I have heard and read a lot about natural remedies and health options. I was raised taking “sugar pill” homeopathic medicine. They weren’t really sugar pills, they were natural medicine from God’s creation and they really worked. My husband was raised in a family of nurses who are fully trained in western and synthetic medications. I believe both of these things have an important place in our lives and health. I believe that we should always seek natural first, but be willing to consider manmade or synthetic when we need them!
Before, I say anything else. I want be clear about a few things. My husband is very good about wrangling my experimental nature in with the wisdom of the necessity of researching FIRST. I am not a medical expert of ANY kind. I am not recommending ANYTHING for you, I am just sharing what has made such a big difference for myself and my daughter. This information would hopefully empower you to have a conversation with your doctor or to do your own research for things that might help you improve your and your children’s well being!
Since, I love all things natural based, I have experimented a couple of times with making my own toothpaste. One of the ingredients in the recipe I use is Trace Mineral Drops. I ordered the brand recommended on the Weed ’em and Reap website that I got my toothpaste recipe from. So, we use Concentrace Trace Mineral Drops.
Since, I love learning and I love my daughters, they have been one of the things that have propelled me further and further into research on natural remedies for everything from cavities to sleep to focus to reading. Both our girls have had WAY more tooth decay (a.k.a. cavities) than I ever expected. I haven’t had a cavity yet and my husband has only had about 4. So, when our oldest had 7 at the age of 5 I started looking for natural ways to help and that led me to the toothpaste.
This same daughter also struggles with attention and focus and sleep. As, I have done more researching and reading I have read a lot about the importance of magnesium for a huge range of things in our bodies. Some of those are sleep and calm. As I read more and more about this mineral, I remembered the drops we had in the pantry for making toothpaste and I looked to see which minerals they included.
They include magnesium, chloride, sodium, potassium and sulfate, lithium and boron. The highest percentage of all of these? You guessed right! Magnesium. Since, our oldest struggles with sleep she would/will often struggle with getting tired. Tiredness for her would be manifested in extra or hyper energy, crankiness and low to absolutely no emotional control. So, after a lot of discussion AND consulting with their pediatrician, we tried giving some of these drops to the girls. We just wanted to see if they would help with any of the attention or emotional control issues our oldest was having. We gave the drops to both girls just to keep things even, and they are essential minerals so it seemed like they’d benefit anyone.
This particular brand of drops tell you on the bottle that they have a strong flavor and they’re telling the truth! So, we started with mixing a pediatric dose into a lunch box sized cup of apple sauce. It worked perfectly as long as all of the applesauce got eaten. This usually wasn’t an issue unless we forgot about it until a full breakfast had been eaten. Also, occasionally the girls got tired of eating applesauce. What we have currently settled on after trying many things from mixing with honey to diluting in water is to fill a 2 ounce cup with juice (apple juice does not work, grape and a mango mix work the best for us) and adding the drops. We have also increased the amount of drops our oldest takes from the pediatric (ages 1-3) dose to just under 1/2 a dose (she takes between 12-15 drops a day). Everyone seems to be pleased with this method and they are still able to get it down if we forget until after breakfast.
These drops have had a BIG impact on our daughter’s well being. She is better able to regulate her emotions when she has them. These and lavender oil rubbed on her feet or behind her ears also help her sleep better at night. We also use epsom salts in her baths if she seems over tired or extra keyed up. We have tried other magnesium options like gummies, but they do not have the same effect for her. When we were doing the gummies instead of the drops she had a pretty major emotional episode with no real apparent reason. But, when she has the drops those episodes become decidedly less frequent. So, for our family these drops are the only way for us to give her the magnesium she seems to need to balance her emotions, will, and abilities.
Even though the drops were working well for our daughter, I still kept learning and reading as much as I possibly could on more things that would help her or just natural things we might need in order to support our bodies to do the things God calls us to do. One thing that kept coming up when I would read about magnesium was it’s ability to help mom’s with their energy levels, quality of sleep and emotional control (it is said to help alleviate anxiety and possibly depression). So, since it had helped our daughter so much and since I was struggling a LOT with anxiety this past school year (even before Covid-19 hit!!) I decided to try taking the drops myself. We are always trying to stay on a budget and I especially have trouble using extra things that I might not “need” that will end up costing us extra money. That is why I was hesitant to try the drops at first, I wanted them to last as long as possible for the girls. For that reason, the first time I started to take them I would only take half of a dose. And, honestly it seemed to intensify my emotions, so I stopped. Then I was struggling again and reading more and more about how this specific mineral was supposed to help. I also think it was during this time also that I read a post about something Adrienne at Whole New Mom had tried once that didn’t work, but she tried again because it was supposed to and it did. Those things combined together to push me to try the drops again and commit to taking them for a month. I took a full dose every morning and they REALLY started to make a difference. The best way that I can describe it was that it felt like I was lifting my head up out of a heavy fog that I had been living under. It started to feel like there was possibility in life again and I wasn’t sad and overwhelmed all the time.
Recently, we were running low on drops and I hadn’t ordered more yet. So, I stopped taking them to make sure we didn’t run out for the girls. Since our schedules have been rather scattered since March, it took longer than usual to order, and I went awhile without them. I also managed to hurt my shoulder somehow during this time. The pain from my shoulder was going through my back and growing despite my efforts to stretch it out. The essential oils I was putting on my shoulder would help at night, but by the end of the day I was in more and more pain. The new drops came in and I had a day where I just felt awful all day. I skipped my workout in the morning and just dragged, had no energy and more and more pain in my shoulder throughout the day. That night I took a double dose of the drops and went to bed early. My pain was greatly relieved the next day and I felt like my energy was really starting to come back. I have not missed a dose since then. I even got up out of bed one night when I realized I had forgotten to take any that day.
These drops and more specifically, in my OPINION, magnesium have really made a world of difference for our family. In helping both my daughter and I regulate our emotions much better and giving us better rest. I sleep so much heavier and feel like I get much higher quality sleep when I take these drops, especially if I take them at bedtime. I have not switched to taking them at night yet, but I am certainly contemplating it. I wanted to share this with you to give you something to discuss with your doctor or for you to research for yourself if you are struggling with sleep, calm, energy or anxiety. Please do not take my word in deciding to take these drops or anything like them, use wisdom and the professionals in your life to guide your journey! Also, I want to be completely transparent. I still get tired, today in particular has been pretty rough! In addition, our daughter is still her super energetic-anti-sleep-try anything and always has a better and different way of doing things-self. BUT, this mineral must really be as important as I’ve read and these drops have really helped both of us be able to regulate life better. What minerals have you found to be essential to your well being or that of your children? Where do you find reliable information on natural options to optimize health? Please share in the comments below to help us continue learning together!
