Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Restless Leg Syndrome and Magnesium

Restless leg syndrome (RLS) is a form of insomnia characterized by an overwhelming urge to move the legs when they are at rest, especially during sleep. Recent research has found that people with restless leg syndrome are deficient in the mineral magnesium.

In one study from the Romanian Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry, researchers conducted biochemical and neurological tests in 10 cases of restless leg syndrome. The investigators reported important disorders of sleep organization. They found agitated sleep with frequent periods of nocturnal awakenings, and a decrease of the duration and percentage of the deeper rapid eye movement (REM) sleep - also found in other forms of insomnia caused by magnesium deficiency.
Clinical, EEG, electromyographic and polysomnographic studies in restless legs syndrome caused by magnesium deficiency. Rom J Neurol Psychiatry.1993 Jan-Mar; 31(1):55-61. PubMed PMID: 8363978.


Magnesium is important for muscles to be able to relax, while calcium helps them contract. Too little magnesium in relation to calcium (or low levels of both) can make muscles cramp more easily and may make some muscles, like the smooth muscles that wrap around big blood vessels, stay somewhat contracted.
Magnesium deficiency can make muscles go into spasms easily. When you're short on magnesium, the waste products of metabolism, such as lactic acid, are harder to flush out, so you may get tired, burning, sore muscles.
http://www.progressivehealth.com/RLS-magnesium.asp


Prostate and Magnesium

Dr Stora was the first to discover magnesium chloride as an effective agent in treating urinary troubles of prostate origin


"There is reasonable evidence to suggest that calcium may play an important role in the development of prostate cancer," says Dr. Carmen Rodriguez, senior epidemiologist, American Cancer Society (ACS).


Magnesium supplementation proved beneficial to men with problems from enlarged prostates

Doctor Chevassu gave other interesting data about 12 prostatic cases whom he treated with magnesium tablets. Ten of them were cured. One disappeared, and he does not know what the result was with him. The one that was not cured was left with nothing more than nightly urinations. The interesting thing is that the general physical condition of all these patients improved.

Dr. Pierre Delbet in Academy of Medicine (Paris), session of March 25, 1930, says, in regard to how magnesium acts on the body:
"As magnesium adds to the contractibility of smooth muscle fibers, one may wonder if the treatment doesn't act uniquely on the bladder, inasmuch as there isn't any parallel between reduction in size of the adenoma [a tumor of glandular origin] and functional improvement. But if, in certain cases, this improvement is considerable, when reduction in size is slight, which is favorable to the hypothesis, in other cases, it's quite the contrary, the reduction is quite more marked than functional improvement.

"In an earlier communication, M. Bretau and I have shown that age is accompanied by a reduction in magnesium in the most active organs and that the absorption of halogenated salts permits a struggle against certain manifestations of senility."

Menopause and Magnesium

During menopause, estrogen levels start to decline, which means magnesium levels are also dropping. To help with a number of menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats, magnesium can make a huge difference
www.menopauseatoz.com

Low magnesium intake may increase vulnerability to primary postmenopausal osteoporosis (PPMO).
Abraham GE. The calcium controversy. J .Appl Nutr 1982; 34: 69.


Also see: Osteoporosis

Multiple Sclerosis and Magnesium

Symptoms that multiple sclerosis (MS) has in common with magnesium deficiency include:

·       muscle spasms
·       weakness
·       twitching
·       muscle atrophy
·       incontinence
·       nystagmus (rapid eye movements)
·       hearing loss
·       osteoporosis

People with MS also have higher rates of epilepsy than controls, which have been linked to magnesium deficiencies.
Magnesium and Epilepsy
In a trial with 30 epileptics 450 mg of magnesium supplied daily successfully controlled seizures. Another study found that the lower the magnesium blood levels the more severe was the epilepsy. In most cases magnesium works best in combination with vitamin B6 and zinc.

