My chronic insomnia has gotten steadily worse over the decades (I am 66), and has often seemed to be a trigger for my Meniere's disease. I had gone to doctors about it several times and tried many things (regular sleeping pills of all kinds, antidepressants, etc.), but nothing that I could take forever worked very well. I had just about given up hope. In recent years I've been lucky to get three hours of sleep per night. Some nights I didn't sleep at all. I never fell asleep quickly and never felt sleepy at bedtime. I also have sleep apnea, and this year I've been using a CPAP machine for that, but it just makes falling asleep even harder. Then a few months ago a friend told me about magnesium. He said that he had a magnesium deficiency that was causing his insomnia and it fixed him. I went out a bought a bottle of 250 mg magnesium oxide pills at CVS. Within two days I was sleeping like a log. In fact, I could hardly stop sleeping. I would feel very drowsy in the middle of the afternoon. I tried to find something milder so I could stay awake, such as other forms of magnesium, like chelated magnesium, but that didn't do anything. I tried a diet very heavy in magnesium (i.e., lots of spinach), with no effect. So I have gone back to magnesium oxide and I seem to be able to stay awake during the day better now (maybe I was just so sleep-deprived at first that it affected me more). Magnesium oxide is cheap, available everywhere, and works better than any sleeping pill I have ever taken, and it helps me a lot in tolerating CPAP. I would have been using it for the past 40 years if anyone had bothered to tell me about it. I have learned that magnesium is necessary for the production of serotonin, which supports sleep. I assume, although I have not been tested, that over the years I somehow developed a magnesium deficiency that got steadily worse with age and that magnesium oxide fixes it. I don't know where to go to verify this. But the results so far have been very dramatic for me. I hope it continues. I asked a neurologist who deals with sleep disorders about magnesium for insomnia, and he had no clue about it, but didn't see any harm in taking 250 mg of magnesium oxide a day since the recommended minimum daily allowance is 400 mg. I asked a sleep center specialist, and he had heard of magnesium, but didn't know much about it. I have found some online articles about it and also found that some over-the-counter supplements for sleeping contain it. Anyway, I recommend that anyone who suffers from chronic insomnia look into this.
I too benefit by taking magnesium and recently backed off because I wondered if it interferes with the anti-viral I am on or if it cancels out the good help I am getting from John of Ohio's regimen? I take Natural Calm (the original) (magnesium citrate) too and it helps with chronic constipation. I wonder if John of Ohio could respond to this thread? thank you!
Hi Folks, I've returned to the Living Room after being gone for a few years because I think I've found some things that may help folks here. Please keep an eye on the "Tiding of Joy" thread, I'll be discussing stuff I've found over the last eight years. Where it relates to this thread is that I've discovered that one (of several) factors that leads to MM are dental infections. Now, you might well ask, what the heck does that have to do with insomnia? Well, one symptom of dental infections is poor sleep patterns. So, if you've got MM (maybe dental related?) and poor sleep (definitely dental related), that's two strikes. Can I ask if you've ever had any root canals? (of course, you don't need to answer at all, but you can pm me if you don't want to post it). In my case it required a systemic yeast infection PLUS and 30 year long dental infection to give me MM. I've still got plenty of tinnitus and hearing loss (left ear) but I'm still detoxing from both yeast and dental infection and I hold out a small ray of hope that the tinnitus will lessen once my I've detoxed (and I've got 40 years of toxin buildup). In any case I'm confident that as long as I take care of active infections, and detox from 40 years of infection, I can halt the progression. Modern regular dentist do not have the knowledge or the training to find these kind of infections. I give the story of my dental journeys in the "Tidings" thread.
Magnesium supplements do not in any way turn down the effects of the regimen, nor antiherpetic drugs. Highly recommended (So is 5000 IU of vitamin d-3, which can be very helpful for many conditions). --John of Ohio
Magnesium supplements are also recommended for migraine, which is relevant if you are dealing with a MAV component. I’m pretty sure it’s been helping me for the past 6 months or so.
This thread is motivating me to start taking Mega-Mag again throughout the day in my water. I think it will really help me sleep better. I get a big bottle on Amazon or at Natural Grocers. Thank you John of Ohio for the clarification.
Well--I took a 500mg tablet for another 'malady' I have--IBS and had 'many trips' to the bathroom yesterday--after only one tablet at bedtime. And--it didn't help me sleep--still had to take a 1/2 a sleeping tablet. Is the dosage too small or too large or is it just me? I was glad to have the bathroom trips--but after the 3rd one, began to not be so glad I'd taken it. Was that too much?