Transdermal Magnesium Therapy

Written by: International Medical Veritas Association

This is the last installment of the magnesium series though without doubt we could go on for weeks. We are putting together a booklet on the subject, though the heart of it you have already seen. In the last installment a mistake about the blood brain barrier (BBB) was pointed out to me so I would ask you to disregard those two sentences that mentioned it and if you are interested in this subject please read far below the short essay on the BBB.

The ratio of calcium to magnesium is vital for cell membranes and the BBB.

In response to Magnesium Treatments Dr. Gary Gordon wrote to his doctors, “If you have compromised cell membranes or low ATP production for any reason, then the cell has trouble maintaining the normal gradient. This is because the usual gradient is 10,000 times more calcium outside of cells than inside; when this is compromised you will have Increased intracellular calcium, which seems to always happen at the time of death. Whenever intracellular calcium is elevated, you have a relative deficiency of magnesium, so whenever anyone is seriously ill, acute or chronic, part of your plan must be to restore magnesium, which is poorly absorbed through oral means.”

There are many forms of oral magnesium and perhaps one is more easily utilized then the other with magnesium chloride likely to come out on top. It is what one would expect from the most common form of magnesium that comes from the sea. Oral Magnesium chloride is very well tolerated and gets absorbed very quickly and is inexpensive. It can even be spread on your skin in a liquid and possibly can be purchased in bulk. Magnesium chloride hexahydrate can be purchased chemically pure from most chemical supply houses without a prescription and this might be perfect (if pharmaceutical grade) to harden water after its been purified through distillation. But this form of magnesium must be kept very dry or it hardens like a rock. Magnesium chloride is used for IVs and it can be used orally but with some of the same problems we find in other forms of oral magnesium therapy.

Intravenous Magnesium
According to Dr. Shealy the most rapid restoration of intracellular magnesium is accomplished with intravenous replacement. For most patients 10 shots, given over a two-week period, are adequate. Depending upon the patient’s weight and general status, Dr. Shealy gives either 1 or 2 grams of magnesium chloride IV over a 30 to 60 minute period.

Magnesium
250 cc of 0.9% Sodium Chloride
1 or 2 grams Magnesium Chloride
500 mg Calcium Chloride
100 mg. Pyridoxine (B-6)
1 gram DexPanthenol (B-5)
1000 mcg Cyanocobalamin (B-12
6 grams Vitamin C



Many things affect magnesium absorption from the gut, no matter what form of oral supplement is used, and this seriously compromises oral administration in medical treatment. Most drugs will adversely affect how magnesium taken orally is absorbed or how quickly it will be excreted. When we think about the drugs used for children on the autism spectrum, we should be concerned about antipsychotics used for behavior control. Zyprexa, Risperdal, and others can cause hyperglycemia, which in turn causes increased excretion of magnesium taken orally. In drugs used for asthma, and epilepsy, and some antibiotics, steroids, etc. bind with magnesium diminishing its availability. Two cans of soda per day, (all of which contain phosphates), also binds up a lot of magnesium by preventing absorption of Magnesium ions from the GI tract. Magnesium also binds with aspartame so drinking diet sodas is not an option.

Dr. Shealy adds that the problem with oral magnesium is that all magnesium compounds are potentially laxative. And there is good evidence that magnesium absorption depends upon the mineral remaining in the intestine at least 12 hours. If intestinal transit time is less than 12 hours, magnesium absorption is impaired. There are two oral forms that may be considered: 25%magnesium chloride drops (Magic Drops) or magnesium taurate. The drops are extremely strong tasting, salty and bitter. At least 50% of patients refuse to use the drops after a taste test. Twenty drops per day are recommended. It requires 3 to 6 months for replacement to be accomplished.


