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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2004 >> Prescribed Dosage for Magnesium/Feverfew
        
(Message started by: Judy_K on May 14^th, 2004, 12:02am)

Title: Prescribed Dosage for Magnesium/Feverfew
Post by Judy_K on May 14^th, 2004, 12:02am

My husband got 4 1/2 wks of relief from CHs by going on magnesium (by mouth) and feverfew (an herb). In 4 days his night CHs were gone but just 5 days ago they came back. His neuro had him gradually go off the Lithium. Just prior to this, I asked the neuro about using the magnesium/feverfew but he wasn't sure of the dosage. My husband's been taking 1 each in the morning 212 mg. of feverfew (containing mcg. Parthenolide) and 250 mg. of magnesium.
Has anyone had an actual dosage given by an herbalist or a neuro that really knows what the dosages should be? Perhaps if he increases the dosages they will go away again? I read on the internet you shouldn't take too much magnesium because it depletes the body of calcium.
I realize this treatment doesn't work for everyone, but we may be on to something for my husband. Good luck to everyone!!!

Judy_K

Title: Dosage for Magnesium/Feverfew
Post by Bob_Johnson on May 14^th, 2004, 7:10am

Go to this site for information on magnesium:

WWW.HEADACHEPAINFREE.COM The content of this site has been expanded since I first posted it. It now covers several types of headache and a more general coverage of medications. It remains, to my knowledge, the best single source of information on the use of magnesium for headache--both for prevention and as a treatment during an active cycle.

Magnesium as a preventive treatment for CH is the main value of this site. It appears that magnesium has been used in Europe for some years for this purpose and I've posted one medical report about using IV magnesium to abort headaches which would not repond to the usual medications. [With thanks to Shawna @ 6/22/00.]

Title: Re: Prescribed Dosage for Magnesium/Feverfew
Post by TxBasslady on May 17^th, 2004, 1:15am

Judy,

You might check out the posts on Melatonin. It works for quite a few here. I've noticed that some folks take the magnesium along w/ the melatonin.

The melatonin works very well for me. I take 3mg. before bed. It's cheap and a rx is not needed. It just might help your hubby.

Sure hope you find what you need to help.

PF vibes,

Jean

Title: Re: Prescribed Dosage for Magnesium/Feverfew
Post by floridian on May 17^th, 2004, 9:17am

250 mg of magnesium twice per day will give you 114% of the DV (daily value). This amount should be safe for most people for long term use. People with kidney disease should check it out with their doctor. For short term use, up the dosage to three or four x 250 Mg for a few days or a week.

From The Physician's Desk Reference:
Typical Dosage
To help prevent migraines, the usual dose is 200 to 250 milligrams daily in capsule form. Since parthenolide content may vary, follow the manufacturer's instructions whenever available. http://www.pdrhealth.com/drug_info/nmdrugprofiles/herbaldrugs/101120.shtml

Feverfew's effects depends on how it is prepared. The original anti-migraine effects were from eating one fresh feverfew leaf per day.

From Ray Sahelian, MD
The routine dosage of feverfew is 100 to 300 mg up to four times a day, 0.2 to 0.4% parthenolide.
Results of studies with feverfew in the therapy or prevention of migraine headaches have not been consistent. http://www.raysahelian.com/feverfew.html

Quote:

Planta Med. 1993 Feb;59(1):20-5. Related Articles, Links

Feverfew and vascular smooth muscle: extracts from fresh and dried plants show opposing pharmacological profiles, dependent upon sesquiterpene lactone content.

Barsby RW, Salan U, Knight DW, Hoult JR.

Pharmacology Group, King's College London, U.K.

Preparations of fresh or dried feverfew (Chrysanthemum parthenium) are widely consumed in the U.K. as a remedy for arthritis and migraine, but the pharmacological basis for this has not been established. We have, therefore, compared the properties of extracts of fresh plants with those of dried powdered leaves available commercially from health food shops. The two extracts differed radically in their content of alpha-methylbutyrolactones and in their pharmacological profile when tested in vitro on the rabbit aortic ring and rat anococcygeus preparations. Extracts of fresh leaves caused does- and time-dependent inhibition of the contractile responses of aortic rings to all receptor-acting agonists so far tested; the effects were irreversible and may represent a toxic modification of post-receptor contractile function in the smooth muscle. The presence of potentially -SH reactive parthenolide and other sesquiterpene alphamethylenebutyrolactones in these extracts, and the close parallelism of the actions of pure parthenolide, suggest that the inhibitory effects are due to these compounds. In contrast , chloroform extracts of dried powdered leaves were not inhibitory but themselves elicited potent and sustained contractions of aortic smooth muscle that were not antagonised by ketanserin (5-HT2 receptor antagonist). These extracts did not contain parthenolide or butyrolactones according to a chemical-HPLC assay, We conclude that there are marked differences in the pharmacological potency and profiles between preparations from fresh and dried feverfew and that this may relate to their lactone content. As the effects of the lactones are potentially toxic, it will be necessary to compare the clinical profiles and side effects of preparations obtained from the two sources.

Parthenolide inhibits Nitric Oxide, one of the inflammitory compounds in cluster headache:

Quote:

J Neuroimmunol. 2002 Nov;132(1-2):18-24. Inhibition of LPS-induced p42/44 MAP kinase activation and iNOS/NO synthesis by parthenolide in rat primary microglial cells.

Fiebich BL, Lieb K, Engels S, Heinrich M.

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Freiburg Medical School, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany. bernd_fiebich@psyallg.ukl.uni-freiburg.de

Nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated in the etiopathology of central nervous system (CNS) diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Inhibition of NO synthesis has been proposed to be a possible mechanism of action of relevance in the treatment of multiple sclerosis and migraine. Here, we investigated the effect of parthenolide on inducible NO synthase (iNOS) synthesis and NO release using primary rat microglia. We found parthenolide to be an inhibitor of iNOS/NO synthesis. Investigating the molecular mechanisms by which parthenolide prevents iNOS/NO synthesis, we found that parthenolide inhibits the activation of p42/44 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), but not IkBalpha (IkappaBalpha) degradation or nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) p65 activation. The data suggest that parthenolide might have a potential in the treatment of CNS diseases where NO is part of the pathophysiology.