3 OTHER TOXIC METALS
You can get poisoned from other metals, too. Sometimes people have lead, occasionally they have other metals, but most often they just have mercury.
People will often get confused by a laboratory test or what a doctor has told them and believe they have a mixed metal intoxication. With the exception of lead, this is seldom true. However, once a person has accumulated enough mercury, their body’s detoxification systems will stop working properly so other toxic elements may accumulate.
The most common toxic elements other than mercury are aluminum, arsenic, antimony, copper, cadmium and lead. These toxicities can have many features in common and, as with mercury, symptoms vary from person to person. The poisons are synergistic, so a mixed-metal intoxication will make a person exponentially sicker than mercury on its own. Each metal adds its own signature symptoms to the situation, but the most common picture is simply one of mercury poisoning.
Non-specific symptoms typical of heavy metal problems are:
• headaches
• fatigue
• restlessness
• insomnia
• drowsiness
• vertigo
• listlessness
• malaise
• abdominal pain
• body aches
• cognitive decline
3.1 Aluminum
Many parents get distressed to see high aluminum levels on a child’s hair test. They worry that they are seeing aluminum buildup from vaccines, Actually, it is a sign that mercury is causing the body to retain aluminum. When the mercury load is brought down with chelation, the aluminum will decrease on its own.
Aluminum build-up may:
• cause confusion and poor mental focus
• cause problems with the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy)
• be a factor in Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias
• be a trigger for sarcoidosis
Aluminum retention can be stopped by excluding it from the diet. You can do this by avoiding baked products that use aluminum containing baking powder and staying away from processed cheeses. You should also avoid uncoated aluminum cooking pots and aluminum containing antiperspirants. The real issue, however, is mercury-induced retention. The solution is mercury detox.
We do not believe that aluminum is behind the epidemic of brain damage that children are experiencing these days. No matter what aluminum level they have, these children improve when they are chelated for mercury.
3.2 Antimony
Antimony is another heavy metal that often accumulates in the presence of mercury. When manufacturers removed lead from paint and plumbing solder, antimony replaced it. It is also a fire retardant used on children’s clothing and toys, carpets, drapes, furniture and firefighters clothing. Firefighters are often heavily exposed. Children absorb antimony much more readily than adults.
Some antimony symptoms are:
• damage to the heart. Heart problems, particularly in a young person, are a reason to check for antimony.
• irritability. Children don’t like to be touched; adults are sulky, sad and distressed.
• magnesium deficiency. Most people with antimony poisoning will need to supplement magnesium. They will show very elevated antimony and magnesium on a hair test.
• suppression of white blood cell levels with neutrophils particularly affected
• slow digestion with gas and colic
• a rash similar to chicken pox
• a propensity to nosebleeds
• fatigue, lethargy, malaise, headaches, and aches and pains
Antimony can be chelated out of the body with alpha lipoic acid, DMSA or DMPS.
3.3 Arsenic
In the USA, arsenic was used in homes to preserve wood until 2003. It is still used for other applications such as insecticides, pyrotechnics, as a hardening agent for lead shot and a food additive in poultry feed. For centuries, it was a common agricultural pesticide and this use was discontinued only about 50 years ago. It is persistent in the environment and a significant number of people get arsenic poisoning. Mercury may make it easier to accumulate arsenic.
Some symptoms of arsenic toxicity are:
• pallor
• short temper and sensitivity to stress
• cancer
• difficulty tolerating carbohydrates which can lead to diabetes
• chemical sensitivity (particularly in people who have toxic levels of arsenic and mercury at the same time)
• peripheral neuropathy
• heart racing and palpitations
• skin problems
• diarrhea
• atherosclerosis
• mental anguish
• magnesium wasting
Arsenic chelates with alpha lipoic acid, DMSA or DMPS in exactly the same way as mercury. Both of these metals can be chelated at the same time. It is not necessary to change the mercury chelation protocol to chelate out the arsenic.
3.4 Cadmium
Cadmium is used in many industrial applications. It can be found in rechargeable batteries, silver jewelry solder and as a coloring agent in oil pigments and ceramic glazes. Cigarette smoking causes significant cadmium exposure both to the smoker and those around them.
While cadmium is frequently elevated on hair tests, it is seldom actually present in toxic amounts. You may need to look into cadmium if you have several of the following symptoms:
• very high cadmium levels on more than one hair test
• enlargement of the heart
• kidney stones
• substantial osteoporosis
• the need to eat carbohydrates often
• an inability to get very excited
• vertigo
• a tendency to shiver easily
Chelating cadmium is slightly different from chelating other metals. It chelates with DMSA but you need to alkalinize your urine while you are doing it. We encourage you to consult Hair Test Interpretation for more detailed information.
3.5 Copper
Copper is an essential element that your body needs in small amounts. Too much, however, is toxic. In men, copper intoxication is indistinguishable from mercury intoxication. Copper toxic women tend to have terrible premenstrual syndrome. Copper does not need to be chelated. Copper levels can be brought down by eliminating sources of exposure such as copper in nutritional supplements. Supplementing with additional zinc and molybdenum and adding additional liver support supplements will also bring copper burden down. People who have too much mercury may also retain copper.
3.6 Lead
Lead poisoning is acknowledged by health authorities and the public. Unlike mercury, nobody would think it is okay to have lead in medical products or your teeth. It is well known that lead exposure lowers IQ in children. It is also well known that toddlers often get toxic by eating paint chips because lead salts taste sweet. In the United States, there are many programs to educate the public about the dangers of lead and programs to remove it from older homes.
There is a lot of lead in the environment, particularly because of lead paint in old houses. A beautiful old American colonial house, for instance, can have hundreds of pounds of lead on its clapboards and columns. Over the years, with scraping and repainting, much of this lead will have contaminated the surrounding soil. Dust inhalation from dry sanding lead painted surfaces, or even surfaces that used to be covered in lead paint, is probably the biggest source of exposure for adults.
In the USA, lead was banned from household paints in 1978. If your house was built before that you should be concerned about poisoning from peeling and chipping paint and cautious about preparing your house for remodeling or repainting.
There are an enormous number of other ways to get exposed such as leaded crystal, lead solder, and leaded gasoline (which is still used in many countries). Lead was commonly used as an agricultural pesticide. Old dishes may have lead glaze, as do many dishes imported from countries without legislation against lead. The red stuff on your car battery is red lead and is easy to absorb. There are myriad other possible sources and many people today have lead poisoning. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that several percent of the adult population of the USA has lead levels in the toxic range.
Some lead symptoms in children are:
• lowered IQ
• hyperactivity
• learning disabilities
• stuttering
Aggression and impulse control problems Adults tend to have:
• irritability
• anger control issues
• glaucoma
• gout
• hypertension
• darkening of the skin
• intestinal colic and gas
Lead chelates with DMSA.