Magnesium: Reversing Disease

Disclaimer

This book is intended to be an information resource only. There is no intent that this book be used for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. A specific physician/patient or dentist/patient relationship is necessary before any medical or dental therapies are initiated. In no manner should this book, or any of the information in this book, be used as a substitute for diagnosis and treatment by a qualified medical and/or dental healthcare professional.

Copyright © 2019 by

Thomas E. Levy, MD, JD

First Edition: 2019

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019950273

ISBN: 978-0-9983124-0-8

ISBN: 978-0-9837728-9-7 (e-book)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

MedFox Publishing, LLC

1-866-359-5589

www.MedFoxPub.com

[email protected]

2505 Anthem Village Drive, Suite E-582,

Henderson, NV 89052-5529

Dedicated to all health care

practitioners who truly make the

health and welfare of their patients

their top priority.

Acknowledgments

To Les and Cindy Nachman, whose friendship and support remain invaluable in my efforts to spread my medical messages around the world.

To David Nicol, a good friend and incredible editor.

To my wife Lis, and my daughter Daniela.

To my good friends and colleagues, Ron Hunninghake and Keith Skinner, who always give me valuable insights on whatever we might discuss.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

The Problem with Traditional Healing Paradigms

Maintenance Drugs

Surgery

Chemotherapy and Radiation

SECTION ONE:

The Evidence of Magnesium’s

Unparalleled Curative Power

— Chapter 1 —

Ignorance Has Consequences

Essential Mineral Nutrient

Body-Wide Impact

The Healing Mineral

The Need for Magnesium Supplementation

— Chapter 2 —

Calcium Antagonist

Magnesium’s Primary Function and Benefit

The Toxicity of Excessive Calcium Ingestion

The Adverse Effects of Magnesium Deficiencies

The Health-Promoting Impact of Magnesium Administration

Calcium vs. Magnesium — The Antagonistic Relationship

The Slow Advancement of Clinical Medicine

RECAP

— Chapter 3 —

Heart Health

Magnesium and Cardiovascular Diseases

Coronary Artery Disease

Arrhythmias

Congestive Heart Failure

AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT POINT TO REMEMBER

Vasoconstriction

Hypertension (High Blood Pressure)

Vascular Thrombosis

— Chapter 4 —

Insulin’s Powerful Partner

Magnesium and Diabetes Mellitus

— Chapter 5 —

Mind and Mood Manager

Magnesium and Neurological Diseases

Depression and Anxiety

Epilepsy and Seizure Disorders

Best Epilepsy Treatment Protocol Ignored?

Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Dementia

Stroke

— Chapter 6 —

Take a Deep Breath

Magnesium and Pulmonary Diseases

Asthma and Bronchospasm

COPD

— Chapter 7 —

Bone, Joints, and Muscles

Magnesium and Musculoskeletal Diseases

Osteoporosis

Osteoarthritis

Muscular

— Chapter 8 —

Key to Vitality

Magnesium and Organ Systems

Liver

Pancreas

Reproductive system

Kidney

Hearing

— Chapter 9 —

Splitting Headache Relief

Magnesium and Migraines

— Chapter 10 —

Powerful Poison Antidote

Magnesium as an Antitoxin

Toxin Impact and the QT Interval

Antitoxin Mechanisms

A Conspiracy of Inconclusion

Conclusions

— Chapter 11 —

Infection Protection

Magnesium and Pathogens

Magnesium and Polio

Magnesium-Polio Case Report Summaries

Magnesium and Medical Politics

Magnesium and Pathogens

RECAP

— Chapter 12 —

Dynamic Cellular Defense

Dealing with Oxidative Stress

Increased Oxidative Stress

SECTION TWO:

Applying Magnesium’s Unparalleled

Curative Power

— Chapter 13 —

Curative Treatment

General Principles

Cellular Pathology

Treatment Principles

— Chapter 14 —

Minimizing Toxin Exposures

Preventing New Damage

External Sources

Unwittingly Buying, Consuming Toxic Waste

Internal Sources

Focal Infection Sources

The Fallacy of Discarding Research Solely Based on Age

— Chapter 15 —

Healing Hormones

Lowering Body-Wide Oxidative Stress

Estrogen

Testosterone

Insulin

Another Medical Mystery: Why Isn’t Insulin Used for Wound Care?

