Adrenals

Just got my results back, but not sure what they mean.
Adrenocortex Stress Profile:

Salivary Cortisol - Normal.

Salivary DHEA Sulphate
8am - 28.2 (ref range 4.0 to 29.0)
12noon - 21.7 (ref range 2.5 to 13.0)
4pm - 26.9 (ref range 2.0 to 6.0)
Midnight- 9.9 (ref range 1.0 to 4.0)

Also had Toxic Efeects Screen repeated to see how liver enzyme damage was improving.

Nov 04 50% damage to a band of enzymes, plus raised GST. (Nickel IS responsible) After removing all obvious Nickel exposure, dental crown etc began to feel a little better.

Repeated test April 05, enzyme damage 20%, NO raised GST...GOOD!

Latest result today is disheartening, enzyme damage has GONE UP again to 35% plus raised GST enzyme again!!!! The comment from the lab is that Nickel is an ongoing problem, but i have NO IDEA WHERE FROM, RBC Nickel is high, serum normal. I wondered if the reason it has gone uo again could be because i stopped the IR Saunas and Milk Thistle.

I would be VERY gratefull if anyone can throw any light on these results.

Thanks
Ann

Ok your adrenals are messed up. Also just because cortisol comes back as normal doesn't mean that it is necessarily fine - my DHEA/cortisol both came back "normal" yet I am clearly hypoadrenal.

Liver - you seem to be suffering from liver stress, which is symptomatic of other toxicity problems.

Adrenal & liver stress on their own don't tell you very much.

Nickel is often a factor in mercury poisoning (which would also explain other symptoms - e.g. candida, hypoadrenal, liver stress). Have you investigated whether you are mercury toxic at all?

Have you had a hair mineral test?


Hi Chandler,

I am interested in your claim that high Nickel levels could be a marker of Mercury toxicity. Do you have any evidence to support this?

In terms of marker metals, investigators have found that patients with mercury toxicity are often low in blood zinc and high in blood copper. Many other minerals, such as selenium and magnesium are often low as well.


Steve,
it is not my claim that nickel can be a marker for merc. toxicity but it is one of the things Andrew Cutler says can indicate a mercury problem. Titanium is another metal that can be elevated.

You are right that Hg interferes with Zinc/Copper balance as well as depleting other essential nutrients such as selenium and magnesium.

The point is not to look at each individual element in isolation, but to look at the big picture. The big picture being that Hg causes mineral transport derangement. Hg is the only thing known to cause this. The way to measure this is via a hair test where a persons mineral levels can be seen as a whole.

A typical mercury toxic person will have *low* levels of hair mercury combined with deranged minerals (i.e. minerals all over the place).

If you want to find out more I recommend you read Andrew Cutler's book "Amalgam illness".

http://www.noamalgam.com/

Hi Chandler,

In my experience, there are many reasons why trace minerals may be out of balance.

Amongst others, diet, dysbiosis, xenobiotics, drugs,


Steve,
Cutler has a particular definition of mineral derangement which he calls his "counting rules". Basically it is a way of statistically comparing the degree of derangement relative to the population at large. Cutler's hypothesis is that only mercury is known to do this. He is an extremely bright Princeton educated chemist who has spent the last 10 years looking at this issue (first to fix his own health issues, then that of others). He has even written a book about it - "Hair test interpretation: finding hidden toxicities".

I was skeptical that mercury was causing my mineral derangement - I had rampant candida and like you thought that dysbiosis was responsible.

However Cutler was right - mercury was responsible.

If you can come up with a set of people who are not mercury poisoned and who still have a deranged mineral profile (in the Cutler sense) then I am more than willing to believe you. However in the absence of such a cohort I tend to believe the Cutler hypothesis.

I recommend you get hold of both his books if you want to research this issue further.

.


Hi Chandler,

My experience is a little different.

There's no doubt that anyone with Hg poisoning sufficient to generate symptoms, will have a massively disturbed mineral household. But is this caused by the mercury directly i.e by the Hg atom? To answer my own question, its unlikely, given Hg's chemical properties and propensity to invade and deposit in fatty tissue in the brain, kidneys and nerves. Logically, the direct symptoms of Hg are going to be related to:
a. cell membranes and their various functions, which are damaged when Hg atoms insert themselves into various proteins in the cell wall, including receptors and enzymes
b. cell metabolism, due to high energy co-valent Hg bonding with and blocking certain receptors, enzymes and other proteins within the cell, eventually leading to cell death.
c. immune system, which is triggered 24x365xXXX. This has been shown to affect mainly T-cells and specifically an underexpression of CD-4 cells and over expression of CD-8 cells (programmed to kill infected cells).

