Dear Orchidians,
Anyone have first hand info on mercury toxicity. I was tested and I
have it. Don’t know the source yet. Search engines I used mostly are
people selling products.
Richard in Denver
Dear Richard, I did a search on mercury toxicity on MSN and there
were quite a few articles. The main theory is that if you have old
silver fillings it maybe a source for the mercury. The most non-bias
site I found was http://www.thorne.com/townsend/oct/mercury.html I
hope this is helpful. Good luck.
http://www.ixquick.com had alot of info just search under the term
“mercury toxicity” I page through it fast but looked like some
interesting topics!!! FROM 100 degree hot and drrrrrrrrrry pueblo
colorado
Rick Sindeband
Skystone and Silver
web http://www.skystoneandsilver.com
Richard, Are you using mercury free solder? A good source of
for you would be the University of Colorado School of
Medicine library. Anyone can go in to research Look for
Goodman and Gillman’s Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics. There
should be an entire section on mercury toxicity. The latest edition
(10th) starts on page 1857 to 1862. You should seek treatment from
your physician for this. If he is unaware of what to do, call the
college of pharmacy at U of C. You need to find the source of this
ASAP. It will go into the brain with resulting possible psychosis if
the situation (exposure) is not stopped. It needs to be purged from
your system as quickly as possible. I’d also suggest calling your
local poison control center, number available in your phone book.
They can also help. I’m sorry if this sounds so drastic. I’m not
trying to alarm you but mercury toxicity is nothing to let slide.
Please take action quickly. Sue and Harry (RN, and Ph.D. and MD
student)
Richard, check out Google - just plug in “mercury toxicity”. I did
it and there are heaps of sites - some having to do with amalgam
fillings, others with “heavy metal”. Don’t know anything about the
veracity of any of them, but might make for interesting reading and
you just might find something helpful there.
How many fillings do you have in your teeth??? The “silver” ones
are up to 60% mercury.
JD
MidLife Crisis Enterprises
C.T. Designs (sculptures)
Maiden Metals (foundry)
MLCE.net (web site)
P.O. Bx 44
Philo, CA 95466
Mercury has many potential sources.
ALL “Silver Fillings” are approximately 50 % plus mercury. I believe
some states are now requiring dentists by law, to inform patients of
this toxic metal, which is being put into the patients teeth,
unbeknownst to the patient, under the guise of silver amalgam
filling
Most fish, especially salmon and tuna have mercury.
Many grains have mercury, which is from fungal spraying the grain
silos. Edible Kelps may have mercury.
Many injections have mercury preservative solutions.
Some paints, especially marine types, have mercury and the list goes
on and on and on.
Your Internet search on google should find info under - - mercury
toxicity, mercury poisoning sources, mercury contamination, mercury
poisoning, mercury chelation therapy, etc…
Good luck
RnL
Richard
I don’t have first hand experience but here are some web sites on the
subject.
http://www.ephca.com/metals.htm
http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic813.htm
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/mercury0711.html
There are many more, just search using ‘mercury toxicity’. I was a
fisherman in California for many years. you have to be aware of
mercury as it is in the fish that you catch. As a matter of fact the
California Fish and Game supplies a booklet with locations to watch
for and how many fish can safely be eaten per month taken from various
locations. Most of the locations of dangerous levels of mercury are
in the older gold mining areas of California. I also did a five
summer stint of gold dredging in California with my brother. During
this time period I got to see first hand the mercury contamination of
the rivers. For those of you who do not know what gold dredging is I
will explain. A dredge can be broken down to four major units, the
vacuum hose and sluice box, the floatation unit, the pump and power
source (a gas engine of some kind) and finally the hookah gear - air
pump, hose and regulator. The underwater miner/operator is supplied
air through the hookah setup and operates the hose like a big vacuum
sucking up as much of the rock and sand that will fit through the
opening of the hose (openings range from 1.5" to 10". The vacuum is
powerful enough to pull rocks about 1" smaller in diameter than the
hose opening. The rock and sand is pulled up the hose and is sent
through the sluice box (on the surface of the water)which separates
the heavier material from the lighter material (washing away the
lighter material). The whole idea is to punch a hole down to the gold
which is very close to if not resting on the bedrock. This is where
the mercury contamination is most noticeable. When you find gold
nuggets that look like platinum, apply a few drops of hydrochloric
acid and it magically turns to gold you realize it was mercury
coating the gold nugget. Another hint are the mercury ‘balls’ that
start to roll down the river on the bedrock, after you have disturbed
there resting place. These were common occurances, not just isolated
cases, we found mercury in every deposit. This is also something that
those of you who use natural gold nuggets in your jewelry should
consider. Mercury and gold will combine into an amalgam, and for a
nugget to be coated with mercury means the amalgam is overly
saturated with mercury. Using hydrochloric acid only removes the
mercury from the surface leaving behind the mercury inside the nugget.
Heat is the only way to remove the mercury without destroying the
nugget, and doesn’t just about everyone use a torch to make nugget
jewelry. If you want to play it safe (because most miners today do not
treat their nuggets) you can ‘roast’ the nuggets using a cast iron
fry pan and Coleman stove outside/down wind of you. Of course the fry
pan will no longer be useful for food. Or you can do what some of the
old miners did back in the 1850s. Take a large potato cut in half
long-wise and cut out a small pocket in one half. Place the nuggets
in the pocket cover with the other potato half, wrap wire around the
potato to keep halves together and place in an open pit fire for an
hour or so. The heat will drive the mercury out of the nuggets and
the potato will absorb the mercury. The sad part about this is that
not all the mercury found is from the old miners but from the newer
miners that only care about profits. Well enough of my soapbox.
