The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Magnesium
Posted by Mana_olana (Bremerton, Wa) on 04/09/2010
★★★★★
Magnesium 'citrate' really helps me have a more regular BM. I take medications and have not been regular. It also relaxes you just a bit before bedtime, nothing heavy. I am very happy w/ the results. Found it in powder form at health food store, mix with four oz hot water, drink as a tea.
Magnesium
Posted by Joyce (Joelton, Tn) on 06/28/2009 490 posts
The more popular types of magnesium for constipation is the liquid magnesium citrate or another liquid called Milk of Magnesium.
But dietary changes to include more fiber and water is the best way to rid oneself of constipation problems and this is done by switching to whole grain breads and cereals and eating lots of those good old healthy leafy green vegetables.
Magnesium
Posted by Mia (Crossville, Tennessee) on 06/28/2009
★★★★★
I have been suffering from chronic constipation for as long as i can remember. i have taken every kind of laxative and stool softener out on the market. i have used enema's and suppositories just to help it along. i have been doing this for years until i came across this web site. so i went to my local ___store and got some magnesium oxide in 400 mg tablets. i took 1 of a morning on a empty stomach with a large glass of water and 1 of a evening before going to bed. the next day i had a very small bowl movement so i up the dosage to 2 tablets of a morning and 2 of an evening and have had a bowl movement every morning. i have been taking it for 2 weeks now and haven't felt this great in a long time. that weighted down feeling is gone and i have more energy.
Magnesium
Posted by KT (Irvine, California, USA) on 04/12/2009
★★★★★
This page has changed my life & constipation of 36 years!!!!!!!!!! It got so severe last year that I had to quit work to find the holy grail that would defeat my DNA, heredity, bad karma, stinginess (which leads to constipation) .. you name it. Needless to say constipation runs in my family. I had tried pills, herbs, various home remedies to no avail specially since last year. Coconut oil worked like a miracle too, but what really got my colon going is Calcium-Magnesium (citrate) in liquid form and some patience. It took 2 weeks to kick in but boy, I have been regular like clockwork in the morning, defeating all odds!! Moreover I have started eating foods & meats that gave me constipation earlier and it is really working wonders. I just take a tblspoon after dinner in lukewarm water. Sometimes, the solution is simple to life's biggest problems, we just need to find the solution. Magnesium really helps draw water to the colon, thereby easing the waste-elimination. Of course eat healthy and drink lots of water. And be patient with the remedies you try before they work.
Magnesium
Posted by Jessica (Dartmouth, Canada) on 01/18/2009
★★★★★
i too had this same problem develop after radical life changes in diet. what i did was to take milk of magnesia as directed and it soon had me moving. then i increased my water intake and made sure i took blackstrap molasses every 3 or 4 days to stay on track. magnesium is hard for our bodies to take in so even if you take a supplement of it, it doesnt mean that your body is absorbing it. and that was my entire problem a deficiency in magnesium. i hope this helps you
Magnesium
Posted by Gina (Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada) on 12/27/2008
★★★★★
I have suffered from constipation all my life. I do everything you are supposed to do to have healthy bowel movements...I am a vegetarian,mostly raw, and so consume fibre, fibre, fibre, I drink at least a gallon of pure water every day, I run, walk, do yoga, I give myself time to go, do abdominal massages....everything. A few years ago, despite all this, I did not have a bowel movement for 27 days. The pain was horrible. Everyone asks me why I let it go so long. I was trying all the usuual remedies and giving each of them a day or two to work, fully expecting them to. I tried cascara, prune juice, aloe vera, senna, all in large doses, I tried an enema...and got zero results, except for more and more pain. On the 27th day, crying and throwing up, unable to eat or drink, I visited the emergency room. My bowel was obstructed. Unwilling to undergo surgery, I went home, crying, and checked the internet, paid 30 bucks for a poorly written four page "e-book", and am eternally grateful that I did! It said to take magnesium oxide. Simple. It would cure constipation forever with daily dosage. I started that night with a massive dose...three 300mg capsules every two hours all night long. In the morning, I moved a tiny, dry piece, but was grateful even for that....the blockage was moving. The next day, I passed seven huge easy movements...each one a foot long. I will never never again go a day without magnesium oxide. I take 400-600 mg/day before bed and have not missed a day since.