Hydrocortisone

Thyroid hormone

Optimal Thyroid Status Provides Extra Protection Against the Systemic Spread of Dental Pathogens

— Chapter 16 —

Vitamin C Supplementation

An Essential Guide

Important Factors in the Effective Administration of Vitamin C

1. Dose

2. Route

3. Rate

4. Frequency

5. Duration

6. Types of Vitamin C

7. Adjunct Therapies

8. Safety

9. Overall Protocol of Administration

Multi-C Protocol

Practical IVC Considerations

Mop-Up IVC

RECAP

— Chapter 17 —

Companion Supplements

Importance and Considerations

Vital and Essential Supplements

Highly Important Supplements

Important Supplements

Summary

— Chapter 18 —

Magnesium Supplementation

An Essential Guide

Forms and Applications

Oral Forms

Traditional Oral Forms

Liposome-Encapsulated Oral Form

Intravenous and Intramuscular Magnesium

Other Routes of Administration

Magnesium Toxicity

Magnesium Supplementation Guidelines

Resources

References

Index

Foreword

A Touch of Genius

I was shocked…and amazed!

Looking up from the latter pages of Dr. Tom Levy’s 12th book, Magnesium: Reversing Disease, I realized that in my entire 43-year medical career, I had never before heard these two words, magnesium & mitochondria, being used together in the same sentence!

Here it is:

"…95% of the magnesium in the

cell is in the mitochondria."

Of course, I knew about both of these words. I knew they were related. I just didn’t realize how INCREDIBLY RELATED they were!

When I graduated from medical school in 1976, we weren’t much concerned about mitochondria, the powerhouse of almost every cell in the human body. Mitochondria were briefly alluded to in our basic microbiology course, along with the infamous Krebs Cycle. We learned enough to pass the written tests. However, once we were in the hospital, we were doing the real work of medicine: seeing patients, doing physical exams, ordering tests, and prescribing treatments such as medication and surgery. For sure, mitochondria didn’t seem to have anything to do with it!

At that time, however, the word magnesium was more meaningful to me. Why? During my third year of medical school my father developed chest pain in the small town where I grew up. Because he was a moderate smoker, his family doctor (my cousin) presumed it was angina and worried he might have a serious blockage in his coronaries. Dad was sent to a tertiary care hospital for a heart catheterization.

Interestingly, he was also having multiple premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) when he arrived at the hospital. PVCs are heartbeats that trigger too early and occur too frequently. Although they are generally benign, PVCs can spell trouble when they happen during a heart attack.

Fortunately, in addition to a whole battery of blood tests, Dad’s assigned cardiologist correctly ordered a serum magnesium level to check out the PVCs. (I doubt that the cardiologist even gave a second thought about this being related to my Dad’s mitochondrial health.) Dad’s serum magnesium level was very low. Dad always had had an upset stomach and was an avid Tums user. For sure, all that calcium had been effective in neutralizing his stomach acid, but it had also prevented the proper absorption of magnesium from his diet. This explained the low serum magnesium and the PVCs.

I was in the cath lab when the cardiologist squirted Dad’s coronaries. They were all clear! The nurses and I actually started cheering and clapping! Dad was awake and smiling broadly too. The only one not celebrating was the cardiologist, as he appeared to be deep in thought. His fortunate discovery of low serum levels of magnesium and the proper response to it resulted in decisive actions that made a huge difference in my father’s health, who was 53 at that time.