Evidence is mounting that low levels of magnesium contribute to the heavy metal deposition in the brain that precedes Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s.
http://www.magnesiumforlife.com/

In a 1995 paper published in the journal Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, patients with multiple sclerosis were found to be low in cellular magnesium.
Stelmasiak Z, Solski J, Jakubowska B. Magnesium concentration in plasma and erythrocytes in MS. Acta neurologica Scandinavica, 1995 Jul;92(1):109-11

In a 1994 study from researchers at the Department of Physiology, State University of New York randomly selected hospital patients, compared to a control group of health volunteers the hospital patients with coronary heart disease, rectal cancer and multiple sclerosis exhibited extracellular deficits in ionized free magnesium.
Altura BT, Bertschat F, Jeremias A, Ising H, Altura BM. Comparative findings on serum IMg2+ of normal and diseased human subjects with the NOVA and KONE ISE's for Mg2+. Scandinavian journal of clinical and laboratory investigation. Supplementuml. 1994;217:77-81

In a 1990 paper published by researchers from the Wakayama Medical College, Japan, magnesium (Mg) concentrations were studied in the brains of 4 patients with definite multiple sclerosis (MS) and 5 controls. The central nervous system tissues and the visceral organs, except for spleen, of MS patients showed significantly lower magnesium values than that seen in control cases.
Yasui M, Yase Y, Ando K, Adachi K, Mukoyama M, Ohsugi K. Magnesium concentration in brains from multiple sclerosis patients. Acta neurologica Scandinavica. 1990 Mar;81(3):197-200.

In a 1986 paper published in the journal Medical Hypothesis, A group of young patients having MS were treated with dietary supplements containing magnesium, calcium and vitamin D. The results showed a decrease in the relapse rate compared to what would have been expected based on the patients prior history of symptoms.  
Goldberg P, Fleming MC, Picard EH. Multiple sclerosis: decreased relapse rate through dietary supplementation with calcium, magnesium and vitamin D. Medical Hypotheses. 1986 Oct;21(2):193-200.

In a case report published in the European Journal of Neurology, a patient with MS treated with oral magnesium glycerophosphate therapy, showed significant improvement after only one week of treatment. 
P. Rossier, S. van Erven and D. T. Wade. The effect of magnesium oral therapy on spasticity in a patient with multiple sclerosis . European Journal of Neurology Volume 7 Page 741 - December 2000 doi:10.1046/j.1468-1331.2000.00142.x Volume 7 Issue 6

Extracted from http://www.nhfw.info/magnesium.html
Transdermal magnesium can also be used to treat the spasms associated with Multiple Sclerosis.

Migraines and Magnesium

Calcium excess, stimulating the cells in the muscular layer of the temporal arteries over the temples, can cause migraine headaches.
A proper balance of magnesium in relation to calcium can prevent these symptoms - Dr. Mark Sircus'

Researchers have been investigating the magnesium migraines connection because of magnesium's role in stabilizing blood vessels walls. Magnesium is also an important mineral when it comes to helping you get to sleep. Regular sleeping patterns are also very important to migraine sufferers.

When faced with a migraine that won't respond to treatment, many headache specialists will give an injection of magnesium. You should be able to get benefits from long term (2-3 months or more) regular magnesium supplements. The magnesium migraines link may make a big difference to many people.

Dr. Sarah DeRossett, American neurologist and headache specialist was quoted in July 2003 in support of magnesium and riboflavin/vitamin B2 for migraine sufferers: "Patients who have migraines have lower blood levels of magnesium than patients who don't have migraines."  

Magnesium migraines treatment is becoming more and more popular with migraine sufferers. You can increase your magnesium levels yourself without injections by applying magnesium to the skin on a daily basis as this amazing mineral is easily absorbed transdermally.

In a study in France, migraine patients were been shown to have significantly lower erythrocyte magnesium levels than controls. The authors of the French study noted that previous studies had shown that migraine patients were shown to benefit from Mg water. 


Patients suffering from migraines were found to be twice as likely to have mitral valve prolapse than controls.  This association between migraines and mitral valve prolapse has been noted in quite a few studies on Pubmed.  This is not surprising, since people with mitral valve prolapse have also been shown to often be low in magnesium and to benefit from Mg supplementation.  


Associations have been noted between anxiety disorders and migraines.  Anxiety disorders also have a close link to magnesium deficiencies. 


The Grand Forks Human Nutrition Center, a part of the USDAs Agricultural Research Service, reports that, studies show that around half of all the people who suffer from migraine headaches have a low amount of ionized magnesium in their blood, suggesting a low magnesium status. The researchers go on to report that supplementation reduces both the duration and total number of migraines, including premenstrual migraine headaches.


A study from Harvard Medical School found that migraine sufferers 'have increased risk of heart attacks and strokes'. Yet other studies have found that magnesium may help to prevent death from heart attacks. People with inadequate magnesium levels are at higher risk for migraine headaches, heart attacks and strokes. Part of the reason for this common link may be that Mg is known for relaxing and dilating blood vessels.