Lack of CD-4 cells is what eventually allows opportunistic organisms to kill AIDS patients and as in Aids, the impaired immune system opens the door for opportunistic organisms like Candida. When Candida overpopulates the gut, it displaces much of the normal flora associated with digestion. The bacteria provide enzymes that contribute to the breakdown of certain proteins, peptides and sugars and to the cojugation of trace minerals and vitamins, making them water soluble ready for absorbtion. In the absence of the correct bacteria, many minerals and vitamins cannot be absorbed.... triggering the first problem directly related to minerals. No conjugation, no absorbtion. No absorbtion.... deficiencies. Many of these minerals play an active role in metabolism and detoxification. They are required as co-factors to activate enzymes or as adjuncts in detoxification. Without the correct vitamins and minerals, detoxification slows down or stops altogether and toxins including non-physiologically active elements absorbed in food or water begin to accumulate. Used hormones are also detoxified by the liver but in the absence of the right co-factors they can neither be properly synthesized nor broken down and excreted. What develops is a situation where the entire mineral household becomes imbalanced. Physiologically active elements are no longer properly absorbed, but continue to be consumed by the body, resulting in deficiencies, while inactive elements that should be excreted via the liver aren't and therefore accumulate.
So anyone with Hg poisoning will exhibit a typically disturbed mineral household.
However, anything that disturbs the immune system or gut in a way that causes severe dysbiosis (usually seen as massive yeast overgrowth), will have exactly the same effect on the normal micro-flora and therefore the exact same effect on trace mineral and vitamin absorbtion.

Anyone suffering chronic exposure to organophorus or organochlorine compounds for example will exhibit much the same symptoms as someone poisoned by Hg. What will be different will be the symptoms caused directly by the Hg vs. those caused directly by the O-Cls or O-Ps. Similarly, a person living in a house full of mold, and therefore chronically exposed to MVOCs and Mycotoxins will exhibit immune problems, Dysbiosis, mineral and vitamin deficiencies, imbalanced liver detoxification and therefore metal intoxification.
I am very familiar with hair analysis for trace elements and it is an excellent technique to diagnose Hg poisoning, in the event that Hg levels are high. A low Hg level and a disturbed mineral household however does not exclusively indicate Hg poisoning for the above reasons. It may indicate that the patient's Hg detoxification pathways are damaged or it may indicate the presence of an altogether different mechanism that has either damaged the immune system or caused dysbiosis directly.
There's no doubt that Hg poisoning is a huge, huge problem far greater than currently acknowledged. Almost everyone on the planet has Hg levels that can potentially cause ill health. However there are also a whole bunch of other synthetic chemicals where chronic exposure can trigger very similar symptoms.
In Anne's case, the problem could be Hg, but it equally well could be caused by Nickel exposure, compounded by an oversensitive immune system
My background BTW is in clinical pathology and environmental chemistry. I also treated myself for Mercury poisoning.



Steve,
thanks for your detailed which was *very* interesting.

I'm not going to respond to each of your points because frankly what you say sounds very plausible.

I'm glad you agree with the usefulness of hair testing (with regard to Hg). Unfortunately many people are ignorant of this, despite many references in the literature which attest to this.

But the subject of low hair mercury which you raise is an interesting one. I recommend that you get hold of the paper: "Reduced Levels of Mercury in First Baby Haircuts of Autistic Children" by Holmes, Blaxill and Haley. Boyd Haley is perhaps the world s most emminent mercury toxcitiy researcher.

On comparing hair mercury of autistics with respect to age-matched controls:
"Hair mercury levels were 0.47 ppm [in autistics] versus 3.63 ppm in controls"

Not only this but hair mercury level was indicative of the degree of toxicity - the more severe the autism, the lower the hair mercury:
"Within the autistic group hair mercury levels varied significantly across mildly, moderately and severely autistic children, with mean group levels of 0.79, 0.46, and 0.21 ppm, respectively."

Thanks for explaining your background. You clearly know what you are talking about. I would be very interested to know how you came to diagnose and treat your own mercury toxicity.

Hi Chandler,

Yes I'm familiar with the research on low Mercury levels in the hair samples of autistic children.... hence my comments about poor Mercury excretors.

