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Natural Calm

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

has anyone tried the magnesium supplement Natural Calm? i did an internet search and found a million articles in support of this product to help ADHD among other things and not one bad report— looking to know if anyone on this board has tried it and what were the results—trudy

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 04/27/2003 - 5:21 PM

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Trudy,

Please check with your pediatrician to make sure that this product is safe for your child. As I understand it, there can be some adverse affects from magnesium supplementation.

Andrea

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 04/28/2003 - 12:01 AM

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Andrea,

One time, I tried it for various reasons and felt my heart starting to flutter. Obviously, I quit immediately.

People seem to have this erroneous impression that supplements are side effect free when nothing could be further from the truth. Before anyone starts accusing me of having a biased viewpoint, I take St. Johns Wort so I am certainly not against supplements. But before I started it a few years ago, I checked every possible resource to make sure there wouldn’t be any dangerous interactions with my other meds and of course, I checked with my doctor.

PT

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 04/28/2003 - 1:55 AM

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I’m with you PT. I consider suppliments medication without much government oversight. It is up to us to find out if any research has been done and try to determine potential risk.

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 04/28/2003 - 11:55 AM

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Magnesium is probably contraindicated for anyone with kidney disease.

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 04/28/2003 - 4:16 PM

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Thanks— i tried to find out as much info as i could on it. So far nothing bad. His doctor is not very open minded about treatments outside of stimulants — but i went to an herbalist and he gave it a thumbs up. My son does so well with the epsom salt baths — which is magnesium sulfate— that i wanted to find a way to get him the magnesium on nights we can’t do the bath. The natural calm is water soluible so it gets eliminated with waste. Anyway— if anyone else has an idea for when we can’t do the salt bath I’m open to it. I bought the Natural Calm from the herblist I went to—I’m gonna try it first then maybe try giving a really small amount to my son and see what happens— wish me luck—trudy

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 04/28/2003 - 5:29 PM

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Trudy,

I am not against alternative treatments, but please, please, please check with your doctor about the amount of magnesium in Natural Calm and make sure it is safe for a person of your child’s age and weight. Below this message I’ve copied some citations to articles about the dangers associated with magnesium overdose. I’m not saying don’t give the supplement but I am saying that any supplement that produces the same effect as a medication should be used with as much care as you would use any medication for your child.

Andrea

Certain diuretics or diuretic drugs may cause a drop in magnesium levels.
- Eur Heart J 1992 Dec;13 Suppl G:96-103 — Adverse reactions to diuretics. —
Prichard BN, Owens CW, Woolf AS.

Quinolone absorption is markedly reduced with antacids containing aluminium,
magnesium and/or calcium and therapeutic failure may result.
- Drug Saf 1992 Jul-Aug;7(4):268-81 — Drug interactions with quinolone
antibacterials. — Brouwers JR.

Trial found that the use of antenatal magnesium sulfate was associated with worse, not
better, perinatal outcome in a dose-response fashion.
- Am J Obstet Gynecol 2002 Jun;186(6):1111-8 — Association between the use of
antenatal magnesium sulfate in preterm labor and adverse health outcomes in infants. —
Mittendorf R, Dambrosia J, Pryde PG, Lee KS, Gianopoulos JG, Besinger RE,
Tomich PG.

May cause loose stools or diarrhoea in some people.
- Drug Saf 2000 Jan;22(1):53-72 — Drug-induced diarrhoea. — Chassany O, Michaux
A, Bergmann JF.

Hypermagnesemia caused a fatality in the case of chronic Epsom salt gargles for
halitosis that produced a serum magnesium of 23.6 mg/dL (9.8 mmol/L) and resulted in
coma.
- J Emerg Med 2002 Feb;22(2):185-8 — Hypermagnesemia-induced fatality following
epsom salt gargles. — Birrer RB, Shallash AJ, Totten V.

Hypermagnesemia can cause subtle neurologic and cardiovascular signs to the major
life-threatening clinical manifestations of shock, dysrhythmias, coma, and
cardiopulmonary arrest despite emergency dialysis.
- J Emerg Med 2002 Feb;22(2):185-8 — Hypermagnesemia-induced fatality following
epsom salt gargles. — Birrer RB, Shallash AJ, Totten V.

Report highlights several associated nonrenal risk factors for hypermagnesemia, which
include age, gastrointestinal tract disease, and administration of concomitant
medications, particularly those with anticholinergic and narcotic effects. This case report
also demonstrates how consumers may misuse magnesium-containing over-the-counter
drug products.
Arch Fam Med 1995 Aug;4(8):718-23 — Hypermagnesemia. Elderly over-the-counter
drug users at risk. — Fung MC, Weintraub M, Bowen DL.

Magnesium may cause blood sugar levels to drop.
- Metabolism 2001 Dec;50(12):1409-17 — Magnesium reduces insulin-stimulated
glucose uptake and serum lipid concentrations in type 1 diabetes. — Djurhuus MS,
Klitgaard NA, Pedersen KK, Blaabjerg O, Altura BM, Altura BT, Henriksen JE.

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 04/28/2003 - 6:47 PM

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thanks for the info— i’ll be talking to the dr. today—

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