Women often experience menstrual migraines, migraine headaches that start before or during their periods. Perhaps not coincidentally, other studies have noted that right before menstruation is also a time when magnesium levels in women tend to dip.

If you look at the chart below, many of the the symptoms of magnesium deficiency are identical to the conditions linked to migraine headaches. Interestingly, alcohol can deplete magnesium and many of the symptoms of hangovers are the same as the symptoms linked to magnesium deficiency and migraine headaches.

Conditions linked to migraine headaches and magnesium deficiency:

Sensitivity to noise     
Sensitivity to bright light
Headache
Mitral valve prolapse                                 
Anxiety disorders                                       
Heart disease                                            
Menstrual Cramps                                      
Nausea

Extracted from: www.relieve-migraine-headache.com/magnesium-migraines.html

Magnesium & Migraine
By Christina Peterson, MD

Two doubleblind studies have shown that magnesium supplementation may reduce the frequency of migraine. In research studies, we have found that magnesium levels affect serotonin receptors, and also have an effect on nitric oxide synthesis and release, as well as on NMDA receptors—all brain structures and chemicals suspected to be important in migraine.

In small studies, both migraine and cluster headache patients have responded acutely to intravenous magnesium. In a larger double-blind controlled study, the treatment group, receiving 600mg of magnesium for a 12 week period, experienced a 41.6% reduction in headaches as compared to only 15.8% reduction in the placebo group.

Gallstones and Magnesium

Our medical dictionary says that the gallstone is a concretion formed in the bladder or the biliary ducts, composed, in varying amounts, of cholesterol, bilirubin, and other elements found in bile.

The biliary ducts are in the liver. In this case also, magnesium is a specific preventive factor in the formation of gall- or liver stones. For one thing magnesium has the effect of reducing the amount of cholesterol in the bloodstream.

The matter is mentioned in a communication to the French Academy of Medicine (June 23, 1931) by Pierre Delbet, M.D., reproduced in his book Politique Préventif du Cancer. He says that when the diet is rich in magnesium it immediately shows up in the bile. In this manner the quantity of the magnesium in the bile can be actually doubled.

This was confirmed by Bretau. Dr. Delbet also mentions clinical work by Drs. Godard and Palios, which showed that such increase in magnesium can have a favorable influence on gallstones.

Dr. Delbet studied human bile in the laboratory and found that the addition of magnesium drove out practically all the cholesterol, and he noted that the addition of magnesium added a pigmentation to the bile, gave it a deeper coloring. Its effect on the bile was to make the cholesterol in it more soluble.

Dr. Delbet then adds that, "It is a clear result of experiments ... on the action of magnesium chloride on the elements that make up calculi [stones] that the addition of a food ration of magnesium in the form of halogenated salts has the power to reduce chance of biliary calculus formation.

Dr Delbet, "cases of the gall bladder being healed by the regular use of halogenated magnesium salts are numerous."

Delbet gives an interesting account of a doctor who used magnesium in connection with difficulties he had with the bile:
"The clinical facts have, for the most part, been observed by chance. My followers take much magnesium chloride. They are enthusiasts propagandizing for it."

"Laborde states that it has a strong action on the secretion of bile. I have no experience on this point, but I have confirmed with de Wades that, introduced into the duodenum, it leads to evacuation of the tube. By this mechanism it can render service in infections of the biliary duct.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISW/is_267/ai_n15677755/

Kidney stones and Magnesium

If there is too much calcium in the kidneys and not enough magnesium to dissolve it, you can get kidney stones. – Dr Mark Sircus’

"A 38-year-old man had a 10-year history of weekly kidney stones. Magnesium therapy stopped this for 12 months, at the end of which the patient decided on his own to discontinue treatment. Calculi recurred within two weeks, and Dr. Sauberlich observed that he gladly resumed therapy, also on his own. He has been asymptomatic again for three months.

In another medical article, we now find that kidney stones come usually where there is a deficiency of magnesium.

Let us look into the second-mentioned article which appeared in Nutrition Reviews (October, 1961). It says that as far back as 1931 it was known that kidney stones could result if there were a deficiency of magnesium.

In The Lancet (2, 174, 1932), W. Cramer found kidney stones in rats that were on a low magnesium diet. These rats were normal except for the kidneys.