Anyone who has ever not had a movement for more than a few days will attest to how awful it is....this cure is so simple. Magnesium oxide has the most dramatic laxitive effect, much more so than citrate.
Magnesium
Posted by Nat (Brooklyn, NY) on 09/10/2008
★★★★★
Brewers yeast tablets and magnesium citrate, taken together with erythritol in water, is a combination that is helpful for stubborn problems with elimination.
On earthclinic there were many testimonials about using magnesium citrate for constipation. Although it is a good thing, many people might find that they need too much magnesium citrate. Taking the magnesium citrate with one half to one cup room temperature water (or hot water) that contains two or three or four teaspoons of erythritol can help one need less magnesium citrate. (Erythritol is a good tasting natural sugar substitute. The NOW Company and Organic Zero both sell erithritol.) Also, and even better, is taking the erythritol and water together with around four to ten Brewers Yeast tablets (Solgars sells Brewers Yeast tablets -- the tablets are much easier to take than the powder) twice a day in addition to the one or more magnesium citrate tablets. The brewers yeast might create some discomfort from gas in the beginning and so one might start off with less of the yeast tablets and increase their number slowly. Taking a sweet hot drink, with some spices in it, shortly after taking the yeast tablets, can often stop the intestinal discomfort. The combination of brewers yeast, magnesium citrate and erythritol in water, all taken at the same time, can often help even stubborn problems with elimination.
One should also eat a diet high in fiber containing foods such as fruits (grapes, papaya, also figs, raisins prunes stewed or soaked with olive oil or soaked overnight in plain water) vegetables (lettuce, escarole, hot sauerkraut, beets) whole grains, bran. One should also eat oily fish (recommended by Maimonides) and have a hot drink after meals.
Nat
P.S. In books on Yoga exercises, there are at times exercise recommendations that can help improve intestinal motility. Has anyone tried these exercises?
Magnesium
Posted by Joan (Elkton, VA) on 01/23/2007
★★★★★
After viewing reader comments on your web site, I tried magnesium oxide to relieve IBS with constipation. My doctor had prescribed Zelnorm twice a day, and I had used it for three years. It worked quite well, but I was having to live my life around scheduling my medication and meals so the Zelnorm would be effective. If I didn't allow one hour after taking it before I ate a meal, the constipation along with bloating and nausea would return. I just couldn't see living the rest of my life like that. Not to mention the expense of taking a one-of-a-kind drug. Then while researching IBS with constipation, I noticed your web site. I began taking 250 mg magnesium oxide on an empty stomach first thing when I awaken each morning. By the time I'm ready for breakfast, it has had its desired effect. Thanks so much! I am so appreciative of the help I found.
Magnesium
Posted by fauna (lynnwood, wa) on 12/18/2007
★★★★★
I love love love, what magnesium has done for me. I was constipated for the last 30 years of my life. I was in a lot of discomfort and even excluded myself from social gatherings because of gas and bloating. Once a week was the norm most times less. I feel like I have wasted a lot of my life because of this problem. I added magnesium to my diet because of a problem I am having with my teeth, and what do you know, regular, like clockwork bowel movements. I have also added oatmeal to my diet, but by using the magnesium regularly, I feel so much better. Those who rely on laxatives are really missing the boat on this one, and should strongly rethink how they treat their bodies. Even though I should be laxative dependent, I never stooped to that way of life, but I know that a lot of women rely on laxatives to produce bowel movements. I feel freed by this information and only wish I had had it 30 years earlier.
Magnesium
Posted by Anonymous (USA) on 08/18/2006
★★★★★
Magnesium citrate powder, mixed with hot water. Adjust the dosage as necessary, starting with 1 teaspoon, taken in the morning and the evening. It works fantastically well!
Magnesium
Posted by Donna (Aspen CO) on 01/24/2006
★★★★★
WOW!!! Magnesium puts an end to constipation. I take 650 mg every evening and wake up to a normal system. Adjust your intake, maybe you need less or more.
