A friend was recently having major symptoms of magnesium deficiency, including associated heart arrhythmias, and severe headaches. I inquired about magnesium, she was taking a significant daily dose of magnesium oxide, had for years. I sent her some links verifying what my MD researcher friend had mentioned, the poor bioavailability of magnesium oxide, only 4% absorbed!

https://europepmc.org/article/med/11794633/reload=0

“Bioavailability was measured as the increment of urinary maginesium excretion in normal volunteers given approximately 21 mEq/day of the test preparations. Results indicated relatively poor bioavailability of magnesium oxide (fractional absorption 4 per cent)”

With a better absorbed magnesium supplement, and patience, the suffering friend’s headaches have completely stopped, and the serious arrhythmias have subsided.

Mark Hyman MD has an article with a good overall perspective on magnesium and magnesium deficiency . . .

https://drhyman.com/blog/2010/05/20/magnesium-the-most-powerful-relaxation-mineral-available/

Doesn’t hurt to be aware of your blood sugar levels, including when experiencing any jitters. Can put to rest concerns re hypoglycemia. Easy to do at home yourself . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7dJt0pVmHM

You can get a glucometer starter kit for about $20.

An MD friend who was a magnesium researcher at one time in an academic setting relayed some useful insights: (1) A large portion of the population suffers from magnesium deficiency; (2) Standard serum blood tests for magnesium are nearly useless, miss lots of serious deficiency; (3) To reach and maintain adequate magnesium levels is best done by consistently, over the long term, taking smaller doses of magnesium, multiple times a day; (4) Taking a large dose of magnesium at one time results in almost all of it just getting dumped by the body; (5) It can take time and patience, over a year of careful supplementation, to resolve a deficiency; (5) The most commonly available magnesium formulation, i.e. magnesium oxide, is almost useless, very poorly absorbed though it is cheap; (6) Other formulations, including magnesium citrate and magnesium glycinate, are better absorbed.

About 20 years ago, I had severe daily reflux/GERD, not helped much by PPIs. It was miserable.

I adopted a strict gluten free diet, primarily Paleo, after experimenting with elimination of various categories of food.

In close to 20 years now, I haven’t had so much as a trace of reflux/GERD. It took a good part of a year to vanish.

In making the transition, weathering the rebound reflux caused by quitting the PPIs, and helping GI healing, I found that DGL (deglycyrrhizinated) licorice lozenges were extremely helpful, and I used them for about a year.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7348626/

The dietary change had dramatic results over time, completely eliminating every trace of the reflux problem. Prior to the diet change, I’d elevated the head of my bed about 4 inches relative to the foot of the bed, and I stopped eating after 6 pm, and those changes resulted in modest benefit, but the dietary change was much more dramatic.