In my case I found Mercury after I tested myself for everything I could think of and found impaired immune system, severe dysbiosis and candida overgrowth. I checked for any type of environmental toxin that could cause immuno-toxicity and tried a DMPS challenge, which revealed very high Hg levels as well as an immune hypersensitivity, which mandated very slow chelation. I used oral DMPS and DMSA....the lower the Hg levels became, the more I reacted adversely to the Chelation with increasingly severe blistering of mucous membrane
My daughter had the same symptoms but in her case it was caused by pesticides and fungicides used in the varnish of her bedroom furniture and a carpet.

I must say I am interested in reading more about gentle chelation based on ALA, as DMPS eventually caused such severe blistering that I'm afraid to use it again. My experience with Mercury chelation showed that it is very difficult to reduce the total body burden and that periodic mild chelation would be beneficial in order to maintain constantly low levels of 'physiologically active' Hg
I believe that some Mercury is stored in a way that simply doesn't get pulled out during chelation but that causes bio-available Hg levels to gradually increase again over time. The lower the body burden, the longer it takes for Hg levels to rise, so gentle periodic chelation would be a benefit, so long as it was safe



Steve,
very interesting post - especially the bit about the blistering of your mucous membranes.

According to Cutler neither DMSA or DMPS enter cells - they only mop up mercury outside of the cell, which means they are not that useful for clearing up the brain, guts & liver etc. once the extracellular mercury has been cleared.

Dr Rashid Buttar who as you know is a big advocate of DMPS also says something similar to you about mercury "hiding" or being inaccessible, and that DMPS relies on mercury redistributing and coming out of its own accord (before it can be cleared by DMPS).

This fits in very nicely with Cutler's claim that only ALA (not DMSA/DMPS) can clear the cells and brain of Hg.

I wonder if the blistering was caused by mercury being induced out of the cells (due to lowered gradient) without actually being chelated. So the mercury was being pulled out, but in a highly volatile way hence causing damage.

By the way did you do any biochemical interventions on your daughter, or did you just remove the offending materials?

.


When I had the blistering from the DMPS it started as tingling on my face, followed by the development of large red patches on my skin, following the line of the jawbone.

I also suffered mental mood related problems (paranoia and depression) then finally the blistering developed. I looked like Dracula when all the membranes around my eyelids turned bright red!

I cannot prove conclusively that DMPS only acts intracellularly but given the way that urine levels would drop after DMPS treatment then creep up again over the following months, there's certainly a possibility that it was not able to reach all the sequestered Hg

Re my daughter, after we discovered the pesticides, she received various glutathione precursors, natural whey products and a comprehensive course of anti-oxidants.
She was very sensitive for several moths after treatment but having lived in a pesticide free environment for several years is much less sensitive now.

Although I no longer suffer symptoms and can train regularly I still believe there's more Hg I could mop up. The only problem I still suffer is period word-loss, which is frustrating and I'm not sure at really at my peak so I wouldn't mind trying the ALA detox plan.... how should I proceed in as mild and safe a way as possible?



Steve,
Sorry I didn't have time to reply yesterday.

Paranoia and depression can either be a sign that you are chelating too fast (or more likely) of redistribution.

When you were doing DMPS, what kind of dosage schedule were you following?

To do ALA, its really not that hard. Start off on about 25mg of ALA. Take every 3 hours including at night(every 4 hours is ok at night).

Do this for at least 3 days in a row (longer is fine).

You can then take a break (again as long as you want) until the next round. Typical break times are 4 days or 11 days (so you are chelating every week or every 2 weeks).

The important thing is the supplements you need to take during chelation. If you look at my s to Ann (just below) that mentions pretty much everything (including dosages).

The only other form of support that might be useful is adrenal support (perhaps in the form of glandulars). According to Cutler the number 1 mistake people make when chelating is not taking any/enough adrenal support.

Finally many people feel better when they end a around with either DMSA or DMPS - it reduces the redistribution within the cells and brain, so fewer side effects.

.


....many reasons why trace minerals are out of balance

infections, alcoholism, liver disease, environmental exposure, malabsorbtion, missing co-factors, excess detoxification.

Low hair Hg and mineral imbalance could be Mercury related but could just as easily indicate low Hg and some other disorder listed above.

I agree with most of what you posted but just wanted to keep your mind open to this possibility.




