Mercury

I have just read your postings on your experience with mercury. Did I miss your testimonial somewhere? I am just going to see a new doctor after 2 years of being treated for high toxic metal levels and having some bad relapses. I just realized that I had been given EDTA for lead but that really didn't touch the mercury. I got very ill when I got changed to oral DMSA 500 mg 3 X a week. I now have sought out a mercury free dentist with mercury poisoning himself. He has referred me to a new doctor that is actually a cardiolist but is up to date on the latest mercury detox protocol. My appointment is next week. I am going to google bioresonance like you suggested. He does things with electromagnetic fields but I am not sure if it is for metals. He just spoke 2 weeks ago at the yearly meeting of the IAOMT an association of mercury free dentists and health professionals.

Were you diagnosed with an IV challenge? Was it DMSA or a combination? Also did you have mercury amalgams in your mouth? Did you have them removed? Any information you can give me would be so greatly appreciated. If I missed your testimonial somewhere, please direct me to it.

Congratulations on your 100% recovery. You give us HOPE!

Hi Steve, what are your thoughts on the hair analysis for heavy metal/mineral detection. Would this be a good test for chronic HG poisoning? Also could you briefly describe your DMSA chelation protocol you followed. I believe I have some of that stuff in my pharmacy;)


Hi Pete,

When done properly, with correct sample preparation then hair analysis is an excellent method for establishing long term exposure.
However, the hair must be properly prepared to remove all external environmental components due to air pollution and the like. Also, its quite possible that certain individuals suffer Hg poisoning because they are unable to excrete Hg, meaning that their hair levels would actually be lower than normal individuals.

When all is said and done, a DMPS or DMSA challenge test is probably the most reliable way to determine Hg body load.

Sorry, it was too long ago to remember the exact doses of DMPS and DMSA.


Mercury's (Hg's) toxicity is based on a number of factors:

1. Number of different forms and therefore ways in which it can enter the body
2. Ease of absorbtion into the body
3. Ability to dissolve in fats and pass through lipid membranes
4. High electron energy with the capacity to destroy cells, mainly in the brain and CNS
5. Ability to bioaccumulate
6. Ability to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and enter the brain and Central Nervous System
7. Ability to pass across the placental barrier.
8. Ability to trigger the immune system 24x7x365xN and eventually cause Hg allergies and immune incompetence
9. Ability to block certain biochemical pathways like methylation and recycling of Glutathione, resulting in impairment of the body's detoxification system
To summarize, its very easy for Hg to enter the body but the Devil's own job to get it back out.

Anyone acutely exposed to high levels of Hg or chronically exposed to low levels will eventually develop symptoms.

In my experience Hg sets off a cascade of events. It has the ability to cause its own symptoms like headaches, numbness, tingling and immune cell damage etc and through immune incometence opens the door to opportunistic organisms like Candida, which brings its own symtoms of massive fatigue, brain fog, heat intolerance, GI disturbances etc. etc.

If Candida is ultimately caused by Hg, it can only be permanently cured once Hg is eradicated to the point it no longer triggers immune system damage.

Once in the body, the majority of Hg binds to proteins for transport and to lipids (fat) molecules, where it can remain for years. When a Hg atom binds to a cell, it will most probably be incorporated into the cell membrane...the casing around a cell that controls the transport of nutrrients into and waste products out of the cell. When cell membrane function is impaired, the cell can no longer function properly and eventually dies. Since the body has no mechanism to remove the Hg, it simply passes on the the neighbouring cells to wreak further harm.

Testing a person's Hg body load is not easy, since Hg is stored in lipids and is generally not in circulation in the blood or actively excreted in the urine.

Cirulating blood or urine Hg usually represents recently absorbed Hg that is still being transported to other organs and storage sites around the body. Thus blood and urine levels for people with high Hg body loads is pretty much the same as for people with low loads.
The only way therefore to reliably measure Hg is to somehow pull it out of its storage places and provoke excretion. The is done by Chelation. In chelation, a compound is injected into the body that binds Hg way stonger than the tissue binding sites. Hg binds with the chelating agent and thereby using the binding site it previously used to bind with the tissue. As a result blood Hg levels peak a few hours after administration of the chelating agent. Now a much larger molecule, the Chelated Hg is removed by the Kidneys and appears in the urine.
Hg levels are measured before and after the chelating agent and compared to levels for groups of patients showing no symptoms. In this way, the lab can establish 'normal' and pathological levels for Hg concentration. This procedure is called the DMSA or DMPS Mercury challenge test (depending on which compound is used.)

Obviously small amounts of DMSA or DMPS are not able to rid the body of its entire Hg load, so Chelation is an ongoing therapy that takes several months or even years.
These chelating agents also chelate other metals, so between Chelations, rest periods and careful supplementation with trace minerals is required, otherwise deficiencies will develop. Throughout Chelation, large quatities of water is rquired to flush cells and ensure that the increased Hg is quickly flushed from the body

It should also be obvious that Chelation is not good for anyone with Hg amalgam, as Hg will be pulled from the amalgams into the body.

DMSA has the ability (its claimed) to pass the blood-brain barrier, while DMPS doesn't. This is why I alternated between DMSA and DMPS.

Due to the fact that Chelation increases the amount of circulating Hg, it also tends to generate symptoms of Hg poisoning like headach, depression or paranoia.

Bioresonance is claimed to assist cells in giving up more of their Hg load and is used in combination with Chelation.


A bit OT..but they were talking about mercury on HGTV last night. These people were gutting a home and found mercury in the pipes. They caught it in a glass jar. It was actually kind of pretty looking. Hasmat came and cleaned it up, but it was all treated as a big joke. They had kids running all over in the house etc...joking about mercury exposure. Ugh..


Mercury isn't the only atom or molecule to cause opportunistic infections like Candida, with all the associated symptoms.

My daughter suffered very similar symptoms to mine. And like mine, they would resolve with Nystatin but appear once again as soon as the antifungal therapy was withdrawn.

Using antifungals repeatedly I got a pretty good idea which symptoms were Candida related. Brain fog, heat intolerance, memory and concentration problems, unrelenting fatigue, unrefreshing sleep, cholic, bloating, sugar cravings and force 9 flatulence.
With AF's, all the above symptoms would resolve, leaving only headaches, numbness in heels and fingers, and trigger points.

At 15, my daughter had, to my knowledge never been exposed to Mercury; so I looked elsewhere for the problem. Dust analysis of our home revealed 3 pesticides...PCP, Permethrin and Lindane. Further investigation revealed PCP in 4 pieces of her bedroom furniture, 4 bedside tables whose varnish contained Lindane and a pure wool carpet treated with Permethrin.
Removal of the offending articles achieved a full recovery of her CFIDS symptoms within 1 month.
After our recoveries, both my daughter and I became very sensitive to contaminated environments. We could not tolerate hardware, carpet or furniture stores for long without developing brain fog and severe headaches. In my daughters case, she would also get 2 days of quite severe depression after an exposure.
After moving back to the UK, we needed to buy a house and visited over 30 prospective homes in our search. In about half, my daughter and I felt extremely unwell after our visit. In one particular home where we both reacted very rapidly, we were told that the husband had recently died of Cancer, while the wife suffered from very severe CFS.

It seems that chronic exposure to any compounds that have the ability to absorb readily into the body and continuously trigger the immune system have the ability to cause immuno deficiencies, leaving the door open for opportunistic organisms and the resulting chronic illnesses they cause