The cardiologist ordered an upper GI barium swallow and diagnosed an acid reflux problem that was causing the lower esophageal spasms that mimicked angina chest pain. These spasms were a direct consequence of Dad’s low magnesium level.

The cardiologist told Dad to take SlowMag (an OTC form of magnesium) for the rest of his life. He did… and he lived until the ripe old age of 90.

He looked my father in the eye, right there on the cath table, and said, Elmer, this would be a perfect time for you to quit smoking! My Dad, being in a very teachable moment, never touched another cigarette. Hip Hip… Hurray!

That profound experience was my introduction to the word magnesium…something I’ll never forget. Now, the word mitochondria…essentially, that word meant nothing to me for the first 10 years of my medical practice as a family doctor. During that initial decade of my medical career, I never thought about any patient’s mitochondria, nor did I ever measure serum magnesium levels like the cardiologist did. So, of course, I never saw the vital relationship between the two. I was your typical conventional doctor who listened to symptoms, did a few tests, made mental diagnoses, and then treated my patients with symptom-controlling medications.

Fortunately, in 1989, I ran into Dr. Hugh Riordan, the founder of The Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning (now known as The Riordan Clinic since his passing in 2005.) Hugh was interested in disturbed cellular functioning as the root cause of all human disease. Spending untold time in The BioCenter Laboratory, he measured and analyzed nutrients and hormones…intra- and extracellular molecules that were necessary for the healthy functioning of cells.

When I joined Hugh Riordan that year, something amazing happened: I actually started to use the knowledge I had gained during the first two years of medical school. I started thinking about mitochondria, cellular membranes, the nucleus, ribosomes, lysosomes, and a whole new vocabulary of microbiologic thought that had somehow escaped my attention and the attention of most busy physicians.

That’s when I first began reading the works of said Dr. Thomas Levy. (Little did I know that we would be traveling the world together, awakening health practitioners to that Wonderful World Within You – the title of Dr. Roger Williams delightful book about intracellular biology and nutrition that he wrote in hopes of inspiring his grandchildren to recognize the supreme importance of nutritional biochemistry.)

Now, Dr. Levy has done it, again. I mean, REALLY DONE IT! In this, his 12th, and what I believe is his consummate work, he has used two of the most powerful words in the biochemical vernacular…in the same sentence! Once again:

"…95% of the magnesium in the

cell is in the mitochondria."

Mitochondria make up 10% of the total weight of the human body. Without the mitochondria, our cells could only generate 1/19th of the energy we now use to maintain health. One of the great emerging medical insights of our time is that the vast majority of the chronic illnesses have their origin in MITOCHONDRIAL DYSFUNCTION, which then leads to global cellular dysfunction, the hallmark of chronic illness.

This book contains over a thousand references to back up what I would call THE ULTIMATE CONCLUSION: chronic illness = cellular dysfunction = hidden magnesium deficiency.

Take a look at the chronic illnesses afflicting our globe today: Cancer – Heart Disease – Alzheimer’s – Autoimmune -itis disorders – Digestive Disorders – COPD – Obesity – Diabetes –the innumerable viral and bacterial infectious diseases – Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Disorders – many more. These are all covered in detail in this book! Their link to magnesium deficiency is beyond dispute. Modern medicine has managed to overlook its own scientific foundation in favor of the myopic view that drugs are the only way. (Although sometimes they are!)

These chronic illnesses are not only stealing quality of life from the majority of our fellow planetary inhabitants, they are also stealing health care resources in a dramatic way.

In 1960, the average annual cost of health care in the U.S. was $146.

By 2017, as reported by the centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services report, National Health Expenditures Summary Including Share of GDP, CY 1960-2017, it had risen to an incredible $10,739!

My conclusion, and the conclusion of this book, is simple: we have allowed our medical care system to focus predominantly on symptoms, not causes. This treatment paradigm ignores biology and tout’s pharmacology. Result: an unsustainable healthcare system.