Thanks Chandler,

Mercury is a problem but not as much as Nickel, the lab was specific that Nickel was the culprit metal. I have used four bottles of NDF (metal chelator) but i am losing tolerance to it, cant use any of the others because of ABSOLUTE sulphur intolerance. I am wondering if the reason my results were worse was not because of ongoing exposure, but because i was taking NDF at the time of testing and it was releasing nickel from deeper tissue. Anyway, bought some cast iron pans yesterday to replace stainless steel, even removed medic alert bracelet as it was stainless steel. I have doubled zinc and began saunas again, so i hope this will speed things up. There just isnt much info on chelating Nickel.

Ann

P.S. low levels of mercury are associated with *higher* mercury toxicity (e.g. see the work of Bernard et al.). Basically the really toxic people have difficulty excreting mercury. So my guess is that you are mercury poisoned. A hair test would confirm this.

Also NDF is not a chelator. It may even make things worse (which it seems to be doing in you).

Sulphur intolerance is again a very good sign of mercury poisoning.

Taking zinc is good. Saunas may or may not help, but shouldn't be the main therapy when combatting mercury. For that you need a *real* chelating agent.



Chandler,

The hair test seems like a good idea, but i am having a test done through Biolab called DNA adducts, Dr says this test will tell me IF Nickel is responsible for ongoing probs, if this doesnt help i will do the hair test.

I had Nickel crown removed and a couple of amalgams replaced last March, so mouth is now metal free. I think your right about the NDF making matters worse, i think it is stirring the metals up without eliminating them, recently when i take half a dose i burn all over, i feel like a radiator, and this is getting worse each time i take it.

I took Diflucan for three weeks and didnt feel that well on it, but looking back i think as the candida was getting killed it was releasing metals, also had green almost black stools that had a metallic odour!

Do you know how long it takes metals to leave the body naturally on their own, without any chelating?

Are there any metal chelators that are not sulphury? If i take a miniscule anount of sulphur it binds to the metals already stored in my kidneys and makes me VERY ill for three weeks.

Thanks Again
Ann



Anne,
my advice is to do the hair test anyway. Its cheap, quick and *very* informative.

Stirring up metals is a good description of things like NDF - they bind to metals enough to stirr them, but not enough to chelate them.

The (chemical/medical) definition of a chelator is a substance which forms *two or more* bonds to a metal ion. Only a few substances fulfill this definition. The word chelator is used willy-nilly by the alternative medical community for pretty much any substance which binds to metal. Most of these substances will simply stir the metals around your body.

Killing candida is not a good idea if you are metal poisoned - it will make you feel *very* toxic and is ultimately futile. The candida is a symptom of the metals (not the other way around). Also as you point out it is thought that candida can bind to toxic metals and can release them if you try to kill it off.

Get rid of the metals and the candida will disappear on its own.

Without any chelating mercury takes forever to leave the body (i.e. decades or longer). Most of it is tied-up in the brain (where it messes with your endocrine system). Mercury doesn't leave the brain on its own because of the blood-brain barrier.

Before I recommend a chelator I need to know 1. what kind of supplements you are taking and 2. what kind of schedule you will be chelating according to.

There is one chelator in particular that doesn't go via the kidneys, but excretes mercury via bile. But before you start chelating you need to educate yourself on what supps to take, and what dosage schedule to use.

Chelation done properly is pretty straight forward. Chelation done improperly is very painful.


Thanks Chandler,

One thing i forgot to mention is Vit E test result:

Delta-tocopherol <100 (ref range 120 350)
Gamma-tocopherol 0.10 (ref range 2 - 8.5)
Alpha tocopherol 27 (ref range 25 - 60)
This is yet another thing that makes me beleive Nickel is my problem. It is known to interfere with Vit E absorption.

The supplements i have tried without success are: Glutathione, VIT E!!, Cysteine, MSM, Epsom Salts, Flaxseed, Psyllium.

For last 19 months can only eat meat four veg and two fruits.

Supplements i do take are: Folic acid, Vit C, Vit B6, Vit B12, Vit D, Molybdenum, Selenium, Zinc, Magnesium Glycinate, Cranberry Plus and Trace Minerals, Sun Chlorella, just added Vit A and resumed Milk Thistle and Glutamine.

I could meet ANY schedule, i am prepared to do whatever it takes to safely get my health back.

Ann


Glutathione, Cysteine, chlorella and MSM are all sulphur compounds and can stirr mercury around. These should be discontinued.