Jack Samuels, President of the Truth in Labeling Campaign, gives us more reason to avoid oral magnesium products. “Most, but not all of the magnesium being sold "over the counter" is chelated with neurotoxic substances. Magnesium glutamate is clearly of concern because the magnesium is chelated to neurotoxic glutamic acid. Magnesium aspartate is clearly of concern because the magnesium is chelated to neurotoxic aspartic acid, an amino acid that has been found by neuroscientists, in animal studies, to load on the same receptors in the brain as does glutamic acid, to cause identical brain lesions and neuroendocrine disorders as glutamic acid, and to act in an additive fashion with glutamic acid. Magnesium citrate is of concern because the magnesium has been chelated with citric acid. Most of the citric acid used in this country is made from corn. Producers of corn based citric acid do not take the time nor undertake the expense to remove all protein from the product. During production, the remaining protein is broken down, resulting in some glutamic acid and some aspartic acid. Some magnesium product producers now try to hide the presence of neurotoxins by stating that their magnesium is chelated with protein or with an amino acid. Finally, if a magnesium product is in a gelatin capsule, the gelatin is over 11% processed free glutamic acid (MSG). There are some safe magnesium products on the market. I have used magnesium for a number of years, admittedly in a form that is not the most absorbable form, but I believe that I am benefited by the use of the magnesium that I use.

A very viable dietary source of magnesium these days is whole, unrefined sea salt, especially the coarse grey variety harvested by hand along the Brittany coast of France, known as 'Celtic sea salt'.

According to Daniel Reid the Epsom salts some people take as a magnesium supplement contains magnesium sulfate, which is rapidly excreted through the kidneys and therefore difficult to assimilate. This would explain in part why the effects from Epsom salt baths do not last. Whole sea salt contains magnesium chloride and magnesium bromide, which are easily assimilated and metabolized in the human body. Kirkman's Magnesium Sulfate Topical Cream utilizes transdermal principles. Kirkman's Magnesium Sulfate Cream, according to the company, is a soft, creamy and very quickly absorbed emulsion containing 100 mg. of Magnesium Sulfate USP per one gram of cream.

The magnesium oil that is associated with the International Detoxification and Chelation Clinic is an exceptional form of magnesium chloride. There is another company, which Dr. Shealy is involved with, whose concentration of magnesium chloride is 10 percent lower than Global Light’s. The magnesium oil from Global Light is 35 percent. It comes in a gel form as well as a small bottle with a spray pump for easy application to the skin. All massage therapists should be using the gel, and even families, for it is always a good idea to combine a massage with a magnesium treatment. And for husbands and wives who want to soothe their loved ones body aches and pains we have what Dr. Shealy calls “Magic Oil.” If we really appreciated how important it is to make sure our magnesium levels are satisfactory we would be spraying our underarms with it everyday, spraying it on to different parts of our body.

Dr. Shealy has done some studies and has written a book about transdermal magnesium oils. According to him individuals sprayed a solution of 50% Magic Oil over the entire body once daily for a month and did a 20 minute foot soak in Magic Oil once daily for a month. Dr. Shealy recruited 16 individuals with low intracellular magnesium levels to participate in the following experiment. Subjects had a baseline Intracellular Magnesium Test documenting their deficiency and another post-Intracellular Magnesium Test after 1 month of daily soaks and spraying were analyzed. The results: Twelve of sixteen patients, 75% had significant improvements in intracellular magnesium levels after only four weeks of foot soaking and skin spraying.

Intravenous as well as transdermal administration of magnesium bypass digestion, and processing by the liver. Everything we swallow must first be digested and passed through the portal vein to the liver, where nutrients will be disseminated to the rest of the body. Oral supplementation of magnesium is difficult to use effectively enough to bring forth a quick change in magnesium concentrations in the blood and cells. Both transdermal and intravenous therapy create "tissue saturation", the ability to get the nutrients where we want them, directly in the circulation, where they can reach body tissues at a high doses, without loss. Intravenous administration is more risky, though as an emergency medicine, it most certainly has its place.

“When people are ill, faced with magnesium deficiency and poor digestion, what do you think the odds are of fixing that problem with oral magnesium supplementation and digestive enzymes alone?” asks Dr. Ronald Hoffman. Mildred Seelig, Ph.D., renowned researcher of magnesium, predicts it would take 6 months to normalize magnesium levels in a woman who is magnesium deficient with oral supplementation. In his clinic Dr. Hoffman carefully measures magnesium and found that many patients with low magnesium who take just oral supplements do not normalize. The bottom line is that transdermal magnesium therapy speeds up the process of nutrient repletion in much the same was as intravenous methods. Like intravenous, transdermal application of magnesium can deliver higher doses of this key mineral to the cells. Bypassing digestion allowing for deeper tissue saturation.

