[mabbo]

Diagnosed at 24 with sleep apnea. I tried a bunch of things.

What worked for me was regular cardio exercise and daily doses of high absorption magnesium.

The magnesium is absolutely unproven pseudoscience nonsense that can't possibly work. But if I stop taking it my sleep suffers massively.

[telchior]

I take magnesium for migraine and vertigo. Very much not a believer in supplements -- before this, I went through years of specialists prescribing various pharmaceuticals with various side effects. These days the problem is under control without any meds; I just take magnesium (specifically, a mix of l-threonate, glycinate and taurate), telling myself every day that it's probably unrelated to my feeling better. Like you said, it couldn't possibly be working as well as it seems to. But if I stop, my condition mysteriously gets worse. If it's a placebo.. eh, who cares?

[s5300]

>> Very much not a believer in supplements

…why?

Vitamin, mineral, and nutrient deficiencies are a very well known science.

[telchior]

Sure, but the supplement industry is 99% woo and most of what is sold has no proven benefit. In general people most people taking supplements don't have any known deficiency (including me, blood tests show my mag levels are fine).

[c4mpute]

"Known deficiency" is a thorny issue in itself. The various serum levels and necessary intakes vary widely by individual. And recommended daily allowances for many kinds of vitamins and minerals are set conservatively low to avoid overdoses from people chugging the bottle.

"levels are fine" can still mean fine, too low or too high for your individual need. As long as you don't overdose, trying out a supplement nonetheless can be worth a shot, but of course it can also be a waste of money.

Unfortunately, "normal values" in medicine aren't as normal as one would like.

[telchior]

Yep. I didn't mention it but with magnesium testing, blood tests may not catch an issue; you can be deficient in a particular organ (e.g. brain) and fine in others.

But realistically, very little of the $100 billion+ supplement industry is built on anything medically necessary. Yes, I have a waste basket diagnosis with an unclear cause that's helped by a specific supplement, but there are quite literally dozens (perhaps even hundreds) of other supplements that the snake oil merchants swear up and down are essential for the same condition, and they'd happily claim that whatever deficiency exists is undetectable. That's why I "don't believe" in supplements in general.

[scruple]

When I'm deep into half-marathon+ training, I (personally, not scientifically) observe that I become zinc and magnesium deficient. I simply will not recover, I will feel extremely fatigued, etc. There's a lot of controversy over this, but I more or less have to take ZMA to sleep at night, to remain asleep at night, and to recover from the training load I am putting my body through (I also carry a 2-3x per week lifting load regardless of my running schedule).

[akira2501]

> The magnesium is absolutely unproven pseudoscience nonsense that can't possibly work.

With so many systems in the body, you really have to wonder how many people actually have a _single_ issue that's causing _all_ their problems. It's much more logical that your experiences are the result of emergent phenomenon from the interaction of multiple issues. In that case, perhaps you're simply treating a secondary condition that's vastly improving the outcomes with what you view as your primary condition?

[br3akaway]

Could you share your magnesium preparation and dose? If you are deficient in magnesium, the mechanism I would guess is that neck muscles are unable to relax and constrict the action of weaker muscles used for breathing.

[mabbo]

https://drbvitamins.com/products/doctor-s-best-high-absorpti...

That's the good stuff. Constantly hard to find in Canada.

Edit: also this is literally the first time anyone has ever provided me with any idea if why it might actually work. So seriously, thank you for that.

[docandrew]

I’ve read that a lot of people, especially men, are deficient in magnesium. It’s an essential mineral so I wouldn’t call your use of it pseudoscience by any stretch.

[zamalek]

Presuming that there is no causation, a placebo that works is still an effective treatment.