• Crave chocolate;
• Muscle tightness;
• Clench or grind your teeth at night;
• Twitching in any muscle;
• Muscle cramps, spasms, or charley horses;
• Frequent back pain or back spasms.

Yes to two or more is highly likely of magnesium deficiency.

As you can see, many of these classic symptoms have to do with muscles—muscle tightness…muscle twitching…muscle cramps…muscle spasms.

The first time I spoke at the Eastern Ontario Chiropractic Society, I pointed this out. The room was crowded with chiropractors. Of course, one of the biggest complaints patients have about chiropractors is that they have to keep getting adjustments forever, right?

So I explained to them the classic symptoms of magnesium deficiency, and that they would get better and faster results with patients simply by adding magnesium to their treatments.

My other recommendation…

(and this applies to everyone, not just chiropractors)

…is always keep a bottle of magnesium on hand in case you throw your back out. It will help get rid of the muscle spasm much faster.

After my presentation, I had twenty minutes of questions, most of them geared toward prescribing magnesium! I was tickled pink that my colleagues were so receptive to the functional medicine approach.

You may also be low in magnesium if…

Magnesium is one of your most vitally important minerals. It’s required in over 350 different chemical reactions in your body.

Including the biochemistry of making pure energy.

So, if you’re feeling fatigued, it may be because of a magnesium deficiency.

You may also be low in magnesium if you suffer from:

• irritability
• anxiety
• PMS
• painful periods
• tension headaches
• migraines
• high blood pressure
• palpitations
• constipation
• fibromyalgia
• restless legs syndrome
• diabetes

Testing for Magnesium

It’s estimated that upwards of 80 percent of the population is deficient in magnesium. It’s simply no longer in the soil in any abundant amount. Foods grown in depleted soil leads to foods deficient in nutrients, which leads to a deficiency in your body.

This is one of the few nutrients that I rarely check because it’s just cheaper to give my patient a bottle of magnesium to try.

If you prefer a blood test, a serum magnesium test will pretty much always come out normal, unless there is something horribly wrong with your health.

The preferred test for magnesium is called an RBC magnesium. This test measures the amount of magnesium inside the red blood cells.

Treatment

Magnesium comes in many different forms. The best form is magnesium glycinate. It’s the easiest for your body to absorb, so more ends up in your bloodstream instead of being flushed away.

Of course I always prefer your food be your medicine. With magnesium I recommend patients take supplements while they work on their diet for fastest results.

Here are the best food sources for magnesium:

• Raw spinach
• Pumpkin seeds
• Mackerel
• Soybeans
• Brown rice
• Avocados
• Yogurt
• Dark chocolate

Make a promise to yourself starting today:

Stop feeling lousy…rotten…awful…crummy…miserable…terrible…crappy.

Find a good Functional Medicine doctor to help you get to the root cause of your health problems.

Like I always say:

Find the cause.

Fix the cause.

Feel normal again!

Dr. Carri Drzyzga, DC, ND – The Functional Medicine Doc

Find the Cause. Fix the Cause. Feel Normal Again!