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The test ranges are not that informative for serum magnesium.

Very low and very high levels, are useful with blood work, but the middle ranges can still be deceptive, and you could still need more.

When you get laxative action, that shows that the mag is not being absorbed, and is acting like a laxative.

You could add in a topical form, lotion, or cream.

Kirkman cream (on the net)

Epsom-It (on the net)

or CVS epsom lotion if your CVS still has it. (They stopped offering this wonder lotion because of poor sales response-- which is sad..and reflective of how poorly educated the US consumer base is about magnesium).

I rub mine on the pain/swelling areas, and also on my arms concentrating on the under portion and wrist where the skin is the thinnest. I find topical works very well for me. A nickel sized dollop on each arm...

You might find additional improvements this way.

I went to Walgreens and CVS. They dont have the product. At Walgreens, the pharmacist does not even know about magnesium lotion!!! At CVS, the sales clerk has not heard about it either.

Amazon carries Epsom-It Body Rub, Epsom-It Salt Body Rub Therapy and Kirkman's Magnesium Sulfate Cream. Prices are all $19.99 each. Epsom-It products are both in 10 oz while Kirkman's is 4 oz. Another site called Healthy.kin is selling the Epsom-It at $11.95 each. I wonder why Healthy.kin's price is so low.

Which kind of Epsom-It do you recommend?

Thank you.

Can you please expand on this? I used to take MOM for heartburn, but had to discontinue due to the laxative type of effect. Are there other types of tests?

Epsom-It:

Both types have the magnesium. It appears that the foot lotion has a fragrance and the body lotion does not.

http://www.epsomit.com/products.html

Myself, I'd go for the body rub... too many other ingredients in the foot lotion.

The form of magnesium in Milk of Magnesia is magnesium hydroxide, and not well absorbed into the blood stream.

Various types of magnesium have different absorption potential.
This is called bioavailability.

There are special tests for intracellular nutrient content. Special labs like Spectracell do these tests.

Typical medical testing only shows serum content, not the content inside cells.

more here:
http://www.easy-immune-health.com/magnesium-level.html

Because of taking Oxycontin and Oxycodone (percocet) have terrible constipation. For over a year now, I have been taking about 2 tbls. daily of Phillips Milk of Magnesia. I wasn't sure if this was adding to my having additional magnesium in my system. If I understand what you are saying, this is not adding anything extra to my bloodstream. I had wondered if this might be overdoing the magnesium.

Gerry

You may be absorbing a little bit of magnesium from the MOM,
but it won't be much.

The amount absorbed from magnesium oxide is about 4% in studies.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11794633

Mrs D,
my Epsom-It lotion arrived yesterday. Will it affects the absorption of my other medications just like when you take magnesium orally?

Thank you.

Applying to the skin will not affect anything taken orally.

I too have had success with Ionic fizz (thankyou mrs. D.) However I am concerned about the sugar content. Last time I went from the rasberry to the citris and have it with skim milk and a drop of vanila extract. Yummy. I also often use ebson salts.