The results are finally in from my recent tests and I’ve been given some good news and some not-so-good news.

The good news is that nearly all of my tests came back clear except two! so good!!. The bad news is that I have Mercury Toxicity. Yip! not so good.

Both my urine and my hair sample showed levels of mercury in the high ranges which my Dr said were a concern to him. Honestly I’m not surprised by this result I actually expected it. I had 5 very old and large silver fillings put in when I was a teenager and I remember even having amalgams in my baby teeth. I’d also spent much of my 20’s living off tinned tuna, my go-to lunch in my twenties was tinned tuna and brown rice. So my body has been exposed to mercury for a long time which I was aware of but I didn’t really understand just how it could affect my health.

I had prepared myself for a possible Lyme diagnosis and to be given an array of supplements but thankfully he didn’t give me any of that. I had quite a few messages about Lyme after my last post so I went in to this appointment really cautious. I had messages from friends with MS who said that Dr’s had pushed lots of expensive Lyme tests on them (thousands of dollars worth of tests) only to find out they didn’t have Lyme at all, so frustrating. The Medical Medium has a chapter on Lyme in his first book which I was reading during the time of this appointment fortunately. He talks about how if an MS patient sees a Lyme specialist they will most likely walk away with a Lyme Diagnosis over MS because the symptoms are so similar. Considering my Dr is a Lyme specialist you can imagine my relief when he didn’t try to talk me into more Lyme tests. Thankfully after your messages and reading The Medical Mediums book I wouldn’t have stood for it.

A recap on the tests I had done and the results …

• Lyme Disease & Chlamydia Pneumoniae Blood tests – all clear

• Heavy Metals Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis – Mercury toxicity

• Adreno-cortex Stress Profile – fine

• Heavy Metals Pre-chelation morning urine – Mercury toxicity

• Blood tests – DHEA CORT, MTHFR, mercury, Immunology ANA – all fine

After my diagnosis I’d read about Mercury’s link to MS. Mercury is a neuro toxin and there is no safe level for human consumption.

“Mercury is one of the most toxic heavy metals on the planet. Of all the metals that can be toxic to someone with MS (and others) mercury is probably the worst” – Judy Graham, Managing MS Naturally.

And unfortunately toxins like mercury get drawn in to our fat cells as the body tries to keep the vital organs safe, so I have no idea what that means for my brain which is nearly 60% fat.

“When the body is exposed to large amounts of toxins, levels that the body cannot safely excrete (through the bodies natural detoxification pathways) it stores these toxins in adipose tissue (aka body fat). The body does this to protect us from the toxicity issues arising from these harmful chemicals. If the levels of a certain toxin were to become too high – overburdening our liver – we would become sick, or worse… die. More than simply a stored energy source, body fat is also a site to store toxins.” – www.alexfergus.com

While only having one thing to focus on and heal is a great thing, detoxing mercury is really serious and something I don’t take lightly. So I’m proceeding with caution and doing my research.

However on the bright side the stories I’ve read about people detoxing mercury and feeling amazing afterwards are incredibly motivating and hopeful. I asked my Dr if detoxing mercury would improve my nystagmus and my fatigue and he said yes! which was music to my ears!!. It’s one of my last lingering and most notable symptoms that I would LOVE to have heal completely. But apart from the high levels of mercury he said everything else was fine.

MOVING FORWARD

Mercury Detox

I’ve been researching about mercury and amalgam filling removal on and off since diagnosis and I’ve learnt the very first and most important thing to do before starting ANY mercury detox program is to have all silver fillings safely removed. If you start detoxing while you still have amalgam fillings in your teeth you risk stirring up the mercury and redistributing it to other parts of your body which can cause all sorts of horrible side effects. So I decided the fillings must go!

I’ve been seeing a great holistic dentist here in Sydney who have been nothing short of amazing. It’s so important to see a proper holistic dentist to get silver fillings safely removed so if your thinking about it please do your research first. Unsafe silver or amalgam filling removal can cause more mercury exposure and make you sicker so definitely find a great holistic dentist you trust.

I had my last 2 amalgams removed last week and all went well. It is such a relief to have them out of my mouth! and I’ve already noticed an improvement in my nystagmus which is just amazing!! I cant actually believe I’ve noticed a difference that quickly but literally the next day I felt an improvement.

My holistic dentist used a rubber dam in my mouth to stop mercury fragments going down my throat during extraction. He also placed pure oxygen over my nose the whole time so I wasn’t breathing in unnecessary mercury vapour. This also comes with the added bonus of being really calming so always opt for pure oxygen. My dentist was also very kind and made me feel really comfortable throughout the whole process.

After all my silver fillings were removed my Functional Medicine Dr wanted to run 1 single chelation “Challenge Test”. For this I was meant to have one IV chelation of DMPS or 2,3-Dimercapto-1-propanesulfonic acid which is a serious heavy metal binder. Then collect my urine for 24 hours afterwards which would show my Dr for definite how much mercury I’m expelling and I guess determine how toxic I am. He then wanted me to start with IV chelation therapy with DMPS. I asked him if there were any side effects and he said no. He said that most patients need about 3 rounds of treatment, then he’d test me again to see if the mercury had gone down in my system.

However I’ve since done more research on DMPS chelation and it sounds pretty intense. It seems to strip everything from the body including all the vital minerals and nutrients that can be hard to replenish.

I’ve also found a mercury detox protocol that’s all natural and holistic but also seems to be really effective as well. It’s by Wendy Myers and she seems to be an absolute guru on heavy metal detoxing and uses a product called Modified Citrus Pectin derived from the peels of citrus fruits. The great thing about modified citrus pectic is that it binds to metals and toxins and leaves all the good stuff in the body only taking out the bad, so you don’t become depleted or risk redistributing the metals to other parts of the body like DMPS would do.

I’ve been thinking seriously about this whole thing over the last few weeks, should I do DMPS or shouldn’t I? then I realised something, or more I had to remind myself. I had aggressive onset MS, I’ve healed a massive amount of disability and now I’m mercury toxic – do I really want to risk going backwards and gamble with my health with DMPS chelation when I could use something natural to detox with no risks?

I’ve since listened to this podcast on Pectasol-C Modified Citrus Pectic creator Dr Isaac Eliaz and found it great. It’s all about modified pectin and how it works plus the toxins it removes.