Allow me to quote Albert Einstein:

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger

and more complex…it takes a touch of genius, and

a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction."

This book is a clear road map to a better, simpler, and more rational way to reverse the great disease epidemics of our times.

Ron Hunninghake, MD

Chief Medical Officer

Riordan Clinic

Wichita, Kansas

Preface

It’s been nearly five years since Death by Calcium was published. For several years prior to writing that book, the need to expose the real and imminent dangers of excessive calcium ingestion often surfaced as I ran across more and more peer-reviewed research demonstrating its incredibly negative health effects. What was worse, the dairy industry, supplement manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and physicians all over the country and throughout the rest of the world were (and still are) aggressively promoting this dangerous calcium over-consumption in the name of good health.

It is true that the body needs a limited regular dietary intake of calcium. What is not true is that an adult needs more than is found in a healthy diet in an individual with a normal vitamin D status that omits all but occasional dairy. In fact, over-consumption of calcium has been linked to increased all-cause mortality, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and even dementia. And, contrary to the advertising promises, calcium does not prevent or even reduce the incidence of factures related to osteoporosis. The scientific proof of these facts is abundant and much of it is decades old, hiding in plain sight in the world-wide scientific literature. This means that the majority of healthcare practitioners in this country are either ignorant of or choose to ignore the research published in their own medical journals. My publisher and I thought it necessary to take this important warning to the health-conscious public, and so, Death by Calcium was born.

At that time, my suggested remediation of calcium toxicity was to avoid calcium supplementation, restrict its dietary intake, and to improve antioxidant and nutrient status with some specific dietary and supplement regimens, along with the proper adjustment of certain critical hormones – advice still important to follow.

Recently, however, MedFox suggested that I write a book on magnesium.

I must admit, my first reaction was rather tepid. A quick look online revealed a plethora of books on magnesium. Frankly, I initially felt that another magnesium book would just be a reproduction of what was already too available in bookstores and on the internet and would not be especially significant or noteworthy. But because I highly respect the advice of the folks at MedFox, I started to delve into recent magnesium research. What I found was astounding!

Not only did my research further confirm the information published in Death by Calcium, it also demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that magnesium is actually the natural antidote for calcium toxicity and the intracellular damage it causes. This is a huge finding that still remains unappreciated. Excess intracellular calcium is present in all diseased cells, as well as in all cells affected by any poisoning or toxin exposures. This elevated intracellular calcium, along with the increased intracellular oxidative stress that it directly causes, must be remedied in order to resolve or improve any medical condition or toxin exposure. As it turns out, increasing the intracellular levels of magnesium is the natural antidote to this elevated intracellular calcium characteristic of all disease processes. The greater the magnesium uptake into these cells, the more that calcium is displaced and pushed out. Additional measures are available to help normalize intracellular calcium levels, but magnesium is the most important. Furthermore, the intracellular calcium levels will never normalize by any other measures if significant deficiencies of magnesium in the body remain unaddressed.

Many different agents will promote good health. However, magnesium, along with vitamin C, are head and shoulders above all other supplements. Certainly, there are many different vitamins, minerals, and nutrient agents that strongly support good health and are wonderful supplements to take on a regular basis. However, all treatment and/or supplement protocols will never result in optimal health if magnesium and vitamin C are not adequately supplemented on a regular basis as well.

I’m convinced, with the few rare situations involving magnesium excess or toxicity mentioned later in the book, that everyone will benefit from learning and applying the information presented herein. Prepare to be amazed and to find healing for much of what ails you as you explore and employ the wealth of information you now hold in your hands. You will quickly see that this is not just another magnesium book.

