MERCURY
by Dr.
Lawrence Wilson
© December 2020, L.D. Wilson
Consultants, Inc.
All
information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment,
prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.
Mercury
is among the most toxic elements known.
It is also the most common heavy metal on the earth today. For this reason, we find that everyone
has some mercury toxicity.
This
article is a brief introduction to mercury, its sources, toxicity,
how to reduce exposure and how we remove it from the body using the development
program. This will remove it
deeply, much better than chelation therapy, in our
experience, and much more safely, as well. For details, read Introduction
To The Development Program.
SOURCES
OF MERCURY
Medications. Mercury is found in some prescription and over-the-counter
remedies. The most important are vaccines. These may contain thimerosal, a mercury compound used as a preservative. One can easily get hundreds of times
the safe amount of mercury due to vaccination. No mercury is safe!
Contact lens solution may also contain mercury.
Dental Materials. Studies demonstrate that each time one bites down on a
mercury filling, some mercury vapor, the most dangerous form of mercury,
escapes. The amount that escapes
is tiny, but it occurs thousands of times each day. It can quickly travel directly to the brain, an organ easily
damaged by mercury.
The
word ÒquackÓ originally referred to doctors and dentists who advocated mercury
amalgams. When mercury amalgams
were invented in 1819, most medical professionals, including the AMA and the
ADA, rejected their use as too dangerous.
However, those who wanted cheap, quick fillings that did not become infected
used them anyway.
The
word for mercury in German is ÒquacksalverÓ. The mercury dentists and doctors were nicknamed ÒquacksÓ by
the more respectable doctors.
Eventually, mercury amalgams were accepted by the AMA
and the ADA. We can only
hope these groups return to their original opinion of this abominable practice.
Is amalgam safer than the toxic composite materials? Our experience is the mercury in the
mouth is much worse. The composites are certainly a little toxic, but
when they cure and harden, which just takes a few seconds or a little longer,
it seems that the toxins are locked in the resin or glue and there are few
problems with them.
Also, strange as it may sound, the human body
seems more able to eliminate the toxic chemicals than it is able to eliminate
metals such as mercury. This may be due, in part, to widespread mineral
malnutrition in the population. When a person is low in all minerals, the
body will sometimes hold on to a toxic metal like mercury because it may be
able to be used, to a degree, in some enzymes. This is certainly true of
cadmium and some other toxic metals.
In
contrast to the composites, the mercury keeps leaking out of the amalgams for
years until the whole filling falls apart. Usually, by then there is
infection in the area, as well, often necessitating more drilling and more
damage to the tooth. Also, the amalgam weakens the tooth, leading to more
breakage of teeth. We suggest
having amalgams replaced, if one can afford it, in all cases.
Large Fish And Shellfish. In addition to drugs and amalgam fillings, the major sources
of mercury exposure for most people are foods from the sea. In particular, large fish that eat smaller fish concentrate mercury up to one
million times in their body fat and other tissues. Tunafish is the most common
source. However, all fish are
somewhat contaminated.
Shellfish,
including clams, mussels, oysters, lobster and shrimp all tend to contain
excessive mercury and may also contain other toxic metals such as cadmium,
arsenic, lead, and even radioactive waste and other contaminants. This makes them basically unfit for
human consumption today.
Other Sources. Many industries use mercury because it is cheap and has many
excellent properties as a fungicide, an excellent electrical conductor and
more. These industries include
electronics, gold mining and the manufacture of paper, chlorine, adhesives,
fabric softeners and waxes.
Among
the hundreds of other common sources of mercury in our environment are bleached
flour, a few Chinese herbs, cleaners including Ajax, Lysol, Comet, Derma Scrub,
Dove Soap, Ivory Liquid, some bleaches, some cosmetics, dyes, paints, inks,
embalming fluid, engraving supplies, exhaust fumes, fabric softeners, feeding
tubes, felt, fertilizers and many more.
As
a result of all this exposure, most children today are born with excessive
mercury in their bodies. Vaccines
add much more and the results are predictable. Mercury easily passes through the placenta so that each
generation today is worse than the previous one. This source (congenital mercury) can be reduced if young
women make an effort to reduce their mercury load before becoming pregnant.