Magnesium, the vital mineral in this partnership that is proving so effective in preventing the formation of kidney stones, is indispensable for a proper regulation of calcium metabolism. When animals deficient in vitamin B6 were given high levels of magnesium, they continued to show oxalic acid in the urine but they no longer converted this acid into kidney stones.

Magnesium, then, by improving the body's utilization of calcium, has the effect of a solvent-preventing the caking and crusting, like lime in your teakettle, of unassimilated calcium.

One study of 241 male kidney stone patients found that they all had a few things in common. They all had very low amounts of magnesium in their diet and they all ate large meals consisting of animal protein at dinnertime and late in the evening.

Magnesium is reknowned for its calcium channel blocking effect and has been shown to reduce the formation of stones by reducing the calcium oxalate in the blood that makes up the stones.

In Japan researchers found that in certain basalt rich areas of the country where the magnesium to calcium ratio was very high the incidence of kidney stones was almost non-existent. In limestone rich areas where the magnesium to calcium ratio was very low, residents had a high incidence of kidney stones.

149 recurrent stone patients were given magnesium and B6 daily for 4.5-6 years. Before receiving this treatment these patients suffered an average of 1.3 stones per person per year. Stone formations fell to .1 per person per year, a 92.3% improvement!

Magnesium deficiency has not yet been convincingly demonstrated in man. However, urinary magnesium concentrations are abnormally low in relation to urinary calcium concentrations in more than 25% of patients with kidney stones. A supplementary magnesium intake corrects this abnormality and prevents the recurrence of stones. Magnesium seems to be as effective against stone formation as diuretics.


Hospice/Palliative care and Magnesium

In general, as we age our tendency to compounded accumulative
magnesium deficiencies only increases leaving us increasingly vulnerable to a wide range of disorders and in the final analysis, to a miserable death.

When we employ highly concentrated nutritional elements like magnesium chloride with late stage cancer patients we see things that mainstream oncologists don’t. This chapter is about magnesium massage, about how to employ one of these super nutritional medicines in the most comforting way possible.

Magnesium massage is the type of treatment that Cleopatra would have enjoyed; a medical treatment for kings and queens that can be employed by anyone in their own homes if one has a loved one with caring and willing hands or if one has access to a professional massage therapist.

Many people needlessly suffer pain
because they don’t get enough magnesium.
Dr. Mildred Seelig

When a patient is facing a serious illness, they need relief; relief from pain, fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite and shortness of breath as well as relief from stress.

Doctors often think that Palliative and Hospice Care need to focus on improving patients’ ability to tolerate aggressive medical treatments. But patients themselves feel the need for support to be able to carry on with everyday life; they need to get their life back on some level that makes them feel that life is worth living. In short, they want to feel better.

Nothing will make a person feel better than magnesium massage and that is why it is recommend universally even to patients at deaths door.

Study after study demonstrates that for all mammals,
receiving touch that is pleasurable, safe and appropriate
reduces sickness, depression and aggressive behaviors.
Dr. Ben Benjamin

There are many ways to calm a person, many healing and medical treatments that can reduce stress, reduce sensory overload, slow the heart and help a person center and nothing does this better than touch.

The most beautiful forms of touch are healing techniques and this is what professional massage therapists’ true aim is, to heal through touch. Many studies have demonstrated that receiving touch that is pleasurable, safe and appropriate reduces sickness, depression and aggressive behaviors. Thus massage has its application in both therapy and medicine.

Skin hunger is a relatively new term that has been applied to the emotional response engendered by the loss of touch in our society. The hunger for touch is a real human need.[1] And though touch is physical, the need provides sustenance and anchoring for our emotional, mental and spiritual selves.

Clinically the lack of touch leads to a host of emotional, physical and developmental problems in young and old alike. Research has shown that there are distinct biochemical differences between people who experience touch and those who are severely deprived of it.

Today, not only patients but also the medical establishment recognizes the importance of alternative therapies, and particularly the importance of massage therapy in comprehensive cancer care.

Massage, like most alternative cancer therapies, is most effective when used in conjunction with other treatments. Magnesium massage combines the transdermal application of magnesium chloride with any one of a variety of massage techniques creating a potent medical treatment in its own right.

Massage is unique in cancer therapy and has great application in Hospice Care because it is able to remedy feelings of isolation that many patients battling a difficult disease encounter. The experience of human contact is particularly important when facing a difficult diagnosis and massage can provide that unique experience to cancer patients, who often succumb to feelings of being overwhelmed by the nature of their diagnosis, family implications, and other difficulties associated with cancer treatments.