Thomas E. Levy, MD, JD

Introduction

Our incredible bodies are comprised of trillions of cells. At the foundational level, cells are built from of an enormous number of biomolecules of many different kinds such as lipids, proteins, enzymes, DNA, amino acids, etc. A simplified overview can be diagrammed like this:

When biomolecules lose electrons through oxidation, they also lose all or most of their normal chemical reactivity, or biological function. A cell is deemed to be diseased when the quantity of oxidized biomolecules within the cell walls begins to disrupt normal cellular function. When the number of dysfunctional cells is sufficient to impair normal tissue or organ function, a diagnosis can usually be made, depending upon where, how, the extent, and the type of cells that are damaged. That can be represented like this:

All pathogens, toxins, and poisons, directly or indirectly, promote increased intracellular oxidative stress (increased IOS) in the affected cells as more and more biomolecules are oxidized. One of the chief mechanisms for elevating IOS involves increased extracellular calcium entry into the cell via the calcium channels in the cell’s membrane.

The Problem with Traditional Healing Paradigms

Traditional medicine has definitely produced many astounding and helpful breakthroughs. It is not the intent of the author to cast aspersions on all traditional health paradigms out of hand. There is certainly a proper place for some traditional methods and interventions. The important point is that many of the approaches employed by traditional health care practitioners have serious limitations because they fail to treat the underlying causes of disease pathologies. Rather, they are largely focused on symptom suppression/elimination. Symptoms, of course, are a manifestation of the disease, but they are not the disease, and blocking them in no way addresses the cellular pathology inside the diseased cells.

Maintenance drugs, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation are the primary tools of the traditional healthcare practitioner. With the exception of a certain class of prescription drugs known as calcium channel blockers, these treatment modalities do not address the root problem. When these traditional treatment approaches are combined with good nutrition, focused supplementation, and proper care of the body, some restoration of health and wellness at the biomolecular level can result. However, such improvements occur in spite of the medical treatment rather than because of it.

Maintenance Drugs

As just noted, with few exceptions, maintenance drugs take aim at disease symptoms. Not only do most drugs fail to address the underlying problem of oxidized biomolecules, but directly or indirectly they often generate more oxidized biomolecules. That’s not to say there isn’t a place for medications, but most often they can only provide temporary symptom relief and may themselves cause other health problems. However, even when they do not generate the oxidation of more biomolecules, they still are permitting the underlying disease process to continue to evolve and worsen.

Surgery

Many surgical interventions are helpful and some are necessary. But, surgery never remediates pathologies due to oxidized biomolecules. As long as the conditions that are producing increased IOS are not addressed, surgery will only be a temporary fix.

Chemotherapy and Radiation

The main purpose of chemotherapy and radiation is to create enough oxidative stress in diseased cells to kill them. The major problem here is that the increased IOS induced by these chemicals is not and cannot be limited to diseased cells. Rather, it affects healthy cells as well, further expanding the population of diseased cells in the body.

The Functional Approach

Fundamentally, lasting health and wellness starts at the molecular level. Unless the underlying cause of any pathology is remediated, a patient can never achieve optimal health. It is the contention of the author that increased IOS is the cause of all disease and in fact, that it is the disease.

If that is true, and evidence for that position is abundant, the healthcare practitioner must employ whatever means are available to limit the causes of increased IOS and to heal (chemically reduce with electron donation) oxidized biomolecules through the use of antioxidants, hormones and other interventions. Much documentation showing that the major cause of increased IOS is an excess of intracellular calcium as has been thoroughly presented elsewhere (see Death by Calcium by the same author). This current work lays out the case for magnesium as the natural antidote for that calcium excess.

Section One reveals copious evidence for magnesium’s unparalleled restorative and often curative power. Here the reader will be presented with the documented mechanisms by which magnesium works its magic, not only at the cellular level but also throughout various tissues and organ systems in the body.

Section Two provides a strategy for applying magnesium’s therapeutic powers in tandem with other interventions to achieve optimum health through prevention of further damage along with repair/reversal of existing damage.

We stand at the threshold of a new frontier in the practice of medicine that can lead to true health and wellness. Restoring oxidized biomolecules to the functional (reduced) state in combination with the prevention of chronically increased IOS provides real hope for reversing and even curing disease.

