Magnesium and Diabetic Neuropathy

Magnesium is necessary for the
 production, function & transport of insulin.

Magnesium is known to be necessary for nerve conduction; deficiency is known to cause peripheral neuropathy symptoms and studies suggest that a deficiency in magnesium may worsen blood glucose control in type 2 diabetes. Scientists believe that a deficiency of magnesium interrupts insulin secretion in the pancreas and increases insulin resistance in the body's tissues.

Magnesium deficiency played a role in the constriction of arteries and enhanced injury to the cellular tissues lining the blood vessels.  Peripheral artery disease, or peripheral vascular disease, refers to diseases of the arteries and veins of the extremities, especially atherosclerosis with narrowing of the arteries. This opens the door to the development and progression of atherosclerosis and sets the stage for the development of neurological events such as strokes. These same conditions set the stage for the development of peripheral diabetic neuropathy. [i] This entire scenario described here also sets the stage for the development of peripheral neuropathy even when diabetes is not present.  

A recent analysis showed that people with higher dietary intakes of magnesium (through consumption of whole grains, nuts, and green leafy vegetables) had a decreased risk of type 2 diabetes.[ii] Magnesium has potentially beneficial effects at several key steps of glucose and insulin metabolism. In animal studies, dietary magnesium supplementation can prevent fructose-induced insulin resistance and elevations of blood pressure in rats. [iii]

Magnesium deficiency is associated with insulin
 resistance and increased platelet reactivity.

An abstract from Disorders of Magnesium Metabolism [iv] concludes, “Magnesium depletion is more common than previously thought. It seems to be especially prevalent in patients with diabetes mellitus. It is usually caused by losses from the kidney or gastrointestinal tract. A patient with magnesium depletion may present with neuromuscular symptoms, hypokalemia, hypocalcemia, or cardiovascular complication. Physicians should maintain a high index of suspicion for magnesium depletion in patients at high risk and should implement therapy early.”

A separate Gallup survey (in 1995) of 500 adults with diabetes
 reported that 83 percent of those with diabetes are consuming
 insufficient magnesium from food, with many by significant margins. [v]

Diabetic neuropathy and other complications of diabetes are made worse as a result of concurrent magnesium deficiency.  Magnesium is known to be deficient in over 68% of the US population, and more so in diabetics who waste magnesium more than others when blood sugars are out of control. Up to 80% of type 2 diabetics have a magnesium deficiency.[vi] Children labeled "pre diabetic" (now 41 million) are in great need of magnesium, which has been linked to preventing the development of type 2 diabetes.[vii]   In a series of papers, Dr. L. M. Resnick has shown in the test tube that an increase in glucose in the fluid leads to the release and/or displacement, of Magnesium from the red blood cells, thus in the body hyperglycemia, high blood sugar, will cause a total body Magnesium deficiency. [viii]

A more recent study shows us that “Serum magnesium depletion is present and shows a strong relationship with foot ulcers in subjects with type 2 diabetes and foot ulcers, a relationship not previously reported.” Hypomagnesemia is associated with the development of neuropathy and abnormal platelet activity, both of which are risk factors for the progression of ulcers of the feet.[ix]

Lower serum magnesium levels are associated
 with more rapid decline of renal function.

Thus we can expect to find that magnesium can be used to prevent and treat both diabetes and the complications that come from it including severe peripheral neuropathy. Dr. S. E. Browne makes a strong case for intravenous magnesium treatment of arterial disease and has used magnesium sulphate in his general practice for over three decades. “Magnesium sulphate (MgSO4) in a 50% solution was injected initially intramuscularly and later intravenously into patients with peripheral vascular disease (including gangrene, claudication, leg ulcers and thrombophlebitis), angina, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), non-haemorrhagic cerebral vascular disease and congestive cardiac failure. A powerful vasodilator effect with marked flushing was noted after intravenous (IV) injection of 4-12 mmol of magnesium (Mg) and excellent therapeutic results were noted in all forms of arterial disease.” [x]

Dr. Herbert Mansmann Jr., Director of the Magenesium Research Lab,[xi]   who is a diabetic with congenital magnesium deficiency and severe peripheral neuropathy, shares that he was able to reverse the neuropathy and nerve degeneration with a year of using oral magnesium preparations at very high doses. “For example it took me 6 tabs of each of the following every 4 hours, Maginex, MgOxide, Mag-Tab SR and Magonate to get in positive Mg balance. I tell people this not to scare them, but to illustrate how much I needed to saturate myself. Most will only need 10% of this amount. I was doing an experiment on myself to see if it helped my diabetic neuropathy. It worked so I did it for one year, and I have had significant nerve regeneration. I could never have been able to do this with MgSO4 baths (Epsom Salt), since I could not get into and out of a bath tub” [xii]

“I was saturated at about 3 grams of elemental Mg per day, but went to 20 grams for over a year. I now take 5 grams, and stools are semi-formed, and the surrounding water is clear, 3-4 per day.”  “Mg is very safe, since the gut absorption is regulated by serum Mg levels, and then the Mg stays in the gut and results in varying degrees of diarrhea. Then the dose is too high. Want soft semi-formed stools. Mine, while on high dosages of magnesium were liquid every 2-4 hours for 2 years, the electrolytes every month were normal, but for low potassium, part of my urinary Mg wasting, both,” wrote Mansmann.

