Evils of Nexium

Hello,

I am writing to tell you how delighted I am by the company that makes Nexium. On commercials, you will hear a disclaimer that says “Increases risk of low magnesium levels and bone fractures.” Notice that they didn’t say “increases risk…after 14 days” or “may increase risk.” It increases risk. Darn right it does. When I was on Prilosec (20 mg of omeprazole) and this other one that was 60 mg called Dexilant (which was far from excellant), I felt like every step I took could have fractured my hip. It was terrible!

I also descended into a very strange (at least) low-mineral, but probably low-magnesium, cycle of tremors, twitches, palpitations, numbness, cold extremities, and sweating. Look into symptoms of low magnesium. I told my family what I thought was happening and started shooting supplements of oral magnesium (500 mg diluted in distilled water). Don’t ever do this. If you overdose on oral magnesium, your body will get what it needs for a few minutes, but it will pretty much just go right through you in your urine or in very loose stools. You should grab an epsom salts bath, too, if you are having symptoms of low magnesium. It will most likely get your levels in the right place, because absorption through the skin is a lot more stable than oral supplementation. The best way to regain magnesium, though, is through IV transfusion (which I have done once and will be doing tomorrow).

I should also mention that I went to the emergency room when I got obsessed over my magnesium levels and started shooting 500s. They tested my serum levels after checking me in (I had an extremely high blood pressure of like 160/100), and they found that I was “on the high side of normal.” I later learned that serum magnesium levels pretty much mean squat. Magnesium is in your tissue, good people. The only way to test that is by drawing from the tissue or even more easily (but expensively) by a sublingual swab. They can use the cells they get to check intracellular magnesium levels. Then if you need more, you can get more through transdermal or IV supplementation.

As far as the fractures go, be very careful if you’re on these dangerous proton pump inhibitor medications. The fracture thing is obviously also a side effect of having lowered intracellular magnesium levels. Magnesium is extremely important for bone and muscle health. PPIs will also greatly increase your risk of contracting C. diff.—-and really any bacterial/yeast overgrowth in your gut. You need to acid to both digest and sterilize your food. If you are having less sterilization, more weird/inappropriate bacteria will get through your stomach to your intestines where a lot of your immunity is determined. Further, when your food isn’t digested completely, you are sending less-digested food with leftover sugars for those bad little organisms in your gut to feed on and grow. This is a very bad thing.

Give up on these purple pills. Take some aloe vera juice and start getting your diet on track to a healthier gut.

Have Faith,

Half Eighth