Hi. I wanted to post here about medic (not drug) advice I got on how to help the brain with Eagles, especially VES type. It’s very simple and easy to do for yourself and will ensure you are not deficient in magnesium, which is really a big help to our brains (when in trouble).
Just get a bowl you can fit your feet in. Buy some Epsom salts & check they have good level of magnesium in them. Put a big mug full of salts in bowl and fill it up with hot water, stirring salts at outset to dissolve them. Soak feet in bowl for at least 30 mins 2/3 times a week. The skin will absorb the magnesium. You can use supplements but that’s more expensive & absorption rates can be variable. Soaking your feet in relaxing. It helped me pre & post surgery. It’s probably a lifetime habit for me now. Worth trying to see if it helps you for a week. If not then no real harm done (just cost of salt bag). Hope that helps members. D
Great advice, @PatientD! Epsom salts soaks (full body especially) are known for being very calming as they help muscles relax & nerves calm down. It’s also very helpful as a laxative (magnesium citrate in particular but epsom salt can be used for that, too).
@PatientD I definitely agree with you. Magnesium does help. I primarily use 2 types of magnesium. Spray & Gel one for tight muscles around the neck and one that I find helps with sleep and cognitive issues is Magnesium L-Threonate which was originally developed in MIT and has been clinically shown to cross the brain blood barrier to boast memory and cognition in general. I did refer to it in another post (shown below).
The one I find helpful for the neck is Magnesium Chloride Gel. I do not sponsor/advocate for a particular brand but the one shown below is the one I use for neck muscle spasm. It will be little itchy when you apply it to the neck and traps muscles but the initial itchiness subsides after few minutes.
Before my surgery I used magnesium supplements and I do believe they helped to an extent. Magnesium oxide was the easiest on my stomach. I think I’m going to give this gel a shot for my neck and incision area to see if it can give some relief for the soreness and tension there.
I used to take hot baths with epsom salt but the baths always made me super tired and drained… Come to find out when I saw my geneticist for EDS he said that hot water is really bad for people with stretchy ligaments? I haven’t tried just doing it with my feet before maybe that’s a more optimal way for my to try using Epsom salts.
Sorry to hear that. I wouldn’t say magnesium makes me feel calmer, just makes my struggling brain feel like it can work a bit better. I use other things to stay calmer. D
@hyperichard - you’re a textbook example of what epsom salt baths are supposed to do - relax your muscles. You probably felt tired after taking them because you were very relaxed. Interesting about hot water being bad for people w/ EDS. Maybe it’s because it does relax the body & since your ligaments are already lax, adding more relaxation (laxity) is not to your benefit?
@stuuke - that’s a really interesting response to magnesium. I wonder if it’s the specific compound you’ve tried or all mag compounds as there are several?
