# Magnesium Oxide ???Help - advice needed!



## cshaw (May 24, 2003)

How many of u have actually been told by a medical profesional that it is safe to take magnesium oxide on a daily basis as a laxative? I have been taking MgO regularly for the past few weeks and it has helped control C, but i'm worried that it may not be safe 2 take this in the long run, but i don't know what else 2 do? I asked my GP and they don't know. Can anyone advice me?


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## Cigarello (Jun 17, 2000)

Hi Carla: as far as whether Magnesium is safe or not you should do some research on the internet and find out some things about it; all i know is without mag supplements i wouldn't be able to go at all. nothing else helps; if a physician had told me 20 years ago when all of this started about mag supplements i could have saved my colon from all the abuse of stimulant laxatives and milk of magnesia which as you can tell from the name is magnesium based. the problem was i took it for 10 years and it made me ill and ruined my colon. I believe in using common sense and doing some research. I have been taking mag supplements ( 1000 mg daily with food) for three years. i have mag levels every year and check my kidney values (creatinine and BUN) because if you have abnormal kidneys you can't take magnesium because it won't clear from your system. Have you tried anything else that works for you like Miralax? this doesn't help me and as I said only mag supplements do so i will continue to take them and pray the supplements continue to work and that my kidneys stay healthy. Have you tried stool softeners like Docsuate sodium or colace? I tried those and they didn't work for me but they are mild and may help you. Good luck.


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## cshaw (May 24, 2003)

Hi, thanx 4 your reply - U said Milk of Magnesia is a stimulant laxative, well thats magnesium oxide dissolved in water. Thats the magnesium i've been taking! It's only recently i've changed 2 Magnesium Oxide pills. Does this mean i am abusing my colon? I have tried ordinary magnesium, but that doesn't do anything. What sort of magnesium is it that u are taking? Please reply!


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## honichou (Jun 30, 2002)

My gastroenterologist, who is at New York University Medical Center, doesn't have a problem with magnesium. He said that it's safe and that it's been used for hundreds of years. He'd prefer that I be on Zelnorm, but Zelnorm keeps pooping out, so to speak, and I have to go off it for many months before I can try it again. Right now, I take 1,200 mg of magnesium oxide a day. I try to bring it down to below 1000 mg, but I take a lot of medecines that are constipating in their own right.My doctor actually wants me on Citrucel (at night), Miralax, and magnesium. I don't like the Miralax very much. The magnesium and Citrucel work pretty well.Magnesium does two things: it is an osmotic - it brings water into the bowel; and it causes contractions of the lower bowel. I have resigned myself to the fact that I have a motility problem, and this stuff works and seems to be innocuous. When I go back on Zelnorm, I'll try to stop the mag.I hope this helps.Steven


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## painter (Aug 20, 2003)

Steven...did your doctor recommend taking any supplements/vitamins from possibly washing out nutrients with the Mag?


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## Cigarello (Jun 17, 2000)

Hi: i should have clarified a point: milk of magnesia is not a stimulant laxative it is an osmotic but i took it every day and i took a large dose and because of this my colon became "lazy" if you will and doesn't function normally; any time you take any laxative frequently you risk dependence and your colon won't work without it; however, magnesium supplements are not a large a dose as MOM. As i said before if doctors had told me about mag supplements i would have probably saved myself from 20 years of dependence on large doses of magnesium hydroxide and wouldn't have ruined my colon. my internist who is otherwise a great guy, just said i could take MOM every day and it wouldn't hurt me- well, that is not altogether true; magnesium supplements seem like a really good thing to take without resorting to nasty laxatives. However, one should always try the more natural things first before resorting to any type of medication. For me, absolutely nothing works and if mag supplements didn't work i would probably have to have my colon removed, that's how bad it is.


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## Cigarello (Jun 17, 2000)

I forgot to tell you I use Magnesium citrate pills which i get at the health food store; they are 200 mg pills and i take 5 a day. Mag oxide pills work for many people but they don't work as good for me as mag citrate.


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## cshaw (May 24, 2003)

Is Magnesium Citerate an osmotic laxative 2?


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## honichou (Jun 30, 2002)

Painter,My doctor never recommended that I take anything with the magnesium. I take a multi-vitamin primarily because I take anti-convulsants.Steven


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## Tiss (Aug 22, 2000)

I also take 1000mg of mag citrate (5 capsules) a day. It works best for me than other kinds of magneisum.


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## cshaw (May 24, 2003)

Is Magnesium Citrate safer than Magnesium oxide?


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## Tiss (Aug 22, 2000)

I don't think that either one is harmful.


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