Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Magnesium and Thym-Adren Part 2

Dr. J is back. 
I posted the question on Facebook's Magnesium Advocacy Group:
Why can't I take magnesium and Thym-Adren together?
  I got some good answers.  Thym-Adren is a thymus glandular with a small amount of adrenal substance and several synergistic minerals (zinc, copper, C, manganese, calcium).  The thymus gland is strongly connected to the immune system and is a direct antagonist to the adrenal gland.  If a patient is a fast oxidizer (excess thyroid/adrenals), the thymus gland is likely to be under-active and vice versa.  That makes a lot of sense to me.  I used to get terrible sinus infections every winter but when I take the Thym-Adren, I almost never get sick.  If left untreated, my tissue sodium level (assoc. w/ adrenal function) would skyrocket above 100, maybe even as high as 150 (ideal is 25).  That is a severe imbalance and likely means that the thymus gland is severely under-active.  That explains why I feel so much better on Thym-Adren.  As the thymus gets stronger, it suppresses the adrenals and thus lowers the tissue sodium nicely and actually normalized within 3 months.  The problem is that it does little to help the magnesium deficiency.  After several months on mega Thym-Adren, the magnesium deficiency became more problematic than the adrenal issue.

As for the magnesium, if taken with calcium in the proper ratio, it is better than leaving it untreated.  It's like tapping or covering the brakes when going down a steep hill.  It may prevent the sodium from going out of control but will likely lower it only to 80-100 range, which is still severely unbalanced.  Moreover, it does little to help with the under-active thymus gland.  So, given the choice between having a sodium/magnesium ratio of 30/2 vs 90/4, it is the former that is preferable.

So, why can't I take the two of them together and get a good ratio of 30/4, which would be considered near normal and possibly even better for an athlete.  Magnesium supposedly "neutralizes" adrenaline.  Thus, the suppressed adrenal glandular activity from the thymus plus lowered neurotransmitter adrenaline from the magnesium is apparently too much. Hence, the fatigue and malaise has been so prevalent the last few weeks.  That may not make sense to my readers but it does make sense to me. 

Where to go from here?
Top priority is to get the tissue sodium down.  I've done it before and I can do it again by taking mega Thym-Adren consistently.  I will lay off the magnesium for the time being but will try to increase my intake in my diet (more nutty protein bars, peanut butter, limit sugar, caffeine, alcohol).  That said, I do expect that when the sodium normalizes, the Mag issues will flare up again.  When that happens, I have some options:
1) Take the Mag only on an as needed basis in sporadic fashion as symptoms appear.  I can take both temporarily but fatigue and malaise set in after a few weeks on both.  When that happens, I stop the Mag again and the cycle repeats itself.
2) Find a formula that I can tolerate in which I take lowered doses of both Mag+Thym-Adren every day (ex. 4 Thym-Adren+250 Mag) instead of large doses of 1 or the other.  This is the preferred option.  I want to be stable more than anything else in the world.
3) Add another pill such as ADHS that gently increases adrenaline, which may increase my Mag tolerance.  It's iffy that this option works but I should get a clear YES or NO within a few days.
   I expect to be on all Thym-Adren for the next 2 months and expect to improve steadily.  Around Thanksgiving when the Mag deficiency does flare up, all 3 options are worth a try.

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