Talk to your doctor to determine the best form of magnesium for preventing or treating your migraines.
There are several ways to use magnesium for migraines. Magnesium can help relax the muscles, which may reduce the duration of an attack and restore a person to a calmer state. Magnesium is thought to block the transmission of pain signals in the nervous system, helping to reduce the amount of pain a person perceives during a migraine attack. Migraine auras have been linked with a neurological phenomenon that magnesium is thought to correct. The aura phase of migraine, which can cause visual and physical phenomena, affects 5 percent of adults with migraines. Magnesium helps the body metabolize glutamate, as well as nitric oxide, both of which are thought to potentially play a role in migraine. The body needs magnesium to form neurotransmitters - chemicals that transmit messages across nerve cells throughout the body. Formation and Metabolism of Substances in the Body Following are several qualities of the mineral that make it effective in preventing and treating migraine attacks. Magnesium has been used to treat migraines for a long time. If you want to know whether you are magnesium-deficient, you can ask your doctor to test your levels. As its name suggests, this test measures the levels of magnesium found in a person’s red blood cells. The best available way of determining a person’s magnesium levels is with a magnesium RBC test, also known as a magnesium blood test. Our bodies use just what’s needed and store the rest in these locations. Measuring magnesium levels in the body is difficult because most of the mineral is stored in cells and bone. How Can You Know if You’re Magnesium Deficient? This involves developing a reliable means of measuring levels of magnesium in the body, which is currently not available. Ultimately, it is possible that magnesium deficiency plays a role in migraine, but further research needs to be conducted. Others propose that general stress causes excessive secretion of magnesium, thereby lowering magnesium levels and causing a migraine. Some suggest that stress caused by migraines leads to over-excretion of magnesium. Other studies have hypothesized the reason for low magnesium levels among people with migraines.
In comparison, those that experienced migraine attacks but weren’t deficient in RBC magnesium did not find relief.
In another study, people who were deficient in red blood cell (RBC) magnesium and received magnesium infusions for their migraine attacks also found relief. After increasing these levels, the individuals found relief. In one of his studies, Mauskop observed that people who did not get relief from a popular and effective migraine medication had low levels of magnesium in the blood. Alexander Mauskop, a leading researcher in migraines, has helped shed light on the role of magnesium deficiency in the occurrence of migraines. However, reliably measuring magnesium levels in the body can be difficult, which makes proving that hypothesis challenging.ĭr. Researchers and scientists have long theorized that magnesium deficiency plays a role in the development of migraines. Does Magnesium Deficiency Play a Role in the Development of Migraines?
Before making changes to your migraine-care regimen, including boosting your magnesium intake, be sure to talk with your doctor or health care provider.