SYMPTOMS
Hundreds
of symptoms may be due to chronic mercury toxicity. The organ most affected is often the brain, and children suffer
the most from many mercury-related disorders. Mercury may be a factor in increasing birth defect rates,
autism and other developmental delays, ADHD and other learning disorders,
anxieties, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive behavior, panic attacks,
neuroses and paresthesias. A medical colleague reports that every case of multiple
sclerosis he has seen involves mercury.
The
Òmat hattersÓ of the Alice In Wonderland
story were real people who worked in the hat industry in the nineteenth
century. Many became mentally ill
due to rubbing mercury on felt or hides to soften it.
Here
is a long list of symptoms and conditions that may be associated with
mercury. Note that mercury
toxicity is usually found with copper toxicity, and perhaps other metal toxicity. So it is not always possible to
separate the cause of the symptoms exactly:
á
Acne -
Opportunistic infections cause by general immune suppression.
á
Addiction. (see below for details about this)
á
Adrenal
insufficiency and burnout.
á
Allergies - Gut wall deterioration via mutated intestinal
flora)
á
Anorexia
á
Apathy,
Feelings of (especially toward property and personal affairs)
á
Asthma
á
Ataxia
á
Autism
(contrary to popular belief, there is very strong medical evidence linking
autism to mercury)
á
Nearsightedness
& Farsightedness (by altering intraocular fluid eye pressure)
á
Autoimmune
Diseases (through methionine mimicry and other
processes)
á
Amylotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
á
Ankylosing spondylitis
á
Arterial
Sclerosis
á
Mercury
activates an enzyme called phospholipase D (PLD) in
cells which line blood vessel walls (endothelial cells). This activation causes
the release of phosphatidic acid which damages the
cells.(2) These damaged cells then accumulate
cholesterol-based plaque leading to arterial sclerosis.
á
Kuopio
Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor (KIHD) study: 2,005 men (ages 42 to 60)
without heart disease are divided into four groups based on hair-mercury
content and tracked for an average of 12 years. Those in the top 25 percent for
hair mercury had a 60% increased risk of death from CVD. Those same men had a
70% increased risk of coronary heart disease.(7)
á
Possibly
homosexual behavior. See https://www.google.com/amp/s/api.nationalgeographic.com/distribution/public/amp/news/2010/12/101203-homosexual-birds-mercury-science
á
Myasthenia
Gravis
á
Parkinson's
Disease
á
Acid
Reflux - Caused by reduced digestive fluid production.
á
Alzheimer's
Disease (See Beating
Alzheimer's) Quote From Book Review: "He had the mercury
removed from his teeth and it did not change things. However,some time later when his gums were x-rayed a tiny
sliver of mercury was found in the gum tissue. He had surgery to remove this
minute piece of mercury and at the moment of its removal he experienced
complete lucidity."
á
Aneurysm
á
Anxiety
á
Attention
Deficit Disorder (ADD)
á
Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
á
Blood
in the Urine
á
Blushing
á
Borderline
Personality Disorder
á
"Brain
Fog"
á
Bruising,
Easy (and other vitamin C deficiency diseases as mercury displaces vitamin C)
á
Bulimia
á
Calcium,
Elevated Blood
á
Cancer
á
Chronic
Fatigue
á
Circadian
Rhythm, Shifted (inability to sleep on a normal schedule)
á
Colitis
á
Constipation
á
Crohn's
Disease
á
Dementia
á
Depression
á
Dermatitis
á
Discouragement
á
Dizziness
(loss of equilibrium)
á
Dysbiosis
á
Elevated
Homocysteine (increases risk of heart disease)
á
Endocrine-Related
Issues
á
Environmental
Illness
á
Enlarged
Prostate (Elevated DHT)
á
Fatigue
á
Flatulence
(gas)
á
Floaters
In the Eyes
á
Fibromyalgia
á
Grinding
Teeth While Sleeping (Bruxism)
á
Gastritis
á
Hair
loss (Balding—Elevated DHT)
á
Headaches
á
Heart
Arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat)
á
Heart
Disease (see Arterial Sclerosis)
á
High
Cholesterol
á
Hypoglycemia
á
Hyperglycemia
á
Hyperacusis (sensitivity to certain sounds)
á
Hypothyroidism
á
Immune
Suppression (weak immune system leading to frequent general illness or numerous
opportunistic infections)
á
Insomnia
á
Iodine
Deficiency
á
