Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Magnesium and major depression (2011)

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 235 posts

Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#131

Post by kerkeslager »

geggam wrote: post #126
sapilla wrote: post #70

I found CBD to provide temporary relief - I think my depression was inflammation related. The world is still dark and compressed but also comfortable, like the dark corners fill with algae and the ground with grass. What ended up working was improving my oral posture and articulation using ortothropics and self-developed speech exercises (the important part is having designed the exercises yourself). Suddenly it's va…

The entire endocannabanoid system in humans is interesting. If you think about it less than 100 years ago hemp and CBD oil was in our diet. Almost like we evolved with a system for it.

> If you think about it less than 100 years ago hemp and CBD oil was in our diet.

If I think about it, I do not come to that conclusion at all. Do you have any evidence for this claim?

Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#133

Post by _ywdj »

> "Deficits of Mg may result from inadequate intake, malabsorption, or renal loss"

Unless I missed it, the paper didn't consider another possible cause of magnesium deficiency: depression.

I.e., the paper seems to conflate correlation with causation (i.e., magnesium deficiency may cause depression), and doesn't consider that the causality may go in the other direction: that magnesium deficiency is a physiological manifestation of depression and other types of chronic negative emotion.

My experience with this is that I've worked for a long time to address chronic illness that has included conditions like depression, anxiety and chronic fatigue syndrome.

One of the many things I've tried has been to substantially increase magnesium intake, both via food sources and supplements.

My measured magnesium levels didn't change simply by increasing intake.

What has made a difference was directly addressing the emotional and outer-life causes of my depression/anxiety.

Even then it took a while, and the work/improvement is still ongoing, but it's very clear that my magnesium readings stayed low even when supplementing, and only started rising after a solid stretch of deep emotional healing work and significant improvements to life circumstances.

The still-nascent and controversial topic of epigenetics may be relevant here.

Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#134

Post by lordgrenville »

People that rely on desalinated water can become magnesium deficient. There was a study in Israel about a rise in heart attacks based on magnesium deficiency from desalination. [1] I wonder if there might be a mental health angle to this as well.

[1] https://www.timesofisrael.com/deficiencies-in-desalinated-wa...

Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#135

Post by ImprovedSilence »

Bakary wrote: post #69
mboto wrote: post #11

I have found that taking Magnesium is like turning a switch on in my head and I'm suddenly happy again. I don't get upset or angry in the same way, I'm more patient and my thoughts are not obsessive. Magnesium is best taken with calcium and vitamin D as both are used in the uptake of magnesium. I have found that processed foods, alcohol, caffeine and sugar all make me worse, but magnesium gives me the will power to c…

Doesn't the article mention that calcium and vitamin D produce harmful effects?

I didn’t read the article, but I know you need to be careful with vit. D supplements. If you take too much, the body can’t utilize it all, and stores it in places that cause problems.

Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#136

Post by tomhoward »

Genetikl33 wrote: post #98

Remember that it depends what type of Magnesium you take. Not all are created equal. I recommend Doctor's Best High Absorption Magnesium. Since taking that one for many years, digestive issues massively improved with slight improvements in sleep and overall mood.

Another one that may work better for people: magnesium malate.

For some people it can be more easily absorbed than other forms, and the malic acid (which occurs naturally in apples and other fruits) can support the Kreb's cycle that produces mitochondrial energy (which is also linked to mood and general healthy functioning of the body).

Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#137

Post by cmbuck »

jeffdavis wrote: post #127

Is Mg normally tested in blood tests? Seems like you could just read the results, and if low take supplements; if not, don't.

> "Since 99% of Mg is intracellular, serum Mg testing of the remaining 1% found in serum will produce misleading results (Mann and Truswell, 2002) and it should not be used in future research."

Elsewhere in the article they reference testing being of "negative utility"

Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#138

Post by sizzle »

arkades wrote: post #117
kevstev wrote: post #85

I started taking magnesium supplements about 9 months ago, not for any depression issues, but more for muscle issues. I had a weird leg muscle injury a few years ago that I never really got a proper diagnosis for that happened when doing some light hiking. In doing my own research on that, a condition similar to my symptoms came up, and one of the causes was a magnesium deficiency. I had a few other minor ailments co…

200mg is a decent bump on average daily intake (360mg), and mag isn’t managed as well as other ions. If you don’t already, please have your doc check your mag levels every couple of months while you do this. Hypermagnesemia is no joke.

Damn I take tums after every meal and 5 pills of chelated magnesium throughout the day...

Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#140

Post by cmbuck »

anonu wrote: post #59
wiggler00m wrote: post #58

Why supplement magnesium instead of getting it from dietary sources?

You didnt read the article. From the article: > Magnesium has been largely removed from processed foods, especially refined grains, in the Western world,

You seem to be extrapolating that since refined grains do not contain Mg, no foods do. This is not the case. OP can eat other foods instead of processed grains to obtain Mg.
Post reply on HN