SECTION ONE:

The Evidence of Magnesium’s

Unparalleled Curative Power

1

Ignorance Has

Consequences

Why isn’t serum magnesium tested as a part of the routine laboratory profiles drawn by the vast majority health practitioners? Published research from the past few decades much more than justifies such tests, but most doctors are woefully unaware about the role this essential mineral nutrient plays in health and longevity. And now, the more recent research that is presented throughout this book indicates that regular monitoring of serum and intracellular magnesium levels is exponentially more important than ever imagined.

Essential Mineral Nutrient

Magnesium is the second most abundant cation (positively-charged ion) inside the cells of the body after potassium, and it is the fourth most abundant cation throughout the body. It is present in high concentrations in every metabolically active cell of the body, and, not surprisingly, it is essential for life as well as just good health.

Magnesium is an essential cofactor for hundreds of critical enzymes in the body, and it is known to be involved in roughly 80% of all the known metabolic functions in the body.¹,² When essential enzyme cofactors such as magnesium are significantly diminished in concentration and availability, the overall enzyme activity in an area of diminished cofactor concentration is significantly diminished as well.

Magnesium has been found to be critical for the metabolism of ATP (a critical molecule involved in the delivery and dissemination of energy in all the cells of the body). It is also required for protein, DNA, and RNA synthesis, as well as for the synthesis of fatty acids and for the conversion of vitamin D into its active hormone form in the body.³ Magnesium also plays a critical role in the production of glutathione, the most important and most concentrated antioxidant inside the cells of the body.⁴-7 Inside the cell, magnesium works to keep sodium and calcium levels lower and potassium levels higher.⁸ Arguably, there is no single molecule more critical for sustaining life and promoting health than magnesium. For example, few molecules are as critical as vitamin C. However, high doses of other antioxidants can partially compensate for an advanced deficiency of vitamin C. However, there are NO such even partially compensatory substitutes when magnesium is deficient. Only magnesium can alleviate the impact of a magnesium deficiency.

Magnesium is an essential cofactor for

hundreds of critical enzymes in the

body, and it is known to be involved

in roughly 80% of all the known

metabolic functions in the body.

...this unaddressed state of magnesium

deficiency is not only the origin of

many diseases, it reliably promotes and

further aggravates all known diseases.

Ironically, as essential as magnesium is, it is often referred to as the forgotten electrolyte, as clinicians continue to fail to realize its vital role in supporting optimal health in every tissue type and organ system of the body.⁹ When a serum magnesium level is clearly low, the clinician might start magnesium supplementation even though it should always be initiated in that situation. Since magnesium does most of its work inside the body’s cells, substantial body-wide deficiencies of magnesium are common even in the face of a normal serum magnesium level. And, much more often than not, this hidden deficiency remains unaddressed for the lifetime of the patient. As will be demonstrated in subsequent chapters, this unaddressed state of magnesium deficiency is not only the origin of many diseases, it reliably promotes and further aggravates all known diseases.

Body-Wide Impact

As will be discussed in much greater detail throughout the book, magnesium deficiencies have been associated with virtually all of the disease states that have been specifically studied for this relationship. Furthermore, many of the associated disease states substantially improve and sometimes even disappear upon a sufficient enough restoration of the depleted magnesium stores in the body. Some of the more significant conditions caused and/or worsened by magnesium deficiency include the following:

✓ Cardiovascular diseases (coronary and peripheral atherosclerosis, cardiac arrhythmias and QTc prolongation, hypertension, congestive heart failure; stroke)

