Plenty of folks on here have successfully used magnesium to soften BMs and help fissures heal. The magnesium citrate you're referring to probably means the stuff available at drug stores which has high doses of it. Something less strong like natural calm would be better for you, but should be under 1000mg per day. Also, magnesium needs to be balanced by calcium. For short term, miralax is easier to titrate, but if you really hate it, magnesium is a good option.

patience_and_healing wrote:Plenty of folks on here have successfully used magnesium to soften BMs and help fissures heal. The magnesium citrate you're referring to probably means the stuff available at drug stores which has high doses of it. Something less strong like natural calm would be better for you, but should be under 1000mg per day. Also, magnesium needs to be balanced by calcium. For short term, miralax is easier to titrate, but if you really hate it, magnesium is a good option.

What about 150 mg. magnesium citrate every day? Would that safely replace PEG (Miralax, etc.)? Why is it recommenced only for short-term elsewhere?

You would have to experiment and see which dose works best for you. The reason it's recommended for short term use is to prevent dependency, but also in case of something more rare like cancer, they don't want people constantly upping the dose and ignoring the symptoms.

patience_and_healing wrote:You would have to experiment and see which dose works best for you. The reason it's recommended for short term use is to prevent dependency, but also in case of something more rare like cancer, they don't want people constantly upping the dose and ignoring the symptoms.

What's the link between magnesium and cancer?

No link. I was referring to a general case of using laxatives.

OK thanks

John667, 150mg of magnesium a day is nothing, you won't notice any impact on stool firmness. You need to try for yourself, but from my experience it takes between 400 and 600mg/day to really make a difference.
I am using Natural Calm for 4 years to keep my fissure at bay, and it really works.

Abu wrote:John667, 150mg of magnesium a day is nothing, you won't notice any impact on stool firmness. You need to try for yourself, but from my experience it takes between 400 and 600mg/day to really make a difference.
I am using Natural Calm for 4 years to keep my fissure at bay, and it really works.

Isn't 400 to 600 mg. too high? I've read that the maximum daily dose was around 400 mg. and it includes magnesium you can get from food.

Do you take 400 or 600 or why does your dose vary from day to day and is your fissure finally cured?

Right now I take 150 mg. magnesium citrate and 100 mg. docusate sodium. Should I ditch the docusate and try 300 mg. magnesium?

Recommended dose is for healthy people, we can no longer qualify. If you search the web you'll find various opinions, some proposing 700mg or even more. The excess magnesium is eliminated anyway so i wouldn't worry.

Abu wrote:Recommended dose is for healthy people, we can no longer qualify. If you search the web you'll find various opinions, some proposing 700mg or even more. The excess magnesium is eliminated anyway so i wouldn't worry.

I've read it could be hard on the kidneys and could interfere with other mineral absorption. Symptoms of too much magnesium can be low blood pressure, fainting, etc. I eat plenty of veggies and not much industrial food, so I should get a lot from food... I don't want to overshoot.