Safely prescribing supplements

I bet you’ve heard at some point to just take X and you will feel better.

A super common one is magnesium (which, for the record is involved in 300 reactions in the body - and has a huge usage and demand when we are stressed - so this makes a lot of sense).

So, you go off to the chemist to get some magnesium and you may or may not notice any changes.

The thing is though- there are a few things that we need to consider.

Firstly Dose:

Each body is different, so will need different amounts of each nutrient in order to work.

More is not always better (and in the case of magnesium, you will generally get diarrhoea if you take too much at once).

Next Form:

The form of nutrients is super important.

Magnesium commonly comes as Magnesium Oxide from the chemist- which is just a filler, and doesn’t have any major therapeutic use.

When I say form, I’m talking about it’s second name (or surname, if you will). There’s also magnesium bisglycinate, magnesium citrate, magnesium lactate, magnesium chloride etc.

Each of them serve a different purpose inside the body.

Not always spoken about is Sensitivity:

Your body may be more or less sensitive than someone around you. If your body is more sensitive, you might need less to get more results - or if your body is less sensitive, you may need more.

Doses on the label are Conservative:

Generally speaking (though I wouldn’t take this as a blanket rule), the doses on the label at the chemist are at a level where they aren’t going to interact with medications. Which is very safe, but you might not notice any changes because of this.

Interactions with other nutrients and medications:

All nutrients and herbs can interact with (AKA fight with and change the function of) other medications and supplements.

For example- zinc and iron operate on the same receptor- so giving both of these supplements at the same time is likely to render the dose null and void.

Or liver herbs might make medication exit your body faster (therefore meaning your medication can’t work in the way it’s supposed to).

I love to see people starting to really take empowered steps with their health.

But a part of this is learning and growing and understanding how much information there is to understand.

A lot of clients I have worked with can now use nutrients in a functional way to get rid of symptoms- but it takes time to get to this.

If in doubt, always contact a health professional who has studied the nutritional space so you can be mighty comfortable with your choice.