Intergrated Detoxification
As our world has become increasingly polluted a greater toxic load has been placed on our bodies. We are evermore exposed to toxic heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, voltile organic solvents, tobacco smoke, phalates, dioxin, drugs, PCB’s, herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, synthetic hormones and even endotoxins produced in our own bowels by unfriendly bacteria. We are continually exposed to these reactive toxins in the food we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink as well as cosmetic and household products. According to the 2005 report from the CDC’s Environmental Health Laboratory, there are currently 148 chemicals currently found in the blood and/or urine of Americans which is indicative of most western lifestyles.
Toxins can affect just about every system in our bodies resulting in: poor digestion, dysbiosis, fatigue, leaky gut syndrome, decreased immunity, allergies, chemical sensitivities, headaches, loss of hair, hormone imbalances, reproductive failure, respiratory disorders, cancer, depression, dementia, body odour, neurological imbalances, cardiovascular disease, skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema, to name a few.
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Heavy Metal Detoxification
There are a number of heavy metals such as mercury, lead, aluminium and cadmium which are becoming more prevalent in our environment and thus causing greater exposure than ever before. Mercury is known by science to be a very toxic substance. Research has related heavy metal toxicity to numerous health issues such as: allergies, asthma, chronic fatigue, irritable bowl syndrome, sleep disorders, hair loss, dysbiosis, leaky gut syndrome, anxiety, autoimmune disease, endocrine problems, hypoglycemia, arthritis, infertility, Alzheimer’s disease, depression and many more. It acts on the body by binding to sulfur groups, which in turn causes countless issues by interfering with protein-related processes, it also increases homocysteine levels and it also destroys nerve cells.
Sources of mercury can include: amalgam fillings, vaccinations, tuna, shell fish, fungicides, some hair dyes, some paints, coal burning smoke, gardening chemicals and more. If you suffer from any of the symptoms and have been exposed to any source of mercury then you should have your mercury levels tested.
For clarity there are two kinds of mercury. The simple one atom mercury is called “Inorganic Mercury” while the other type of mercury is called “Organic Mercury” which has a hydrocarbon attached to the mercury atom. The organic mercury is considered more dangerous since it can easily penetrate cell walls, is easily absorbed in fatty tissues, and is easily absorbed into nerve and brain cells. For this reason, some feel organic mercury is 100 times more dangerous than inorganic mercury. Sources of inorganic mercury include amalgum fillings while organic mercury can come from fish products, vaccinations or from inorganic mercury in the body (possibly from amalgum fillings) that has been methylated by certain enzymes into the organic form.
Testing for Heavy Metals
Unfortunately normal blood tests are not an accurate means to measure heavy metal levels as they do not stay in the blood for very long before being absorbed into certain fatty body tissues such as the brain, gut and adrenals. Therefore it will not show up in blood tests. Urine tests only show what is being excreted out of the body and is therefore also not very useful for diagnosis. Hair analysis will only detect organic forms of mercury (which is excreted through hair follicles) while inorganic forms go undetected so therefore this test may give a false negative reading in some cases. Since the organic form is the form that concerns us the most some believe that hair analysis is sufficient.
One sure way to determine if you have heavy metal toxicity is to “provoke” them out of your fat stores and tissues and into the blood so they will show up in either blood or 24hr urine tests. They can be “provoked” out of your tissues by using a chelating agent such as meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) or DMPS. 250mg of DMSA is taken on an empty stomach every two hours until 1g has been taken. Urine is collected throughout the day and analyzed for mercury content. Alternately 200mg of DMSA can be taken three times a day on an empty stomach for three days and urine samples collected on day three. I recommend this milder protocol if using this approach as high doses of DMSA can mobilize too much metals causing discomfort to the patient.
Others prefer a number of indirect tests that may possibly indicate heavy metals may be present. The advantage is that you avoid the possibility of provoking too much out of your system which potentially may cause a healing crisis reaction. The disadvantage is there is no direct measure of the heavy metals themselves so you do not know which ones in particular you may have and so targetting them with the appropriate agent is questionable. These tests include: WBC, serum electrolytes, liver function test, RBC intracellular trace minerals, plamsa amino acids, urine organic acid test, to name a few. No matter which way you decide to test for heavy metals there will be certain drawbacks with the method chosen however it is still essential that heavy metal toxicity be diagnosed so the appropriate treatment is obtained.
If the results indicate you are toxic then it needs to be removed from your body. If the source of mercury is from amalgam fillings then they too should be removed by an experienced holistic dentist. All other sources must also be eliminated.
Removal of Heavy Metals
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