Magnesium
Posted by Tracy (Chalfont, PA)
★★★★★
I have found that magnesium capsules work best for me. I have suffered for years with constipation and nothing works more gently. Of course dosage varies from person to person depending on your body's need. In fact, it may vary daily depending on your diet. I find that 600 mg daily works best. Just adjust your dosage by your results. If you're having diarrhea, you're taking too much. If you're not going, you're not taking enough! It's as simple as that.
Magnesium
Posted by Karan (Calgary, Canada) on 10/14/2007
★★★★★
I was skeptical when I read on this website that magnesium could 'cure' chronic constipation....I am no longer skeptical! It works! I had been struggling for months, tried it last week, and I am happy to report that all is well is my world! I have been taking 750 mg of magnesium at bed time, but I am going to reduce that amount because it is a bit too effective. I am so overjoyed that when I get up in the morning now, I can go! With ease! I also sleep better with use of the magnesium! A lot of bang for your buck!
Magnesium
Posted by Nat (Brooklyn, New York) on 11/07/2007
★★★★★
Thank you for a good work. We have been trying some of the suggestions on your site and have found them helpful in many areas.
Your site showed that magnesium citrate (600 Mg) was very helpful for overcoming constipation. It is very good especially when implemented together with some other things. Here is how it seemed to work best. In the morning, one takes three magnesium citrate tablets (one hundred mg in each) with a glass of tap water mixed with a few drops of Ume Plum vinegar (which has salt in it) available from Eden foods. Maybe any vinegar mixed with salt might also work well. The mixture should not be overly salty, just pleasantly salty. Vitamin C - 300 to 1000 - can also be taken together with the magnesium citrate. A short while after that one takes a glass or two of plain cold water from the tap. Let it run for short while. Then a little after that (or even right after that), one takes boiled hot water mixed with one or two tablespoons toasted bran (Kretchmers sells toasted bran), (regular raw bran might also work well), and about the same amount, or a little bit less, toasted wheat germ, adding some more plum vinegar (or maybe any vinegar with salt) to the mixture to make it pleasantly salty. Stir and sip or drink this mixture. One may need a spoon to eat the bran and wheat germ that has settled to the bottom. (At times, a papain tablet and a betaine hydrochloride tablet can be taken with the magnesium citrate, though it may not be necessary. Vitamin C is helpful. It also helps improve the quality of one's sleep and may help a person fall back asleep when awakening in middle of the night.)
After all this, one can eat some fruit, such as papaya, which is excellent for overcoming constipation, or stewed figs, raisins or prunes, stewed or soaked in water and olive oil, and eaten when still hot or at least warm. One can also eat any other fruit or even a regular breakfast.
In general, raw fruits, vegetables and vegetable salads should be an important part of one's daily food. Lettuce (romaine in particular) and escarole are especially helpful. Hot drinks and hot soups are also helpful.
In the late afternoon one takes another three magnesium citrate tablets together with a glass of water mixed with a few more drops of the salty plum vinegar and if one feels the need, another tablespoon or two of bran and wheat germ.
One should also avoid drinking a lot of milk and any hard cheeses or fried foods or other such foods and eat clean simple foods.
There should, with help from Above, be significant improvement.
The suggestion for using bran and wheat germ in a hot drink came from the letters from readers section of a health magazine* from many years ago. It was later written up in a book on natural healing **The person, who suggested it in her letter, said to use it in hot coffee twice a day.
The book also mentions bran, papaya, sunflower seeds, garlic and escarole. (Garlic is recommended in the name of Hippocrates and also in the name of a leading expert in garlic therapy who recommends mixing garlic with (milk?) or yogurt. Garlic is also recommended for relieve of diarrhea.) Escarole is recommended by someone who found miraculous help from the suggestion to cook escarole in water and to drink this escarole water and by another person who ate the escarole raw.
Thank you for letting me share this.
Nat
*Prevention Magazine
**(Miracle Medicine Foods by Rex Adams, published by Warner Books. This book is probably out of print.)
