I had no idea that's why Milk of Magnesia is called that. Hope it keeps working and you can go back to coffee too.

You can also use Magnesium to start fires with a spark.

This gun's for hire, even if we're just dancing in the dark.

Very few things will turn a spark into a flame. But honestly if you're carrying a piece of magnesium to shave fine bits off of to catch a spark to light a fire, you may as well but a Zippo. You aren't fooling anyone.

But s/b buy.

Headaches are one of those things that we just don't understand well. What annoys me with the conspiracy "do you own research" stuff is when it's ignoring stuff we actually do understand well. I feel like for headaches anything short of homeopathy is fair game.

I did get one of the worst headaches of my life the 3 days I tried ADHD stimulants. I'm not too interested in trying them again, there wasn't a clear improvement, and I hate the idea of being on medication I can't travel internationally with. I have been thinking about trying some of the ADHD antidepressant stuff, but unsurprisingly haven't gotten around to asking about it.

Also they made a big deal about how I couldn't use marijuana while taking them and that I was subject to random drug tests. And it's not yet legal here so I don't smoke often, but it just felt really invasive and unpleasant to agree to that.

I didn't know you couldn't travel internationally with ADHD meds!

They're too slow. You need a plane.

Then why do they call it speed?

Marketing.

Pumpkin seeds are chock-full of magnesium-- an ounce has 168 mg.
I always find seeds in salads rather irritating because they all seem to fall through to the bottom but I've been pureeing them in smoothies, stirring them into omelets and I am about to try them in curry.

5: "Buy honestly if you're carrying a piece of magnesium..."

Good advice.

There's this public radio show called "The People's Pharmacy" - I don't know how widely it gets distributed (originates in a state neighboring mine so might be local-ish?) and they do a pretty good job riding that line between science and woo. I have come around to the viewpoint that without conspiracy thinking, there may be quite a few folk remedies that have value but have not been thoroughly tested because double-blind RCTs are expensive and you're not going to recoup your investment if it's milk of magnesia (which you can't patent). I wonder if they've covered the science of magnesium and headaches at some point. Though if you're already reading meta analyses you might be ahead of their show, which is formatted as interviews with experts, or "experts". Anyway, I hope it keeps working for you and if we're ever stuck in the jungle and need someone to shave magnesium off of we know who to start with, so watch out.

Magnesium is used in mainstream medicine to treat pre-eclampsia. The threonate one is super expensive. I think magnesium malate is less of a laxative and cheaper than the threonate.

I get fewer twitchy eyes if I take magnesium, and Tim has found it helps prevent muscle cramps (Charley horses).

6: Re: homeopathy. I bought something from Boiron, one of the major homeopathic companies and felt vaguely bad about it, but I was looking for something with calendula, because I used to have a calendula/chamaomile/helichrysum essential oil product that took away the pain of burns fast. So this is technically homeopathic and "regulated" by the FDA as such , but the dilution is 1x which means it has 10% calendula. And I think the calendula is an effective active ingredient.

So I just googled. 1x means that it is the first extraction from the natural substance, but the label said that it was 10% concentration. The ointment was 4%, and maybe that was also 1X.

7: Drug tests not required around here.

In Italy they call that extra virgin calendula.

14: Googled it and they had an article from March 1, 2022.

I also found this on its use as an adjunct for depression treatment. And I have seen neurologists recommend it.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201801/magnesium-depression

Also - heebie, now that you are taking the magnesium, does that mean that you can tolerate the stimulants AND coffee?

You can put Milk of Magnesia in coffee.

Well, it's only been 6 days with the magnesium, so I want to give it a bit more time, and also maybe get up to a normal dose of stimulants. But I'm hoping coffee is in my future.

Also I think Austin has a People's Pharmacy. I wonder if it's connected to the show.

We'll be at 20 posts on the front page once she's on coffee plus speed.

And the magnesium will keep the shit flowing.

Partly on your example, Heebie, I finally went to a psychiatrist to get stimulants for what I think is my obvious ADHD. And ....... they don't fucking do anything for me! I feel so cheated! How am I the only person on the entire internet who can take 20 milligrams of amphetamines every 4 hours without evident change to my mental processes? The psychiatrist said that if I really had ADHD then that amount would do at least something, so there was no point in keeping on with it. I really don't think that a pharmaceutical solution to all my problems is so much to ask for.

I've decided that when I experience attention problems it's because people around me should try harder to be interesting.

Check your pockets, Brodys, you've been ROBBED.

The psychiatrist said that if I really had ADHD then that amount would do at least something, so there was no point in keeping on with it.

