Magnesium Deficiency and HPA Axis Disruption

Over this last year, I've found that Magnesium (Mg2+) is essential to good health, especially my mental health. Among various other roles, magnesium plays an important physiologic role in HPA axis balance, and ultimately in the stress and anxiety-related behaviors of animals. The HPA axis, or the hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal axis, is one of our central stress response systems. The HPA axis begins at the hypothalamus, which releases corticotropin releasing hormone, or CRH, to bind to the anterior pituitary. The anterior pituitary in turn releases  adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) into the bloodstream, making its way to the adrenal cortex, where it stimulates the release of cortisol into the blood.

Although the mechanisms of magnesium's HPA axis modulation are unknown, a few studies note that a deficiency can lead to altered HPA axis function. More specifically, researchers found that magnesium deficient mice (given only 10% of daily Mg2+ requirement) showed higher levels of anxiety-related behaviors, increased body weight, increased transcription of CRH, and elevated ACTH plasma levels compared to control mice. The research also showed that the magnesium deficient mice responded well to anti-depressant (chronic despiramine treatment reversed axis abnormalities) and anxiolytic (diazepam reduced PVN hyper-excitability) medication treatments. The researchers hypothesize that magnesium may be an essential ion in intracellular and interneuronal processes when considering abnormal anxiety on a neurolobiological basis.

I first discovered the relationship between magnesium deficiency and anxiety about a year and a half ago, much before I read any papers on it. At that time, I had been living in chronic, HIGH stress lifestyle for months and months, and I practically added onto it daily. One day, after a rather strenuous session of moving a slate pool table from the 6th floor of an apartment building to my car in the midsummer heat, the accumulated stress pushed me to my limit and I just broke. I developed a severe form of anxiety called depersonalization and derealization (or DPDR, look up descriptions of it on reddit and you might catch a glimpse of the agony that DPDR is). I thought I had died and gone to Hell. No other way to describe it. This lasted for about 8 grueling months, all the while appearing to be treatment resistant. Over that time, I repeatedly read that DPDR was simply the body's normal response to extremely stressful situations and often occurs during traumatic situations. I also learned it can be caused by magnesium deficiency. I decided to give magnesium glycinate supplements a try, and day by day of taking the recommended dose along with a normal diet (and months of counseling), my symptoms improved significantly. I believe that both the stressful lifestyle and a diet lacking in sufficient magnesium lead my body to be overly stressed, resulting in the DPDR symptoms.

Cited Study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3198864/