Reprinted with permission from Dr. Carolyn Dean, MD, ND.

In my continuing series of magnesium miracle stories here’s a great one from a reader. It’s a reminder that magnesium treats headaches. The headaches can be tension headaches or migraines.

“Dr. Dean, I was delighted to read in your latest email the appreciative comments about magnesium from one of your readers. I would like to report a very similar outcome from taking magnesium.

I take a teaspoonful of magnesium powder in 600ml of water, and sip it throughout the day, and most days have a second bottle. It’s been 4 months since I started this and I just keep improving.

Muscle problems in my back and shoulders were pulling down on my neck muscles, making them very rigid. This then led to my chronic 25 years of headaches. Doctors gave me steroid injections, pain killers, and one recommended remedial massage.

The massage worked well on the symptoms, but didn’t get to the cause. From my experience with these headaches doctors can only treat the symptoms, and are unable to get to the cause. Dietary excesses or deficiencies are not within their scope.

But now, with magnesium, my chronic headaches have gone, I can now resume previously out-of-bounds activities, I sleep better, my mood is better, and I no longer need fortnightly massages.

Every time I visit my GP I make sure I remind to him of what magnesium has done for me, but he is very skeptical as it is not a ‘proven’ treatment as far as the medical profession is concerned. So, is there a medically-accepted magnesium test that I could suggest to him?”

Doctors shy away from using magnesium because there is no accurate measurement for it. Only 1% of the total magnesium in the body is found in the blood and the normal range is strictly controlled by feedback mechanisms. So, blood magnesium levels are usually in a normal range…even when there are obvious magnesium-deficient symptoms. That’s one of the reasons why I’m constantly talking about magnesium and encouraging people to learn about magnesium and put it on their supplement list.

1. Nutritional Magnesium prevents platelet aggregation, which helps to avoid the thickened blood and tiny clots that can cause blood vessel spasms and the pain of a tension headache.
2. Magnesium relaxes the head and neck muscle tension that makes tension headaches worse.
3. Magnesium, vitamin B2, and the herb feverfew are an important tension headache treatment combination.
4. Magnesium is known as the anti-stress mineral and can alleviate stress, depression, anxiety and insomnia.
5. Hypoglycemia - The brain becomes extremely vulnerable to excitotoxins during episodes of low blood sugar or hypoglycemia. Pound for pound, the brain uses more blood sugar than any other part of the body. Low blood sugar occurs when you are malnourished or even when you skip meals. It also occurs in individuals whose adrenal glands are depleted and can’t mount the necessary adrenaline response to raise blood sugar when it gets too low. Magnesium is responsible for balancing blood sugar. With sufficient magnesium and balanced meals to prevent low blood sugar, you can protect yourself against headaches, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, mood disorders, and even premenstrual tension. Supporting the brain as much as possible with safe nutrients and a safe environment, you may never need the brain-altering medications that are prescribed for these disorders.
6. One of the most absorbable forms of nutritional magnesium is magnesium citrate powder which can be taken with hot or cold water and can be found in most health food or vitamin stores.