Positive Health Online

Multiple Sclerosis: Magnesium, Selenium, Iodine and Mercury Connection

by Mark Sircus Ac OMD

There is no disputing the fact that modern pharmaceutical medicine has not solved nor cured any of the modern chronic disease plagues that are morphing out of control into pandemics. What is going on in the areas of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, strokes and neurological disease is painting a horrific image of the failure of contemporary medicine, which seems unable to learn anything about what will make a difference for their patients. They are good to go with words of promise but they don't deliver and things are only getting worse in terms of public health.

It is difficult to treat any disease today without paying attention to the profound magnesium deficiencies that exist in nearly 100 percent of sufferers of chronic disease. We could easily say the same for bicarbonate and iodine, and when we pay attention to all three at the same time our work in helping people recover from their suffering and pain is greatly eased. This is especially true when it comes to neurological diseases.

The central nervous system is extremely sensitive and reacts to a combination of factors that allopathic doctors don't normally touch down on. Toxic exposures, nutritional deficiencies and emotional anguish converge most pointedly on the nervous system with often catastrophic results. As we will see below, one of the main disasters facing people today are wide ranging exposure to both mercury and aluminium; metals at the top of the list that cause neurological damage.

Toxic substances, such as mercury, which the body is chronically exposed to, accumulates in the brain, pituitary gland, CNS, liver, kidneys, etc. and can damage, inhibit, and cause imbalances at very low levels of exposure. Heavy metals can cause major neurological, immunological, and metabolic damage.

Each individual will be seen to have their own unique combination of neurological, endocrine, and enzymatic imbalances, along with autoimmunities that result from the above factors. Symptoms will vary, resulting in different differential diagnoses: multiple sclerosis (MS), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's Disease (AD), or Parkinson's Disease (PD), Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), and even rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

Multiple Sclerosis is difficult to address, both because the symptoms are so variable and treatments are often ineffective. This disease affects the central nervous system by damaging the myelin sheaths surrounding nerves of the brain and spinal cord. Primarily affecting teenagers and young adults of Northern European descent, the disorder begins between ages 10 and 50 in almost all affected individuals. About 400,000 people in the United States have MS; twice as many women as men.

Although the cause remains officially unknown, it is widely thought to begin as an autoimmune inflammation with magnesium deficiency at the core.  In studies it's been shown that there was a significantly lower value of magnesium than that seen in control cases. The most marked reduction of magnesium content was observed in CNS white matter including demyelinated plaques of MS samples.[1]

Magnesium protects the cells from aluminium, mercury, lead, cadmium, beryllium and nickel. Evidence is mounting that low levels of magnesium contribute to the heavy metal deposition in the brain that precedes Parkinson´s, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer´s. Research has shown that the symptoms of MS are very similar to Mercury poisoning.[2] Mercury is a primary cause of inflammation in our bodies. The rate of relapse in multiple sclerosis was found to be decreased with dietary magnesium supplementation.[3]

Magnesium deficiency causes and underpins chronic inflammatory build ups. Inflammation is the missing link to explain the role of magnesium in many pathological conditions. Dr Mazur says, "Magnesium deficiency contributes to an exaggerated response to immune stress and oxidative stress is the consequence of the inflammatory response."  Magnesium deficiencies feed the fires of inflammation and pain and it is magnesium that modulates cellular events involved in inflammation.  Increases in extracellular magnesium concentration cause a decrease in the inflammatory response, while reduction in the extracellular magnesium results in cell activation.

Magnesium is central to immunocompetence and plays a crucial role in natural and adaptive immunity.[4]

References

[1] Magnesium concentration in brains from multiple sclerosis patients. Acta Neurol. Scand Denmark  81 (3): 197-200. 1990.
[2] http://www.flcv.com/ms.html
[3] Multiple sclerosis: Decreased relapse rate through dietary supplementation with calcium, magnesium and vitamin D. Med. Hypotheses (UK). 21(2): 193-200. 1986.
[4] Mag Res. 5:281-93. 1992.

Mark Sircus Ac OMD
Director International Medical Veritas Association IMVA
http://publications.imva.info  
http://imva.info/index.php/2010/03/multiple-sclerosis/
Copyright (c) 2009 all rights reserved