Comments on: Worms are Not a Bed of Roses

By: admin

admin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:29:47 +0000

Just want to add that I’m now doing transdermal magnesium; took magnesium chloride and dissolved it in water, then soak my feet in it once or twice a day and rub it all over my legs, behind my knees, on chest. That, and I switched Vit. D supplements and am taking 8000 IU, broken up twice a day. I’m also taking 400 IU of oral magnesium. WITHIN A DAY the anxiety has gone. Too early to hope, but I’m also in my PMS week where it should be its worst. I also added Vitex, an herb that’s supposed to balance hormones 3 weeks ago. But I think the transdermal magnesium was key. I’ll see how it goes over the next month. For those with IBD who have loose stools anyway, soaking through the skin is the best way to absorb magnesium it seems and gives very quick results. (Unless it’s the D too.)

By: Mike S.

Mike S. — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:09:02 +0000

At first I had a lot of difficulty trying to figure out the efficacy of taking magnesium, as I did not take it steadily at first. When I had a rise in symptoms and anxiety, I’d start taking it again, and notice little difference. But given that high stress/anxiety depletes your body of mag, its not surprising that any extra magnesium I was taking was not helping. Only after being able to manage the anxiety (which took a major life change) did I then find magnesium to be helpful in helping relax stiff muscles, pain and twitches. God the twitching-fasciculations were the worst! Annoying and insomnia-inducing.

I do think taking magnesium is helpful, but is probably of little worth without substantially lowering anxiety or depression levels. Of course having those annoying symptoms made me more anxious and worried with the “whats wrong with me’s.” It’s a vicious cycle. Given your miscarriage on top of everything, I would imagine you’ve been under quite a bit. I think if your anxiety is substantially reduced with Celexa, great, then continue with that and add in magnesium, and in a month or two you should probably have lessening of your symptoms. Then hopefully you can give your little hookworm army a chance to get you immuno-balanced, and presto, life will be good. Right?

I took 400mg magnesium (sometimes slightly more), alternating between liquid magnesium citrate and magnesium asporotate (a blend of different forms). It did take about a month or two to see significant improvement in the muscle symptoms, and has been great for muscle-tension related headaches. But again, this was after I was able to break out of the anxiety rut I was in. Of course it’s still a work in progress.

By: Sandra

Sandra — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:36:14 +0000

I have had success with Natural Vitality’s ‘Natural Calm’. It is labeled the anti-stress drink. When combined with water it becomes magnesium citrate. When I have stress or leg cramps I make it and it works within seconds. Really I mean literally less than a minute I can feel the stress and or cramps leaving my body. You can get small sample packets for less than a dollar at any health food store. I am not associated with the company, I only use the product. Here is the link: http://www.petergillham.com/product-line/index.php

I hope this helps you. Thank-you for your blog.

By: admin

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:35:44 +0000

I’m exploring the magnesium angle and have thought this for some time, since I had diarrhea for years before trying hookworms and still go at least 3 X a day, often loose. I know I have low D and most people with Crohn’s with prolonged diarrhea have low calcium and magnesium.

I’ve had a few magnesium infusions; the first one seemed to help. I’m also up to 400 mg. of magnesium glycinate a day. How much magnesium did you need to take a day and for how long before you started to get relief?

I wonder too if my 3/4 colon contributes. Not as much there to absorb.

For me, Lexapro made things terribly worse. Instead, I tried Celexa, and introduced it in 2.5 mg. increments. The standard dose is 20 mg. So I tried 2.5 for 5 days, adding 2.5 mg. at a time. I stayed at 10 mg. for 10 days. This slow taper worked, and I definately feel happier; the anxiety is substantially reduced but not gone.

Each time I redosed with hookworms I had something else happening; iron shots. This time, a pregnancy, now a miscarriage. I imagine the anxiety and the pregnancy used up magnesium as well.

Anyway, thanks for your comments. I’m going to continue the magnesium infusions when I heal from this miscarriage and try to add to the oral and see what I can tolerate. I truly hope this is all it is, but I imagine it will take time to correct.

By: Mike S

Mike S — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:04:23 +0000

For what it’s worth, all of the side effects you describe occur quite commonly, together, without worm infection. About two years ago, I went through an awful period of really high anxiety, depression, frequent muscle twitching throughout my body (fasciculations), sore finger joints, painful and sore muscles (without exertion), dizziness, sensitivity to bright lights–my Crohn’s symptoms seemed to stay pretty much the same, if slightly worse. Doctor had me try an SSRI (lexapro) which made things exponentially worse. I tried a few other anti-anxiety/depression meds with similar results, so I gave up on anti-anxiety meds. The only thing I found was that all of these symptoms are associated with magnesium deficiency, and in an unfortunate cycle, high anxiety causes your body to shed magnesium (as does diarrhea as it is water-soluble ). Anyways, for me good quality magnesium supplementation plus lowering anxiety was the only thing to bring down the other symptoms. Although taking too much magnesium can induce diarrhea. Of course “lowering anxiety” is no small feat, but the more drugs I tried the worse off things became. Although, SSRIs can be helpful for some people, at least short-term. I have no idea if your symptoms are related to the hookworms, but they certainly can happen without them. I guess that’s my point. From my experience the symptoms seem mostly tied to prolonged anxiety and the related issues with magnesium. I have not done helminthic therapy, although plan to soon. In any case, it’s a difficult situation to try to work with, and I hope you find something that works for you.