Though I highly recommend spirulina for increasing magnesium consumption through whole foods I still would not leave anything to chance with children suffering from neurological diseases and certainly with children and adults suffering from any kind of life threatening or debilitating disease. Magnesium needs to be supplied in a form that we know the body will respond to instantly. With any kind of oral magnesium supplementation we will be left in doubt about absorption rates. Most agree that at best oral forms are only fifty percent absorbable. What if the number for an individual or child is only ten percent? If we are chelating our children for mercury, lead and the other heavy metals they are contaminated with it could be a disaster waiting to happen if magnesium is not being “successfully” delivered to the cell environment.

A link between low body levels of magnesium and type 2 diabetes has long been suspected, but there has been no agreement as to whether low magnesium levels cause diabetes or the presence of diabetes results in low magnesium levels. A team of researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and three other medical schools have just released a major report which clearly supports the idea that low magnesium levels are an important risk factor for diabetes. With diabetes already reaching epidemic levels we might easily conclude that the well known deficiency in magnesium in the general public is playing an enormous role.

The causes of a disease is often not known until it is too late. And there are causes of disease that the medical establishment just does not want to acknowledge for that would mean they would have to change their treatment approaches. In their pathetic obsession with viruses modern medicine missed the boat completely when it comes to magnesium. A body with optimal magnesium levels stands a much better chance of withstanding infectious diseases then a body inoculated with vaccines. The last thing any of us will ever see though, is the CDC promoting magnesium supplementation over vaccines.

Transdermal magnesium treatments is one area of medicine where we should all be able to agree. We might use magnesium chloride directly by adding it to water that has been purified and we can supplement with foods like spirulina and with oral magnesium chloride. For children with neurological disorders transdermal magnesium is like an oxygen mask. It is not easy to admit that we have not been supplementing appropriately with magnesium because we have been relying primarily on oral supplementation. The situation today demands that we turn to at least one form of transdermal magnesium application. Luckily there are several options.


The IMVA has been charged with finding the safest and most effective ways of removing mercury from people’s bodies. We have searched out and investigated and found very safe, effective agents that provide the foundation stones for successful and safe detoxification and chelation treatments that should be included in everyone’s protocol. Magnesium chloride applied transdermally is our strong favorite for re-mineralization along with spirulina because of the array of minerals including zinc that it also provides.

As we have established the basic protocol we have been forming strategic alliances with the companies that manufacture or sell these agents. Most of the companies are donating their time and products to help the IDCC helping make sure we are able to get these detoxification agents to our clients wherever they may be around the world. Agents that you can save and put away and use through the years. There are items in our protocol like spirulina that more than doubles up on its potential to serve you and your family's future. With two to three year shelf life spirulina makes an excellent survival food back up system.

It is not for us to be taken flatfooted unprepared for disasters. The situation in New Orleans and surrounding areas in the United States these past few days is offering a glimpse of approaching trends. Not only do we have to Detox our children and ourselves constantly we also have to prepare for times of horizontal shifts in weather and economic conditions. Already many people have not the money to do everything they need to do to protect their children. We have to get back to the basics and stock up on the basic medicines of life. In any kind of deteriorating social, economic or environmental situation it is essential we spend some of our energies planning for unexpected disruptions and disasters. Medicine is not separate from economics and any kind of meltdown in the financial sector will affect our medical choices.

Mark Sircus Ac., OMD
Director International Medical Veritas Association
http://www.detoxchelationclinic.com
http://www.imva.info
http://www.worldpsychology.net
+55-83-3252-2195
www.skype.com ID: marksircus

P.S. My process with magnesium oil was started when I followed up on what I learned from Daniel Reid who wrote the Tao of Detoxification. It led me to Global Light and I must say it’s a great pleasure putting out all my skills to lead people to their magnesium oil. The process of writing about magnesium these past two weeks has brought me to a total identification with its place in health, disease and detoxification/chelation. At the end of this research project I am fully one with magnesium. I hope I have been effective in helping my readers go through the same process with the same end result.