Also, fwiw, this is NOT what my psychiatrist says. He likes to start people off with a higher dose (I guess it depends what you were on) in order to slightly wallop them and make sure they can tell if it's helping or not. (I actually see a husband and wife team. She is not so keen on the walloping-them approach, and prefers to walk the dose up slowly, looking for side effects. But neither of them throw in the towel on a low dose. OTOH, maybe yours wasn't a low dose.)

It depends on the country, many countries it's ok if you have the right documentation, but the rules as strict and some countries are a pretty hard no. (And not just the obvious Singapore/UAE places, also Japan!)

26: I've been diagnosed with ADHD, and one of the common meds did absolutely nothing for me whatsoever (no effect even at a high dose), but other meds seem to help.

I've been taking magnesium megadoses (measured in grams, not mgs) for several months now because some anonymous conspiracy-tinged Twitter account suggested it using science-adjacent words that seemed convincing mostly because they were technical beyond my comprehension. I am not aware of it having any effect for me, good or bad, but it's cheap and seems harmless so I've kept it up. I have not experienced diarrhea. Or not much.

Urple!

It's really hard to avoid all diarrhea without careful attention to eating only non-expired food.

I really don't think that a pharmaceutical solution to all my problems is so much to ask for.

Let me be the first to recommend megadosing weed.

Urple!

Speaking of random internet advice, I saw one of those content ads with cooking advice that said to not crack eggs on an edged surface, but rather to crack them on a flat surface like a counter. As a regular eater of eggs over-easy, this turns out to be life-changing guidance, although it hasn't had any impact on whether I get headaches.

Maybe it doesn't technically solve any problems, but it does help you forget what was bothering you in the first place.

Yes. It really does crack eggs better.

"This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?"

"Yes. Should I use a flat surface?"

I showed my students the "this is your brain on drugs" commercial, and they couldn't believe it was a real thing.

Just tell them "We had better drugs back then."

When everyone was otherwise occupied in December 2020, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs rescheduled cannabis to Schedule IV, meaning it's no longer a violation of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs to legalize it - medically, at least. Recreational may be next though.

(Apparently there was also a regulation to completely remove CBD from the treaty as long as it contained

Correction: to remove it from Schedule IV.

Oh yes, less-than signs. There was also a recommendation to completely remove CBD as long as it contained <2% THC. This was rejected as many member states believe that is already not covered by the treaty.

Everyone is saying stuff about CBD oil, but I'm waiting for the research to come back on Ketamine for the treatment of having to put up with too much interpersonal and world historical stress.

I was on ADHD medication, some generic amphetamine if I remember correctly, for a few months. I noticed a little improvement in my issues with concentration, stick-to-it-iveness, etc., and a big increase in my anxiety. I never had an episode where I could definitely say, "I now know what an anxiety attack feels like", but I got close several times. I found some behavioral therapy/coaching/guidance helpful enough for the ADHD-like issues, so I just dropped the medication rather than trying to adjust it to deal with the side effects.

All this happened in late 2018 and early 2019, so, of course, anxiety has been normalized since then. Maybe I should look into ADHD medication again!

I'm on ADHD meds. All the classes have worked for me as stimulants, but some have had worse side effects. Vyvanse is my sweet spot. My daughter's too, so maybe there's a genetic component. Anecdotally, I know lots of folks who had no-to-minimal effect from one class of stimulants and good experiences with another.

Wellbutrin also helps, and I can take a lower Vyvanse dose when I'm on Wellbutrin, but it doesn't completely replace stimulants for me.

And I really can't do coffee and stimulants on the same day, mostly because I get very anxious. But I sometimes drink coffee instead of stimulants on the weekends, because I like coffee.

I'm anxious fairly often but I think it's mostly because of like things that happen. When things stop happening, the anxiety goes away.

I take magnesium supplements daily, because my doctor suggested them as a migraine preventative. My migraines haven't gotten any better, but I'm still taking the pills because my doctor's other suggestions (elimination diet; keeping a detailed diary of my diet, exercise, sleep, stress and menstrual cycle) were way more onerous and this was the only recommendation I was willing to follow through on. I've been taking oxide or citrate, though. She never mentioned threonate. She's actually not a very good doctor.

How often do you have migraines? My mom had 2-3 a month while I was growing up and I really don't know how she managed.

Wellbutrin also helps, and I can take a lower Vyvanse dose when I'm on Wellbutrin, but it doesn't completely replace stimulants for me.

This is an intriguing idea.

There was someone here a few years ago (Clytie, I think?) wholeheartedly endorsing magnesium, I think for depression? I love when folks do their own little medical experiments, even more when they turn out well! Thanks for posting about it, heebie!

Potassium is best for depression, I think. You chuck it in some water and it zooms around on the surface emitting a bright purple flame. Always cheers me up.