Although glutathione is the body's main natural detoxifying compound, too much can cause mercury to bounce around. The best way to maintain your glutathione levels is to regenerate it using Vitamin C (take 3 times a day).

You can combine your b vits (b6, b12 and folic acid) by just taking a good multi-b vitamin - e.g. solgar.

Mercury people sometimes have difficulty with Vit A, so if you get any -ve reactions discontinue. Personally I prefer to get mine from plenty of butter.

Over all you are taking a good range of supps. In particular zinc, milk thistle, magnesium, selenium, Vit C are key. You could probably do with taking Vit E too as this regenerates Vitamin C.

The fat soluble stuff can be taken once a day. But the water soluble vitamins should ideally be taken 2-3 times a day.

If you list dosages I can tell you if you are taking too much (or more likely too little). Mercury toxic people need to take supranormal levels of supps.

If you want to drop something additional (other than the things which stir mercury), I would drop the glutamine, cranberry, and possibly the vitamin A.

Consider adding the following: Fish oils (many,many health benefits), CoQ10 (for increased cellular energy), Chromium (to balance blood sugar - merc. toxic people tend to be hypoglycemic).

There are a few chelation schedules out there which work, but only one which is safe - that is basically following the work of Andy Cutler.

The idea behind it is to maintain constant blood levels of the chelator. Reason being that every time blood levels of a chelator drop you get a redistribution of mercury - i.e. side effects. These can be very unpleasant and in extreme cases can lead to permanent neurological damage - e.g. see the website www.dmpsbackfires.com

The Cutler protocol is safe because you start out with a low dose of the chelator and keep taking it at regular intervals to maintain a steady blood level. This way you minimize side-effects from chelation.


Chandler, the odd thing is after dental metal clean up my Glutathione levels went to a good - normal.

I will start to take Vit C 3X a day.

Red Cell Nickel 8.5 (ref range less than 5)

Red Cell Magnesium 2.05 (ref range 2.8 - 3.00)

Red Cell Zinc 217 (ref range 210 - 255)

Red Cell Selenium 66 (ref range 66 - 132)

I have been taking the above supplements for months all at full dose, I take them in liquid form, Biocare (Nutrisorb and Vitasorb) they are the only ones i can tolerate, i have just doubled Zinc from 10 drops to 20, is this safe? I have also tried and tried to take Vit E, i blammed it been derived from soya, but this wasnt the problem, i bought some that wasnt derived from soya and had the same awfull kidney pain, NAUSEA, all over poisoned feeling, even a little on my tonue did it, its almost unbeleivable!

I have some H&B EPA, will these be ok? i have been worried about taking them in case of metal contamination. Also, thanks for the warning about the Vitamin A, i have only introduced it recently, so i will be cautious.

I do have blood sugar problems before supper it is around 3.5, but has been as low as 2.9, so i will def try to get some liquid Chomium, or is there a special type? I will also look for some CoQ10.

I have seen the Andy Cutler protocol, i dont think i would tolerate the ALA as it is sulphury. I am hoping that by doing LOTS of IR Saunas i might bring the overall body burden down to a level were i can tolerate ALA, do you think this is a possibility?

You seem very well well informed, have you had a metal problem? if so how are you doing?

Ann


Ann,
20 drops of zinc should be fine. If anything you are probably not getting enough minerals, but without knowing dosages (in mg) I can't tell you. If you want me to comment on dosages tell me how much (in mg) you are taking per day.

Minerals will remain (somewhat) low despite supplementation, although supps will make you feel better. Your minerals are screwed up because of Mercury. Until you get rid of the mercury don't expect to see total normality.

Which brands of vit E have you tried? Have you tried Biocare's tocotrienols?

I'm not a big fan of H&B. Let me put that another way - they are crap. I get my supps from nutricenter. Presumably you are a member of the UK Candida society - in which case you get 25% off all purchases made from nutricenter.

You are right to be worried about metal contamination in fish oil. Most of the UK supps are quite poor in this regard. Nordic naturals do an excellent range of fish oils which are molecularly distilled. You can either order from iherb (in the US) or from nutricenter over the phone (for some reason nutricenter don't show the full nordic range in their online database).

If blood sugar is a problem you need to be taking at least 500-600mg of chromium a day. This has worked wonders for me.

CoQ10 is very expensive in the UK and much cheaper if ordered from the US - e.g. see iherb.