Dr. Mansmann concludes, “I have had diabetic neuropathy for over 10 years. The most significant symptom is my neuropathic pain of burning feet, called erythromelalgia. With the aid of Mg I can completely suppress the symptom, but if my blood glucose level is acutely elevated, because of a dietary indiscretion, the pain flares in spite of an apparent adequate dose of Mg. It goes away with extra Mg gluconate (Magonate) in an hour or so in either case. Without the Mg it will last for six plus hours, even though the blood glucose level is normal in about two hours.” “It is my belief that every one with diabetes should be taking Mg supplementation to the point of one’s Maximum Tolerated Dose, which is until one has soft-semi, formed stools. In addition, anyone with neuropathy, without a known cause, must be adequately evaluated for diabetes and especially those with poorly, slowly, healing foot sores of any kind. Since the use of Mg is safe I see no reason that this should not be “the standard of care”. [xiii]

Conclusion

Prolonged use of Magnesium will prevent
chronic complications from diabetes. [xiv]

“The current “party line” on this subject is not universally accepted, but many of us believe the establishment is too conservative and will some day change. While admitting its importance, for some unknown reason they remain reluctant to recommend magnesium supplements. They just do not know how poor the American diet is in Mg and the frequency of magnesium deficiency” says Dr. Mansmann. [xv]

Poorly controlled diabetes increases loss of magnesium in urine.

It would be prudent for physicians who treat diabetic patients to consider magnesium deficiency as a contributing factor in many diabetic complications and as a main factor in exacerbation of the disease itself. Recent research from many sources suggests that magnesium for the treatment of diabetes should be paramount in physicians’ minds.  The most recent example, after only 8 weeks of oral magnesium, thermal hyperalgesia was normalized and plasma magnesium and glucose levels were restored towards normal in rats. [xvi]

Repletion of the deficiency with transdermal magnesium chloride mineral therapy [xvii] is the ideal way of administering magnesium in medically therapeutic doses. Such treatments will, in all likelihood, help avoid or ameliorate such complications as diabetic peripheral neuropathy, arrhythmias, hypertension, and sudden cardiac death and will even improve the course of the diabetic condition in general. [xviii]

Once doctors, primary healthcare providers and the public are made aware of the role of magnesium in diabetes there will be no excuse to not increase public magnesium consumption, which can even be added to water supplies [xix] instead of poisonous fluoride [xx] and dangerous statins [xxi] , [xxii] , [xxiii] which are also known to cause peripheral neuropathy with long term use. During a stroke or heart attack it would be cruel, medically incompetent and life threatening to not use magnesium chloride or magnesium sulfate immediately.  The same kind of treatment that saves lives in dramatic life threatening situations is urgently needed in the treatment of diabetes and diabetic neuropathy.

 Incredible as it seems, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in Missouri are currently evaluating BOTOX® injections to help treat foot ulcers.[xxiv] Botox injections are a diluted form of botulism that will paralyze the specified muscle area.  Botulinum toxin is made by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum. The bacteria themselves (and their spores) are harmless, but the toxin is considered one of the most lethal known poisons, one that has been a principle agent in biological warfare.[xxv] It binds to nerve endings where they join muscles, leading to weakness or paralysis. Recovery from botulism occurs when the nerves grow new endings, which can take months, according to the FDA.[xxvi] Choosing highly toxic options has no medical merit when there are infinitely safer treatments like magnesium chloride that is so safe that it helps prevent the development of foot ulcers and diabetic neuropathy in the first place. 

And if Botox injections are not absurd enough “Maggot Therapy” is on the rise again. Maggot therapy was the standard treatment for healing wounds in the 1930s. Maggots are placed in the wounds and used to digest the necrotic tissues that prevent healing. Medicinal maggots produce enzymes that dissolve dead tissue on a wound, disinfect the wound, and stimulate the production of granulation tissue.[xxvii] Maggot therapy is promoted at the point of no return, when all else has failed to heal wounds and infections, before amputation is done. Medically things would rarely progress to this point if magnesium chloride is used in prevention and treatment of such problems. Magnesium chloride has the added advantage over other magnesium forms in that it is antiseptic as well as cytophilactic.

Rapid increase of magnesium stores are necessary
 in some cases and may be lifesaving for diabetics
 as they are for other patients in emergency rooms.

Preventative effects of magnesium may go a long way to protecting the children of the future from early onset of both diabetes and the complications that come from it. The safety profile of magnesium chloride is extraordinary compared to today’s pharmaceutical drugs. It is only with severe renal insufficiency that problems have been observed with magnesium treatments. The elderly are at risk of magnesium toxicity only because of possible decreased renal function so caution is necessary.  

Special Note: While Dr. Mansmann makes a strong case for high doses of magnesium, it cannot be ignored that GLA has also been recognized for it's ability to stop and/or reverse peripheral neuropathy and is endorsed by Dr. Atkins, of the famous Atkins diet, which many diabetics follow. Dr. Atkins says, “Science has established rather conclusively that GLA halts the otherwise inevitable advance of nerve damage caused by diabetes. GLA helps the nerves to heal. As one study of 111 patients showed, people with either form of diabetes, Type I or Type II, can benefit, using a dose as small as 480 mg of GLA per day.[xxviii] Other research suggests that the fatty acid may even prevent the nerve deterioration from starting up.[xxix] Some kind of abnormality in fatty acid metabolism is very likely involved in the development of diabetic complications and maybe even the development of diabetes itself. People who have the disease seem unable to make GLA from dietary fats and therefore may suffer from an insufficiency of PGE1, (Prostaglandin E1, a beneficial hormone-like compound). Coincidentally enough, this substance can potentiate the work of insulin and exerts insulin like actions of its own. Therefore diabetics need all the PGE1 that GLA can help them make.”

In later chapters we present spirulina as another basic natural medicine ideal for diabetics as it is for almost all people. Spirulina is very high in both magnesium and GLA.