Irritable
Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
á
Juvenile
Arthritis
á
Kidney
Damage
á
Leaky
Gut Syndrome
á
Learning
Disabilities
á
Loss
of Self-Control
á
Lupus
Erythematosus
á
Magnesium,
Deficiency
á
Manic
Depressive Disorder
á
Memory
Loss, Short-Term
á
Mole
Formation (especially on the neck, underarms, inner thighs, and feet)
á
Mood
Swings
á
Multiple
Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)
á
Multiple
Sclerosis
á
Nausea
and Vomiting
á
Nervousness
á
Numbness and tingling,Oily Skin (Elevated DHT)
á
Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder (OCD)
á
Outbursts
of Anger
á
Pain In Limbs
á
Panic
attacks
á
Phobias,
General
á
Photophobia
(sensitivity to light from weak iris response)
á
Rashes
á
Rheumatoid
Arthritis
á
Salivating,
Excessive
á
Schizophrenia
Spectrum Disorders
á
Sciatica
á
Self
Esteem, Lack of
á
Shyness
á
Sleep
Disorders
á
Social
Separation/Isolation
á
Suicidal
Thoughts
á
Spider
Veins
á
Selenium
Deficiency
á
Thyroid
Disorders
á
Timidity
á
Tinnitus
(Ringing In the Ears)
á
Tremors
á
Vision,
Loss Of Peripheral vision
á
Vitamin
C Deficiency
á
Weakness,
Muscle
á
Weight
Gain
á
White
Coating On the Tongue
á
Yeast
Syndrome/Candida
á
Zinc Deficiency
Symptoms
may be ill-defined because the exact location and the
amount of mercury vary with each individual. Metal toxicity is unlike many infections that have
well-defined symptom presentations.
DETECTION
Chronic
mercury toxicity does not receive more attention because it is difficult to
detect. Simple blood or urine
tests are practically useless because the body quickly removes mercury from the
blood. It often settles deep in
the tissues of the brain, kidneys and liver.
Urine or feces challenge tests. These are common methods for detecting chronic mercury. Commonly, a dose of DMPS, a chelating
drug that is not very safe, is often administered. Then urine is collected for 24-hour hours and analyzed for
mercury. The test is almost always
ÒpositiveÓ. This is likely because
mercury is high in many sick people.
A
problem with this test are that it misses a lot of
mercury. The drug does not
penetrate the blood-brain barrier very well, so it often misses this key organ
where mercury accumulates.
Hair tissue mineral
analysis. Any hair
level of mercury above about 0.035 mg% is too much, in my experience. However,
mercury does not tend to accumulate in large quantity in the hair, in most
cases. So the hair level alone is
not always a good indicator. Mercury accumulates
in the kidneys and brain, where it can be difficult to identify.
However, there is a
subtle sign of toxicity on a hair analysis called a poor eliminator pattern.
This is a mercury level below about 0.03 mg%. It indicates a
problem eliminating mercury and it is significant, especially if the level is
at 0.01 mg% or less. The lower the level, the worse the toxicity, we
find. I also find that all the
dentists are loaded with mercury, just from the vapors if nothing else.
Even when mercury
comes out of the body on a nutritional balancing program, it usually does not
show up in the hair because it may be eliminated more through the urine than
through the skin and hair, so we can't read it in the hair, unfortunately.
Other detection methods. A few practitioners use electrical
machines or applied kinesiology techniques (muscle testing) to identify mercury
overload. These methods are not
reliable enough, in our view, but may help.
REDUCING
EXPOSURE
1. Eliminate ALL fish from your diet except for 3-4 cans of
sardines per week for adults and less for children. Once in a while you may have other tiny fish such as smelt,
anchovies or herring.
This is sad to have to suggest, but we find that anyone who eats fish,
other than up to 3-4 cans of sardines weekly, will
show high mercury in the hair. For
much more information about sardines, which are an excellent food, please read Sardines on this site.
2.
Avoid All Shellfish. Mercury is
just one reason to avoid all shellfish, even though they are tempting and
formerly were one of my favorite foods.
Shellfish are also often high in cadmium, arsenic, aluminum and many
toxic metals found in the coastal areas of every nation.
3.
Avoid ALL vaccines. Please avoid
ALL vaccines, including flu shots.