If you are toxic, metals don't drop over time. At least if you don't chelate. If you do chelate then not only will the metals drop, but your tolerance to treatment will improve. So start off on a very low dose, and build up as appropriate. I have managed to quadruple the dose I can tolerate in a few months.

Saunas won't remove mercury from your brain (which is where it is doing the most damage). In order to cross the blood brain barrier the mercury needs to be chelated out with ALA.

Forgot to mention if you have thyroid/adrenal problems then you ideally need to be doing something about these. Its a big topic, but e.g. taking glandulars would do the trick.

Hope that answers some of your questions.

.



Chandler, thanks for all the info.

The Biocare liquid Vits and Mins come in 15ml size bottles. They have a high absorption rate:

Selenium take rec dose one drop = 90ugMolybdenum take rec dose one drop = 200ugZinc rec dose 10 drops = 7.5mg (take 20)B6 (pyridoxine) take rec dose 10 drops = 10mg B12 (hydroxycobalamine) take
rec dose 5 drops = 25ugVit C (ascorbic acid) rec dose 4 drops = 30mg i take 4x thisFolic Acid take rec dose one drop = 200ug

I have tried several brands of good quality Vit E, inc Biocares, i cant even take their mutltivitamin because i react to the Vit E in that.

I had no idea that been a member of the UK candida society could save 25% at nutricenter, i order somethings from them on a regular basis, so i will look into this, thankyou.

Where do you get your Chromium? Biocare do one called chromium polynicotinate (liqiud) 150ug per drop, would that be ok? i know i am very low in it (i think from the OAT test) but it says not to be taken by diabetics, i am not diabetic but i get kidney pain/blood in urine, low blood sugar.

Ann


Ann,
Your dosages are very low.

Molybdenum Cutler recommnends 1000 ug a day,

Also for a mercury toxic person you should be getting the following dosages:
Zinc 50-100mg a day,
B6 50-100mg per day, (as part of a multi b-vit)
Vit C 1-5g a day,

The biocare chromium sounds ok (chromium is much of a muchness). I can't really comment on liquid vitamins per se because they aren't something I've taken.

Chromium is *exactly* the thing which diabetics need (to balance blood sugar), so I'm not sure why anyone would contraindicate it (unless they are talking about insulin dependent diabetes, in which case the "problem" is that chromium is so effective at balancing blood sugar that it will alter medication requirements).

The kidney pain/ blood in urine I would get checked out by someone who is medically qualified. That sounds serious, and I'm not qualified to give advice on that.

My guess is that all of the Vit E supps you have been taking have been d-alpha tocopherol. You should certainly give mixed/natural tocotrienols a try as these are a different form of Vit E. Briefly tocotrienols more closely resemble the form vitamin E is found in nature.

Look up "tocotrienols" on nutricenter and you should get the biocare supp (this is different from their other vitamin e supplements).



Chandler, I have ordered some Kirkman CoEnzyme Q10 and some Biocare liquid Chromium.

My whole illness began March 04, with two EXTREMELY bad bladder infections, so bad, everything swelled up and i could hardly go to the loo, was prescribed antibiotics but they didnt help at all, the swelling/irritation took three weeks to subside. On both accasions i had eaten bacon the night before, i am fine with pork, the only thing different was the nitrates/nitites used to preserve it, i think it caused some sort of chemical reaction with the metals that were in my mouth, both times i was going to empty my bowels six times a day green volumous stools!! my body was trying its best to get rid of the poison, i had NEVER had anything like this before. Two consultants diagnosed IBS!!! but by now i had become intolerent to ALL foods but meat and my veges, hair was falling out in handfulls and weight had plummeted, nausea was so bad i retched over food.

All NHS kidney tests were normal, ultrasound of kidneys, liver, spleen, small bowel, endoscopy/colonoscopy etc normal The blood in urine happens with sulphury things (but not broccli or cabbage) the kidney pain comes a week later and lasts two to three weeks, i feel like acid is running through all my veins.

I know well i have an extreme topical allergy to Nickel even with the SLIGHTEST contact, and the bladder probs and aftermath are the same, its like my urinary tract is reacting when sulphur drags nickel through my kidneys.

I have tried mixed tocotrienols, i consulted with a enviro/nutritional doc in York, he gave me two brands to try, even though i was very carefull they crippled me. i have read on PubMed that Nickel interferes with vitamin E absorption and leaves a deficiency.

