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Crippled at Sixteen

Carolyn Dean MD ND | Wednesday, July 21, 2010

On July 12, 2010, I had a great interview on Death by Modern Medicine and The Magnesium Miracle with Deb Bailey that you can listen to at Power Women Magazine.

There were a lot of case histories and personal health stories discussed during the hour. After discussing magnesium deficiency as it relates to gall stones, heel spurs and kidney stones, Deb told me about her son. At age 16 he suffered kidney stones to the point of requiring kidney surgery! She asked if I thought that indicated a magnesium deficiency. The hair on the back of my neck stood up…and I told her, absolutely.

Most kidney stones have calcium as the base. They often form because there isn’t enough magnesium to keep calcium in solution. Calcium and magnesium go hand-in-hand. Without enough magnesium, calcium deposits in soft tissues throughout the body. Furthermore, magnesium relaxes muscles and nerves and calcium tightens them up.

After a stressful surgery, Deb’s son experienced even more magnesium deficiency symptoms. But nobody recognized them for what they were. Painful muscle cramping sidelined him from further participation in sports in high school. Today at age 18, he comes home from his summer job at a local fast food restaurant complaining of constant pain and stiffness.

My advice to him and to anyone else who has suffered kidney stones and muscle cramps is to give magnesium a try. It’s inexpensive, it has no side effects and it does much more than prevent kidney stones and muscle cramps.

Here you can find my magnesium recommendations on my resources page. Briefly they are:

1.) Magnesium Citrate Powder from Natural Calm. The powdered form allows better absorption. The best places to purchase are health food stores or vitacost.com.

2.) Magnesium dimalate is the preferred form if you just want to pop a tablet. www.jigsawhealth.com offers a sustained release form, which can improve absorption if you get the laxative effect from magnesium citrate powder.

3.) Magnesium Oil is a non-laxative form of magnesium. It’s supersaturated magnesium chloride in distilled water. You can apply ¼ to ½ tsp a day on your body. It will absorb through the skin into your tissues.

4.) Angstrom Liquid Ionic Magnesium: This is the form I personally use to avoid the laxative effect entirely. This non-laxative magnesium is absorbed 100% at the cellular level.