you that you will sleep DEEP after drinking this. Like have INSANE dreams and all.

I find both on my Vitality's products at GNC but they can also be found in other stores and online.

Lastly is Ancient Mineral Magnesium spray oil. I use this one only on the occasion as well. Magnesium is rapidly absorbed through the skin. I use this if I feel like I need a little extra but don't want to drink the magnesium drink because of the melatonin or if I'm just being lazy and don't feel like drinking it.

Spraying this on the body actually still gives me really good sleep benefits comparable to the drink so I only do this at night after showering. I spray it all over my torso and legs.

I will also fair warn you that this product stings and itches when you first apply it. I promise its worth it to leave it on, because it only lasts a few minutes! So I do not recommend doing this after shaving or exfoliating because the skin will be more open and it will make it worse. I purchase this product off of amazon.

I have never been to the doctor to have my magnesium levels tested because what I found when doing my own research it that blood can show normal magnesium levels because most of your body's magnesium isn't kept in the blood, it's kept in the organs.

After experiencing the relief magnesium has given me, I without a shadow of a doubt believe that I am deficient.

If you want actual medical advice, consult with your doctor because like I earlier stated I am not one. Just a girl who likes to research.

And regardless of your decision to talk to your doctor about this, I want you to do a little research of your own because magnesium deficiency can cause so many things that I simply could not cover here. Magnesium also have many different forms, so be sure to look into the different types to find which would work best for you.