This may sound extreme, but I do not think so. ALL Vaccines are filthy concoctions that all contain stray
viruses, toxic metals, preservatives and perhaps other chemicals. It is bad enough to eat these poisons,
but it is much worse to have them shot directly into the body, bypassing the
normal methods the body uses to detoxify poisons.
If you study
vaccination objectively, you will
learn that vaccines are promoted falsely, with very bad science behind
them. The companies that make them
are exempt from legal responsibility because otherwise they would quickly be
sued out of existence.
A number of
vaccines are still preserved with Thimerisal, a form of mercury. It is difficult to know which vaccines have this
preservative in them, and which do not.
Reports on the television news indicate that most doctors and nurses do
not know if their vaccines contain Thimerisal or
other toxic preservatives, so asking your doctor about it is usually not worth
the trouble.
In addition,
there are many other reasons to avoid vaccines, no matter what is promoted on
television and elsewhere. To read
much more about vaccines, please read Vaccination on this
site.
Be careful
researching vaccination on the internet because
hundreds of medically-oriented websites promote vaccines and deride anyone who
questions them. However, they are
not correct, no matter how fancy are the websites and how many websites they
own.
4.
Replace dental amalgams. I suggest
replacing most dental amalgams. This need not be done by a holistic or biological dentist. It can be done by any
dentist who can do the job without vaporizing too much mercury in your mouth. We say this because there is
misunderstanding about this, in our view.
It can be costly if you have a lot of them, but it can be done in
stages. For more on dentistry,
read Biological Dentistry on this site.
Cautions:
1.
If you know or suspect you have an active cancer, do not replace amalgams. The extra mercury vapor that is
released has proven lethal for some cancer patients. It is far better to wait until your cancer is controlled, or
preferably gone altogether before replacing amalgams. With the Kelley metabolic cancer therapy or Cantron, or maybe other methods, some cancers can be
handled naturally without drugs and their side effects. Read Introduction
To Cancer for more information about this important disease.
2. Do not do amalgam removal during the first trimester of pregnancy. Otherwise, the extra mercury from drilling out the fillings could harm the unborn baby.
All the above
are simple, but important steps anyone can take to limit mercury exposure.
REDUCING
MERCURY IN YOUR BODY
Very
briefly, we never recommend chelators such as DMSA,
DMPS, chlorella, cilantro, bugleweed, zeolite and the
others. They are not needed, they
can be toxic and they all unbalance the body chemistry. For details, read Chelation on this site.
A
far gentler, and often more effective method is nutritional balancing science. It is discussed in several articles
including Nutritional
Balancing, Why We Recommend It.
This method is not specific for mercury because in most instances
mercury is just one of a dozen toxic metals and hundreds of toxic chemicals
that plague us.
This
method, however, removes most or all of the toxic metals at once, plus hundreds
or thousands of toxic chemicals as well.
It does this by the following methods, among others, used in a
coordinated and integrated way that maintains the body is an excellent balance
to increase its energy level.
These methods include:
1)
Loads of rest and sleep.
This is critical.
Detoxification always takes energy.
2)
A diet rich in vitamins and minerals. These nutritional factors help the body remove mercury
through the liver, bowel and kidneys, in particular.
3)
NO fruit or other sweet items in the diet, including fruit juices or honey. Sweets, especially for children, tend
to unbalance the body chemistry severely, which hampers detoxification. Unfortunately, many children eat so
many sweets that it can halt mercury elimination in some cases.
4)
Increase Adaptive Energy. This greatly enhances the
bodyÕs ability to excrete all toxic substances. Nutritional balancing science increases energy production by
balancing the electrolyte levels on a properly performed hair mineral analysis.
5)
Activate the skin.
The skin is the largest organ of the body and an excellent eliminative
route for mercury. The best way I
have found to enhance skin elimination is daily use of an infrared light sauna
for several years. After this, one
should only use a sauna once daily several times a week, as one can overdo any
therapy.
Saunas
deserve special mention because they are not part of regular medical care. However, they are highly effective,
very safe if done right, extremely cost-effective and a comfortable therapy for
most people. We do not recommend
them for children under 4 or 5, however, because children can dehydrate faster
than adults. For details, read Sauna
Therapy by this author or work with a professional trained in sauna
use.
6)
Balance The Autonomic Nervous System.