T. Timms
@Thomas_Timms
AZ USA
Lots and lots of dental “research” articles exist on the pros and
cons of dental amalgams. I’ve not read a single one that didn’t
contain either some inherent bias or some obvious exclusion of fact
that made them not valid as a true research article. This applied to
both the pro and the con side of the arguement. How do I know this?
I’m a dentist. It’s my business to know. I could pick apart that
one article mentioned below, but there is no real need in that.
Instead let me tell you this. Most “metal allergies” associated with
dental amalgams have very little to do with mercury, and more to do
with the presence of nickel. Periodontal disease is a different
entity altogether, and is pathologic, not environmental in
origin…meaning it’s bacteria that are the causitive problem, not a
filling or crown.
That said…I don’t routinely replace amalgams in my practice. I
still place dental amalgam on a very regular basis, and have utmost
confidence in the material. If you need a new filling and have a
problem with dental amalgams, let your dentist know. In some cases a
tooth colored filling is an alternative, but I don’t recommend having
all your dental amalgams removed, as some of the studies show that
you’re exposed to more reactive mercury products during the removal
of an amalgam than you would be if it stayed in your mouth for 20
years or better.
Best advice…brush your teeth, floss the ones you want to keep,
and don’t smoke.
David A. Cowling, DDS
If you have not already done so, it would be prudent to follow up
with your physician and get the dx of mercury toxicity validated by
blood and/or urine tests. Hair analysis is not always accurate, and
if you don’t believe you have been exposed to mercury, you would be
wise to make sure that you actually have this condition prior to
seeking treatment.
For what it’s worth, there have been several posts to this newsgroup
over the years from folks who appear to have been assigned a
questionable diagnosis of metal toxicity on the basis of hair
analysis, apparently to hook them into paying for chelation therapy.
– Lee Einer
Dear Orchidians,
I posted a request as I have been diagnosed with mercury in my system
and I was looking for a first hand response from someone who actually
has had mercury toxicity and had found a way to remove it, hopefully
with other than anecdotal evidence. Like, you are tested, you have
it, you do some therapy, are tested again and it’s lowered or gone.
My symptoms are lethargy, brain fog, headache, spastic colon,
nausea, profound change in lowered energy level. I can look back and
see a pattern of mental confusion progressing and getting tired much
easier. My diagnosis is from blood testing.
I am not interested in adding to the confusion expressed on some
other subjects that I witness on this board, such as the creation of
a thread on a discussion about mercury fillings. I have heard,
probably as you all have, the current opinions pro and con. When
there is such diverse opinion with what I consider a lack of excepted
agreement between all dentists, then its just a guess as to what
someone should do. If it isn’t measurable and repeatable, it ain’t a
fact to me. Seems incongruious to use a toxic substance in our
mouthes if there can be the possibility of a problem of it getting
into our tissue and remaining.
I appreciate the replys and the posted so far. I still
would like an actual live person who went through this and had
experience.
I did get one great reply about how to do research from Sue and
Harry.
Thanks All, Richard in Denver
Richard, I have never had mercury toxicity. However, my youngest
daughter was born with what seemed to be massive developemental
failure. She was dying and the medical field had no clue. As a
desperate measure we went to a biochemist in Miami - Dr. Jay Foster.
He diagnosed her with fatal levels of lead, cadmium and aluminum.
Within 30 days of treatment to remove these heavy metals she began
developing at a fantastic rate - caught up with her 18 month old
peers and never looked back. That was in 1984, and she is a
beautiful and healthy 19 year old today.
My suggestion is to find a practicing biochemist in your area or
give Dr. Foster a call. I don’t have his number, but he was a
pioneer in the field and is still practicing in Miami - information
should have it. If you want to contact me off-list I would be happy
to discuss it.
Jim Marotti
Lancaster, TN
e-mail: @jmarotti
One of the more common ways people get it here in Minnesota -
especially up around Lake Superior - is from eating a lot of fish.
Mercury tailings were dumped or leaked into the lake from the iron
mining process.
Hi, My mother was “diagnosed” with having mercury in her system as an
underlying cause to her health problems. This was through a
naturapath. I think alot about your situation depends on who did the
diagnosing and what their treatment was. My mom had 'cleansing"
treatments and had every filling (a lot of them!) replaced as part of
this treatment. She passed away anyway, I don’t think mercury had
anything to do with her situation.
On the other hand I live in Chicagoland where there were a fair
number of mercury poisonings due to a big scandal with nicor and
defective water meters removed from homes improperly. I very clearly
remember an acquaintance of mine who had two neighbors with the
problem. They were moved out of their home…given a special diet and
their home was cleaned by haz-mat teams. I know 6 months later they
were given a good prognosis and this was all through traditional
medicine. There may also have been chelation therapy involved, my
mother underwent that as a part of removing excess iron from her
blood stream for another problem. That is a fairly involved procedure
that is not as simple as some people believe, but it was effective.
Hope that wasn’t too anecdotal…I would probably get a couple of
opinions from experts. My mom was using Loyola, a very well know
teaching hospital in Chicago and there were still some questions
about appropriate treatment.
Best of Luck,
Karen
There is a great deal of misbeing distributed about
mercury poisoning by those who make a great deal of MONEY "treating"
the condition that they have diagnosed. So-called ‘chelation
therapy’ is a rarely used, legitimate medical technique for some rare
medical conditions. Certainly, real mercury poisoning DOES exist, but
please watch out for quack ‘medicine.’ David Barzilay, Lord of the
Rings