Patients undergoing chemotherapy often find that treatments that help them relax their mind and body will lessen side effects like nausea, restlessness, and fever.

Massage therapists have the great pleasure of seeing the profound relief that massage can provide to people undergoing intense treatments like chemo and radiation therapy. Helping people feel better satisfies on a deep level of human experience and there is simply not enough of this in the field of medicine.

With our heart and hands working together we can reach directly into another person’s being through the surface of their skin. We can touch someone very deeply and when we do, we are touched equally. The laws of giving and receiving work perfectly in the world of touch! Now we are adding to the mix one of the most potent medicinals available in the world of medicine and applying it all over the body for transdermal absorption.

Magnesium is absolutely essential for healthy living and when applied liberally onto the skin we find patients responding most wonderfully.

Magnesium applied directly to the skin alleviates chronic pain, muscle cramps, and in general makes our job of opening up and softening muscles and connective tissue much easier. Magnesium is a potent vasodilator, and smooth muscle relaxant. Dr. Linda Rapson, who specializes in treating chronic pain, believes that about 70 per cent of her patients who complain of muscle pain, cramps and fatigue are showing signs of magnesium deficiency.

“Virtually all of my patients improve when I put them on magnesium,” says Rapson.

The skin provides the best avenue into the body for many medicinals and drugs. When it comes to magnesium we have a method in our hands that is similar in effect to intravenous magnesium treatments that are used to save peoples’ lives in emergency rooms. We simply use the magnesium oil like we would massage oils, or create a special blend mixing essential oil or other massage oils together with the magnesium chloride, which is quite slippery even though there is no oil in the ‘magnesium oil.’

Transdermal magnesium chloride therapy is inexpensive, safe, a do-it-yourself at home technique that can easily replace uncomfortable injections in anything other than emergency room situations.

What a few can do with intravenous magnesium
injections everyone can do with transdermal magnesium.

Transdermal mineral therapy with magnesium chloride is the most powerful, safe medical intervention we have to care for many of our patients needs. With the simple application of this slightly oily solution on the skin or used in baths we can easily have our clients take up their magnesium to healthier levels. Magnesium Oil is the perfect companion to a massage in any setting, fulfilling further the purposes of giving healing touch to patients.




Transdermal magnesium chloride is highly effective in pain relief, calming agitation, and is easier to use when oral intake of food may become impaired in old age or disease. It is much easier to apply magnesium oil on the skin of an elderly person than it is to submit them to force feeding of food, pills or IV administration of drugs to compensate for losses.

Extracted from www.magnesiumforlife.com

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Fibromyalgia and Magnesium

Recent research has shown that FM patients may be deficient in certain compounds required for the synthesis of ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate).
One of the most crucial elements for ATP synthesis is magnesium.

Research suggests FM patients have below-normal levels of magnesium. Low levels of magnesium can contribute to PMS, headaches, muscle cramping, muscle spasms, heart palpitations and even heart attacks.


The brain heavily relies on ATP for numerous functions. ATP helps maintain balance throughout the cells and sends signals along specific brain pathways. Approximately 20 percent of the body's ATP is located in the brain. Low levels of ATP can diminish brain cognitive functions, a common problem in people with Fibromyalgia.

Insufficient magnesium affects the nervous system by causing nerves to fire too easily. Noises sound excessively loud, lights seem too bright, emotional reactions are exaggerated, and the brain is over-stimulated, oftentimes resulting in insomnia. These symptoms are commonly found in Fibromyalgia patients.

A deficiency in magnesium causes an increase in a body chemical called substance P, which is responsible for pain perception. In other words, you will experience more pain if you don’t have enough magnesium. Fibromyalgia sufferers have on average three times more substance P than normal.

Diet and digestion play a major role in magnesium absorption. Oftentimes, people with Fibromyalgia have other conditions such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome or gluten intolerance, which limit nutrient absorption. (Transdermal application bypasses the stomach which means a greater percentage of magnesium can reach the bloodstream)

Magnesium is involved in thyroid production and protein synthesis. Magnesium is also necessary in the production of stomach acid and digestive enzymes, which are deficient in people with autoimmune disease and Fibromyalgia. Unfortunately, magnesium deficiency is not easily detected and is often overlooked by doctors.