I will be doing that with spirulina and also with clay and with all the basic elements of the naturopathic protocol we will be using. Several companies and different doctors have made it possible for me to continue my research, publish freely on the Internet and offer clinical services on a sliding scale. My thanks for their help and the deep trust they put in me is endless.

Many others have sent me their products to review. I ask for a little patience for it is a mountain of work to process and write about it all.


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Blood Brain Barriers
The concept of a barrier between the blood and brain interface is about a hundred years old. The brain barriers, namely blood-brain barrier (BBB) and blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier, usually referred to as the choroid plexus maintains the chemical stability of the central nervous system (CNS). Less known are the functions of the BBB in brain development, neuroendocrine regulation, drug efflux and metabolism, as well as aging processes. The choroid plexus embraces the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) compartment, the interstitial fluid (ISF) or extracellular fluid compartment, and the intracellular compartment playing a pivotal role in maintaining the homeostasis of essential metal ions in the CNS.

The composition of the cerebrospinal fluid with a specific gravity (1.004 -1.007 g/cm 3) is much like blood plasma; it is a clear, colorless fluid that contains glucose, proteins, lactic acid, urea, salts, and some white blood cells. The cerebrospinal fluid picks up metabolic wastes as it circulates past the nervous tissue of the brain and spinal cord. These metabolic wastes then move into the bloodstream in the intracranial vascular sinuses as the CSF is absorbed. The blood carries these wastes away to be eliminated from the body by the lungs and kidneys.[6] Changes in the composition (increased protein) or in the appearance (cloudiness) of the CSF would suggest some neurologic disease.

Systemic Zinc deficiency can also affect the permeability
of brain barriers. Zinc deficiency significantly increases
the permeability of the blood–brain barrier.
Noseworthyand Bray (2000)

The choroid plexus separates the CSF compartment from the systemic blood compartment and possesses numerous transporters for metals, metal–amino acid conjugates, and metal–protein complexes. There are many hundreds of different transporter types, each specialized for different substances. The integrity and function of the the BBB is mission critical for overall brain function. Changes in permeability often reflect alterations in BBB transport systems. Toxicological causes of generalized changes in BBB permeability include organic solvents, enzymes, and heavy metals. Some agents like mercury induce selective changes in BBB transport at very low doses.

Brain barrier integrity is compromised by free radicals.

Magnesium has been seen to attenuate increased blood-brain barrier permeability during insulin-induced hypoglycemia in animal studies. Magnesium has its important role at the BBB and researchers think that magnesium probably protects brain tissue against the effects of cerebral ischemia, brain injury and stroke through its actions as a calcium antagonist and inhibitor of excitatory amino acids.

Children are most susceptible to brain damage because
the blood/brain barrier has not had time to develop enough to filter out poisonous substances like lead and mercury and the other heavy metals, drugs and chemicals that are assaulting their systems.

As amino acids and their associated linkage are highly susceptible to enzymatic degradation, the nature and concentration of specific enzymes at the BBB can greatly impact the efficacy of detoxification and nutrient supply. Magnesium is crucial in preventing enzyme degradation and thus crucial for BBB integrity. Specific transporters exist at the BBB that permit nutrients to enter the brain and toxicants / waste products to exit. Independent transport systems for glucose, neutral amino acids, basic amino acids, and monocarboxylic acids have been identified in the BBB.

Especially relevant is the transport of methyl mercury into the brain. In vivo studies in rats have demonstrated that methyl mercury complexed to the thiol amino acid, cysteine is transported across the blood-brain barrier.[8] Lead transport at the blood-brain barrier is dependent on the ATP calcium pump and this pump is dependent on magnesium. For the lead to get out of the brain, the pump must be working properly.

