Active Elements Mineral Therapy

I had a diet of almost strictly red meat for 2 months thinking I was doing the right thing to increase ferritin levels. I also was taking large doses of iron. Both of these factors have caused me to become magnesium deficient. I am so deficient that eating meat protein even once or taking calcium supplements causes all the classic symptoms: heart racing, anxiousness, numb extrematies, muscle cramps, etc...
I am afraid of high supplementing with magnesium because I don't want to create a deficiency in my other minerals like I did with the iron.
How can I supplement safely?
Lorie, USA

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Lorie,

The problem with taking pharmaceutical iron supplements is they are not necessarily the form of iron that is found within the body - Iron Phosphate (FePO4). Nothing else. It just does not make sense to pump into the body forms of iron, such as chelated iron, that the body simply is not designed for. While heaps may enter the body, bumping up the amount on the blood tests, one must question just how much is taken into the cells where the real action happens. Is this foreign iron chemical toxic?

You are right that too much of one thing can cause a real or relative deficiency of another, in this case your magnesium. Again, it is bad chemistry to add a magnesium supplement that is not naturally found in the cells of the body. In this case, the form of magnesium that the body uses is Magnesium Phosphate (MgPO4). Nothing else.

There is also a danger in taking in large hits of any kind of supplement. These may overwhlem the body and it depserately tries to discard the excess. In the process, what is in the cells may be further depleted. It is best to dribble the mineral into the body in tiny, frequent amounts over a long period of time - months, if not always.

The best way to go about balancing your mineral salts (All 12 of them) is to first find out what of the 12 you most need and which you need the least of. Please complete the Active Elements Assessment. When you do so, please tell me in the text box about any health issues, medications and supplements being taken and why, tell me about your activity history and give a diet recall of everything you have eaten and drunk over the previous 24 hours.

A course of tissue salts replenishment and a balanced diet may be all that is needed to get you back on the road to peak health and fitness.

Do you have a question?
Email Gary: gary at myotec.co.nz (Replace the "at" with @ and remove spaces). Please include any relevant background information to your question.