While this mineral is no cure-all by any means, magnesium has been shown to relieve muscle pain and fatigue in individuals with Fibromyalgia. Magnesium is often given in combination with malic acid.

Magnesium is needed in the production of serotonin, a brain neurotransmitter involved in the perception of pain. Serotonin levels have been shown to be significantly lower in people with fibromyalgia. Magnesium is one of the many co-factors needed to release and bind serotonin in the brain to provide balanced mental functioning.

Research shows that the Fibromyalgia and Magnesium connection is AMAZING. The muscle weakness, fatigue and pain that is experienced could definitely be, in part, due to such severe magnesium deficiency that the muscles are in a constant state of spasm. These microspasms that occur in Fibromyalgia are so severe that researchers call them 'Tetany'. This constant muscle spasming not only causes problems in and of itself, but uses up the energy stores in the muscles,
http://www.easy-immune-health.com/fibromyalgia-and-magnesium.html#ixzz0vAgR5rCb

 

Epilepsy and Magnesium

Clinical and experimental investigations have shown that magnesium depletion causes a marked irritability of the nervous system, eventually resulting in epileptic seizures.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/t40jul665817n7h0/

In a trial with 30 epileptics 450 mg of magnesium supplied daily successfully controlled seizures. Another study found that the lower the magnesium blood levels the more severe was the epilepsy.
(magnesiumforlife.com)

Magnesium raises the threshold for seizures, reducing the chance of them developing at all.

A Brazilian study found lower serum Mg in epileptic patients than in controls.
Epilepsy itself does not cause Mg depletion, but anticonvulsant drug therapy may.

*Bonuccelli U, Buzziogoli G, Ducci M, Landi R, Murri L: Plasma levels of Ca, Mg and phenobarbital in epileptic and brain trauma patients on chronic therapy. Res Commun Psychol Psychiatr Behav 1982;7:369-375.
*Christiansen C, Pors NS, Rodro P: Anticonvulsant hypomagnesemia. Br Med J 1974;ii:198-199.
*Otsuki C: Studies on serum Ca, P and Mg metabolism in children with special emphasis on their relationship with anticonvulsant therapy. Acta Paediatr Jpn 1973;8:24-26.
*Yassa R, Schwartz C: Plasma Mg and anticonvulsant therapy. NY State J Med 1984;84:114-116.

In 28 cases children of all ages, stricken with epilepsy failed to respond or responded only slightly to modern drugs and therapy. Placed on high doses of magnesium, they experienced stunning improvement.

It has been known for many years that magnesium is an analgesic. The tendency toward causing drowsiness is one of the key properties of the mineral. It is found both in the blood and in the spinal fluid.

The reason for the high magnesium content in the spinal fluid is that the mineral is necessary for balancing the stimulant effect of body hormones. The purpose of thyroid, gonadal, adrenal and other hormones is to charge up or excite the body. Magnesium and some other substances tend to slow down and relax the system, thus regulating the hormones.

When magnesium deficiencies occur there is no regulation. Among the dangerous results of this state listed in medical literature are heart damage, osteoporosis and epilepsy.

"A great many people have a magnesium deficiency manifesting itself in hyperirritability," Dr Barnett said. Their bodies and minds are greatly overactive, and they are constantly irritated.

A magnesium deficiency, according to Barnett, is a prime cause of subclinical epilepsy cases. Deficiency may occur because of malfunctioning of the pituitary gland. As far back as 1952, researchers observed that people suffering a magnesium deficiency had reactions similar to those in people who had had the Pituitary gland removed.

The pituitary gland is believed, to regulate the functions of all the other glands of the body. It is the gland through which magnesium works as a prime component to regulate the functioning of the other glands.
If magnesium is not available or the pituitary is not functioning properly, the body will suffer symptoms of a magnesium deficiency.

It must also be pointed out that fluoride bonds with magnesium in the blood, into the insoluble magnesium fluoride. This means that the consequent failure of the pituitary to function properly leads to the symptoms of magnesium deficiency.

Magnesium is a mineral we all require, and when we are lacking in it, our body feels the deprivation. This mineral when aligned correctly with calcium achieves equilibrium for us all. In the Far East, this mineral has been actively used for centuries in the successful treatment of seizures.
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/3572467-why-magnesium-an-epileptic-cure

 

Canelas HM, Marques de Assis L, DeJorge FB: Disorders of magnesium metabolism in epilepsy. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1954;28:378-381.