I am going to get lots of IR Saunas, they make me feel very weak, i think the Chromium might help a little with this.

Today i posted the DNA adducts test back to Biolab, so soon i will have an idea what i am dealing with.

At some stage i would like to try ALA, is there a favourite brand? people like?

Thanks

Ann


Ann,
Ok nickel does seem to be a problem for you. Although I would still be surprised if mercury wasn't part of the problem too (so don't rule it out).

But clearly you have a unique set of circumstances surrounding your health issues.

As far as IR Saunas go you should know that they are contraindicated in the Cutler protocol. According to Cutler they are dangerous for metal toxic people - which is possibly why they make you feel worse. From what I understand regular saunas are fine, but I recommend you investigate this issue further.

Brands don't seem to matter when it comes to ALA. What matters is finding something which is low dose (difficult to find), and can be easily split.

A reasonable starting dose for ALA would be 25mg or even lower.

You need to take a dose every 3 hours - this includes night time too where you must wake up to take your dose, so get a good alarm clock. Actually at night every 4 hours is acceptable.

A typical schedule would be something like 3 days on and then 4 days off. Some people do 3 days on 11 days off.

Cutler advises that a person only chelate on ALA half the time since ALA reduces biliary excretion of copper, zinc and methylmercury - so there is a (theoretical) risk of these becoming elevated in continuous chelation.

I recommend you find out as much as you can about the Cutler protocol.

Hope that helps,



Just for your info, both Bill Rae and Sherry Rodgers, 2 of the most experienced environmental physicians in the US have the greatest success in reducing Mercury with FIR Sauna. Don't ask me the mechanism, but it does seem to activate metals very effectively. Both recommend de-tox cocktails of anti-oxidants and lots of mineral water.... obviously its important to detoxify and excrete the metals released during the sauna, For more information on FIR Sauna and detox cocktains check out Sherry Rodger's book, Detoxify or Die

Yes Chandler, i appreciate your help, i am now looking forward to starting the supplements when they arrive.

Thanks Again
Ann






Chandler, The odd thing is my Glutathione levels returned to a good - normal after dental Metal clean up, i really think the NDF must have dragged MORE metals out of hiding since the previous test to give me such a disapointing result. I will start to take Vit C three X a day. All the Vitamins and Minerals i take are from Biocare (liquid) Vitasorb and Nutrisorb, these are the only ones i can tolerate, apart from the Mag Glycinate which is caps. I take them all at FULL doseage, but a couple of days ago doubled the Zinc from 10 drops to 20, do you think this is safe?

Red Cell Mag 2.05 (ref range 2.08 - 3.00)

Red Cell Zinc 217 (ref range 210 to 255)

Red Cell Selenium 66 (ref range 66 - 132)

All still low despite supplementation.Red Cell Nickel 8.5 (ref range up to 5)

I am sure i read that Nickel has a short half life in the blood (hours) so i cant understand wherer it is draining from all this time after dental clean up.

I have tried and tried to take Vit E, at first i blammed it been derived from soya, but this wasnt the prob, i got some that wasnt derived from soya and i had the same awfull kidney pain, NAUSEA etc.

Will H&B EPA fish oil be ok? its the only one i could find without added Vit E, i bought some, but havent used any because i was worried about metal contamination. I will also get some CoQ10. Blood sugar has been a real problem, at supper time it is around 3.5 but has been as low as 3, so i will see if Biocare do a liquid Chromium. I only started the Vit A recently, so i will be cautious, thanks for warning me.

Andy Cutler uses ALA, i dont think this would suite me as i think it is sulphury. I just seem to be in limbo!! Do metals drop to a level (OVER TIME, after amalgam removal etc) where ALA can be used without adverse reactions? I am hoping that saunas might help me acheive this level.

You are so well informed, have you had metal probelms? if so, how are you doing now?

Thanks

Ann


Ann,
I don't know what kind of tests the lab were using, but I wouldn't pay too much attention to it. Most labs don't have a clue when it comes to metal toxicity.

I seriously doubt that nickel is your underlying problem. What nickel is, is a marker for mercury poisoning.

Mercury poisoning causes candida, cfs, adrenal fatigue, elevated nickel, liver stress etc.

If you have a hair test done from mineral check: http://www.mineralcheck.com/mineral.htm

then I can interpret it for you and tell you whether you are mercury poisoned or not. If you are mercury poisoned then the elevated nickel is most likely just a symptom of this.

How does that sound?