Excitotoxicity, a mechanism by which excess glutamate accumulates outside the neuron, thereby leading to death of the cell by an excitation process, has been linked to mercury neurotoxicity. Recent studies have confirmed that mercury, even in concentrations below that known to cause cell injury, paralyzes the glutamate removal mechanism, leading to significant damage to synapses, dendrites and neurons themselves. Glutamate and its biochemical "cousin," aspartic acid or aspartate, are the two most plentiful amino acids in the brain.

Wheat gluten is 43% glutamate, the milk
protein casein is 23% glutamate.

This glutamate removal mechanism is critical to brain protection. Additionally, mercury in very low concentrations increases glutamate release, primarily by stimulating the brain’s immune cell, the microglia. Chronic microglial activation, as seen with mercury exposure, has been solidly linked to all of the neurodegenerative diseases. mercury, among all the metals tested, was the only one shown to block the removal of excess glutamate from the nervous system. By paralyzing the glutamate removal system, mercury triggers chronic excitotoxicity - that is chronic destruction of the nervous system.


Excess glutamate can also produce the same neurofibrillary tangles seen with mercury exposure.

Glutamate transport at the BBB is crucial and mercury, if not neutralized, plays havoc at the barrier. Two of the principle conditions that allow glutamate to shift from neurotransmitter to excitotoxins are:

1) inadequate neuronal ATP levels (whatever the cause)

2) inadequate neuronal levels of magnesium, the natural, non-drug calcium channel blocker;

One of the commonest food additives, MSG (monosodium glutamate), use has doubled every decade since 1948. Aspartic acid is one half of the now ubiquitous sweetener aspartame (NutraSweet®), which is the basis of diet desserts, low-calorie drinks, chewing gum, etc. Both of these food additives spell danger for our children.

Without normal glutamate/aspartate neurotransmission,
we would be deaf and blind mental and behavioral vegetables.
James South MA


Glutamate and aspartate are neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are the chemicals that allow neurons to communicate with and influence each other. Neurotransmitters serve either to excite neurons into action, or to inhibit them. Glutamate receptors are excitatory - they literally excite the neurons containing them into electrical and cellular activity. When glutamate or aspartate attaches to the NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptor, it triggers a flow of sodium (Na) and calcium (Ca) ions into the neuron, and an outflow of potassium (K). When the PCP is occupied, the opening of the ion channel is blocked, even when glutamate occupies its receptor site. The mineral magnesium (Mg) can occupy a site near and block the NMDA channel which means that as long as the neuron is able to maintain its normal resting electrical potential of -90 millivolts, the magnesium blocks the ion channel even with glutamate in its receptor.

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[1] Oral Magnesium Chloride, Magnesium Citrate Magnesium Gluceptate, Magnesium Gluconate, Magnesium Hydroxide, Magnesium Lactate, Magnesium Oxide, Magnesium Pidolate, Magnesium Sulfate.

[2] www.truthinlabeling.org

[3] http://www.hps-online.com/foodprof14.htm

[4] Kao, W.H. Linda, et al. Serum and dietary magnesium and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Archives of Internal Medicine, Vol. 159, October 11, 1999, pp. 2151-59
Orchard, Trevor J. Magnesium and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Archives of Internal Medicine, Vol. 159, October 11, 1999, pp. 2119-20 (editorial)

[5] Research in the last several decades has revealed that at least 11 metals—

lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), manganese (Mn), arsenic (As), iron (Fe),

copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), silver (Ag), gold (Au), and tellurium (Te)—accumulate in

the choroid plexus (Zheng, 2001a, 2002), making the tissue a major target in brain

for toxicities associated with environmental exposure to heavy metals.

[6] Morehead State University: BIOL 231 Human Anatomy

http://people.morehead-st.edu/fs/m.mcmurr/231-L25.html

[7] University of Manitoba: Cerebral Ventricular System and Cerebrospinal Fluid

http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/medicine/anatomy/csf-form.htm

[8] University of Rochester Environmental Health Sciences Center Clarkson

http://www-apps.niehs.nih.gov/centers/public/res-core/ctr1082-4386.htm