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Neuropathic pain is the type of pain you feel if your nervous system has been damaged or isn’t working correctly. The pain comes from the various levels of the nervous system, which include the peripheral nerves, the spinal cord and the brain. People often describe it as a shooting or burning pain, but it can also be felt as tingling or numbness. Neuropathic pain sometimes goes away on its own, but often it’s a chronic condition that persists, particularly in the senior years when arthritis sets in, or after injuries. For some people, it can be severe and unrelenting and for others, it comes and goes like a phantom. What can you do to allevaite the symptoms naturally?

Many people have become obsessed with the notion that lack of calcium causes osteoporosis.  Yes, calcium and osteoporosis are related, however the bones are made up of a myriad of different minerals that come together to make healthy and strong bones.  We have been collectively 'taught' by dairy industry advertising since last century that calcium is the mineral that prevents osteoporosis.  This is simply not true.  What bones need is good balance of minerals , with the presence of calcium in the right proportion. In fact, if you overdose on calcium you can create serious complications and side effects - namely the suppression of magnesium.

The pineal gland produces melatonin at night during deep sleep, which works as a potent neuro-protective antioxidant that helps to detox the cerebrospinal fluid of the brain. It has even been shown to have anti-viral effects. When we don’t get a restful deep sleep, which produces enough melatonin, we wake up with leftover pollution and waste products in the brain. We need magnesium to help get a restful deep sleep so melatonin can be produced, and melatonin is a hormone which the body makes using magnesium.

Many people mistakenly think of fluoride as a mineral, and many a politician promoting fluoridation has referred to it as, “the magic mineral.” However, this is not true. Fluorine in its pure form is a gas which is the most toxic of four main halogens; chlorine, bromine and iodine. Fluorine happens to be the most tightly binding element on the periodic table, so it is mostly found as a compound clinging to something else. Fluoride binds up magnesium, and so steals it from your body. The symptoms of fluoride toxicity are the same as magnesium deficiency.

Both magnesium and massage therapy have important health benefits for blood circulation, waste clearance and muscle recovery, as well as alleviation of anxiety and stress. Magnesium massage supercharges health benefits by promoting pain relief, stress relief, faster recovery from injury, bolstering the immune system, and prevention of premature ageing. 

It is now well-known that dogs need all the essential vitamins and minerals that humans do. One of these key nutrients is magnesium because it’s needed for energy production at the cellular level. Magnesium deficiency in dogs can lead to a diverse set of symptoms. Every time your pet moves a muscle, experiences a heartbeat or has a thought, magnesium is needed to help them achieve this.

Without the relaxation and antioxidant support of magnesium, the stress and tension increases acidity, weakens the immune system and microbiome balance, which promotes inflammation and headache.  These symptoms are common during influenza or coronavirus infections because they increase the stress and toxic load, thereby depleting more magnesium.

When the body is dehydrated it can also cause oedema, a pooling of fluids around the ankles or puffiness around the eyes.   The reason for fluid retention is usually because the body cannot properly eliminate wastes when there is not enough free water flowing through the system. In order to protect the vital organs the body holds back and pools water in regions where the toxicity needs to be diluted most (eg. sites of inflammation or acidity). Waste products can also pool up and cause swelling in the lymph system - the body's protein waste disposal system. This is another case where toxic residues need to be diluted with more water.

The microbial balance of our gut directly influences our Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis, the production of hormones and neurotransmitters, and our immune system's regulation. Stress is very debilitating and causes depletion of magnesium because of excessive magnesium loss via the kidneys.  Magnesium deficiency causes energy depletion and acidosis, which triggers inflammatory states, resulting in moods swings, hormone imbalance, mental illnesses, fatigue, irritability, pain symptoms, and a weaker immune system. Magnesium deficiency also directly affects the beneficial bacteria, which thus leads to depressive-like behaviours.

Magnesium is an essential mineral which performs some very important functions when you're pregnant. It’s used to maintain healthy blood sugar levels in the body (see study) and it helps build healthy teeth and bones by working in partnership with calcium. It also regulates cholesterol and irregular heartbeat.

Magnesium deficiency or antagonism (blockage) can cause any one of these steps to malfunction, causing overdose of stress hormones and inability to relax enough to sleep deeply.

It's almost impossible for you to get a toxic magnesium dose or overdose, unless magnesium is given at high dose intravenously, where there is no magnesium deficiency or the person has kidney problems and can’t excrete excess salts. 

We can become addicted to more than just pharmaceutical drugs or alcohol.  Researchers are now noticing symptoms of addiction also to excessive exercise.  Does excessive exercise or over-training have negative side effects?  Could it harm health and cause premature ageing?  The research indicates yes, mainly because of increasing magnesium deficiency.

Magnesium deficiency weakens performance, stamina and increases risk of injury When you push your muscles hard your brain is telling your body to ‘squeeze’ and act. Adrenalin and cortisol increase, and that helps push the calcium into the calcium channels of the muscle fibre cells, which makes them contract. Magnesium is temporarily pushed out of these channels during the contractions. When we relax, calcium comes out and magnesium moves back into the channels to relax the muscles again. 

The haemoglobin of red blood cells requires magnesium to help it take up oxygen from lungs and deliver that oxygen to tissue cells in other parts of the body. Researchers believe this is because, as part of the ATP energy currency, magnesium is vital to membrane integrity of red blood cells. The heme protein (containing iron) in these cells needs to ‘attract’ oxygen molecules from lung sacs as blood passes by. The oxygen molecules need to pass through the red blood cell (RBC) membrane – to get ‘onboard’ the train so to speak.

Note that dehydrated states can cause feelings of anxiety where we just don’t know the reason for our fear or agitation, but the feeling persists.  Re-hydrating the body with ample water and magnesium can calm down these sensations because magnesium has a dampening effect on adrenaline and cortisol.  When the brain has ample water and magnesium we can think more clearly and make better decisions.  This is especially important during crises because our magnesium reserves can become dangerously low.