✓ Metabolic syndrome

✓ Diabetes

✓ Chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia

✓ Kidney disease

✓ Osteoporosis and osteoarthritis

✓ COPD and asthma

✓ Calcium-containing stone formation anywhere in the body

✓ Preeclampsia and eclampsia

✓ Migraines and seizure disorders

✓ Depression and anxiety

✓ Dementias, neurodegenerative diseases, and seizure disorders

✓ Hearing loss

The Healing Mineral

Since magnesium is an important mineral in the structure of normal bone, most of the scientific literature that examines the relationship of magnesium to the support and promotion of good healing in general focuses on its ability to help heal bone fractures and promote bone growth.¹⁰-13 However, when the effects of magnesium on healing not related to the bone are examined, the effects are still consistently very positive. Just like insulin, which strongly promotes the transfer of magnesium from the extracellular to the intracellular space, magnesium supplementation by itself is a clear-cut healing agent.

Just like insulin, which strongly promotes

the transfer of magnesium from the

extracellular to the intracellular space,

magnesium supplementation by

itself is a clear-cut healing agent.

Magnesium serves as the most important calcium channel blocker in the body. It also appears to be a more general calcium antagonist and regulator of calcium metabolism.¹⁴-19 And since excess calcium in the body, particularly inside the cell, lies at the root of all pathophysiology, magnesium is and remains the perfect antidote to mitigate all diseases.

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial on diabetic patients with foot ulcers, daily oral supplementation with only 250 mg of magnesium oxide nevertheless showed substantial benefits in terms of ulcer size, glucose metabolism, plasma total antioxidant capacity, and C-reactive protein level.²⁰ Another similarly conducted trial that involved the same dose of magnesium oxide along with vitamin E produced much the same results on ulcer improvement, antioxidant capacity, lipid levels, C-reactive protein, and glucose control.²¹ In another randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, short infusions of magnesium directly before and during outpatient mastectomies both improved Quality of Recovery questionnaire scores and significantly reduced oral opioid doses post-procedure for pain control after discharge.²² Acute ischemic stroke patients recovered more quickly when given a 24-hour infusion of magnesium sulfate.²³ Intravenous magnesium in rabbits with burns was shown to decrease burn area, wound depth, healing time, and size of healed scar.²⁴ Animal and cell studies have also demonstrated this ability of magnesium to support good wound healing.²⁵,²⁶ Another animal study suggests that the early elevation of magnesium in wound fluid (along with a reduction in calcium level) is an activator of the important cell migratory response needed to initiate and sustain healthy healing.²⁷ Collectively, all of these studies logically indicate that any form of magnesium that eventually is able to raise intracellular magnesium levels and thereby lower intracellular oxidative stress will have a positive healing impact clinically.

Not surprisingly, there appears to be a

consistent linkage/relationship between

intracellular magnesium levels, glucose

metabolism, and glutathione, which are all

factors that positively impact increased

intracellular oxidative stress (increased IOS).

Not surprisingly, there appears to be a consistent linkage/relationship between intracellular magnesium levels, glucose metabolism, and glutathione, which are all factors that positively impact increased intracellular oxidative stress (increased IOS). Insulin increases intracellular glutathione levels, decreasing intracellular oxidative stress.²⁸ Glutathione administrations increase intracellular glutathione levels, and they also improve intracellular magnesium levels. In vivo infusions increased magnesium levels inside red blood cells, and in vitro glutathione addition substantially elevated intracellular magnesium levels.²⁹ All of these positive effects also appear to be directly supported by the ability of another important antioxidant, vitamin E, to improve the action of insulin.³⁰ Another study concluded that a lowered glutathione intracellular status (increased IOS) reduced insulin effect (sensitivity) but that improving the intracellular glutathione levels via intravenous infusion significantly increased insulin effect and total glucose uptake.³¹ Generally, a state of increased IOS inside the cells serves to worsen itself in a downhill positive feedback manner, until and if a direct intervention can break the cycle or at least slow it down (vitamin C, vitamin E, glutathione, magnesium administrations, etc.) by lessening that oxidative stress.

Diabetes and hypertension have long been observed to be diseases that frequently occur together, with substantial similarities