Most people overuse their sympathetic or fight-or-flight nervous
system. This powerfully inhibits
the activity of the eliminative organs such as the liver, kidneys, bowel and
skin. Many simple methods can
reduce sympathetic activity, primarily saunas, meditation, relaxation,
biofeedback, prayer, massage and some forms of bodywork.
7)
Strengthen The Eliminative Organs. An excellent diet, extra
nutrients, herbs, reflexology and other natural methods can help restore the
activity of the liver, kidneys, lungs, skin and intestines. Once again, the sauna excels in this
area by dramatically improving circulation and decongesting the liver and
kidneys.
8)
Antagonists. We
also use mercury antagonists such as zinc, chromium, manganese and selenium as
supplementary nutrients. Our diets
are deficient in these elements in most cases.
MERCURY
ADDICTION
This
is a rather unusual addiction that may be more common than one might
imagine. Those with this addiction
like the feeling they get from eating high-mercury fish, usually, such as tunafish sandwiches or swordfish steaks.
As
their tissue mercury level builds from ingesting too much mercury, these
individual experience:
1.
A spacy or detached feeling that is pleasant. It helps them forget their conflicts
and problems.
2.
They do not think as clearly, but the mind works fast, which they also like.
3.
They also develop yeast in the brain without having to eat much sugar or
starch. The yeast, a candida species, produces alcohol and other neurotoxins that also mellows them and helps them forget
their problems. These are common
effects of mercury toxicity.
As
a result, these people continue to eat more tuna or other large fish, usually,
or perhaps seafood such as shrimp or clams. Unfortunately, mercury is very toxic, so it build up in the brain, the liver, the kidneys and
elsewhere. Eventually, it will
cause serious physical and mental disease.
CHELATION
FOR MERCURY TOXICITY
Some
physicians use chelating drugs such as the sodium salt of
2,3-dimercapto-1-propane sulfonic acid (DMPS) and dimercaptosuccinic
acid (DMSA).
These remove some mercury.
However, we have never needed to recommend them for the reasons listed
below:
1. They all remove beneficial minerals along with the mercury. Thus they can easily upset the delicate
balance of body chemistry.
Anything given intravenously has a much greater chance of doing this, by
the way. Anything taken orally
must be regulated by the intestinal lining, which allows only a certain amount
to pass into the body. This is
helpful in many cases, though not all, as mentioned above.
2. They can pull mercury from storage sites in the body, but the
body may not be able to eliminate the mercury fast enough. The storage sites
may be relatively benign such as fatty tissues. But the mercury may redeposit in vital organs such as the
brain or liver.
3. They may be somewhat toxic in other ways. For more on chelation,
see the article on this website, Chelation
Therapy.
Mercury
is with us. Everyone needs to be
aware of it and take at least basic preventive steps to reduce it in their
bodies, and in those of the next generation as well. Mercury will easily come out of our bodies in a safe and
controlled manner using a complete nutritional balancing program.
REFERENCES
1. Casdorph,
H.R. and Walker, M., Toxic Metal Syndrome,
Avery Publishing, New York, 1995.
2. Dental Truth Magazine, published by DAMS International, 1079 Summit
Ave, St. Paul, MN 55101, (800) 311-6265.
3. Droesti,
I.E. and Smith, R., Neurobiology of the
Trace Elements, Vol II, Neurotoxicology
and Neuropharmacology, Humana Press, 1983.
4. Huggins, H., ItÕs All In Your Head, The Link Between
Mercury fillings And Your Health, Avery Publishing, NY, 1993.
5. Pfeiffer, C., Mental And Elemental Nutrients, Keats
Publishing, Ct., 1972.
6. Schroeder, H.A., The Trace Elements And Man, Devin-Adair
Company, Old Greenwich, Ct., 1973.
7. Wilson and Eck, Toxic Metals In Human Health And Disease,
Eck Institute of Applied Nutrition and Bioenergeteics,
Ltd., Phoenix, AZ, 1989.
8. Wilson, Sauna Therapy, LD Wilson Consultants,
Inc., 2006.
9. Wilson, Nutritional Balancing And Hair Mineral Analysis, 2014.
www.mercuryexposure.com - a long list of
mercury sources.
10. www.dmpsbackfire.com
- This is an excellent site about problems with DMPS and DMSA.
11. www.iabdm.org - This is the International
Academy of Biological Dentistry And Medicine.
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