Heavy Metals testing

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jerryb
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Re: Heavy Metals testing

Post by jerryb »

My wife has had DMSA pills with I.v. nutrients for four sessions and is now scheduled to begin 20 sessions with EDTA via I.v. The more I read on the net including some links mentioned in other forums, the more sceptical I become. One meta analysis mentioned that normals scored in yellow and red zones when doing urine provocation testing. The science on this seems non-scientific.
Can anybody say for certain that their cognitive functioning truly started improving on chelation? If not maybe we just have placebo effects: “ I think I started feeling better after x number of treatments. “
jerryb
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Re: Heavy Metals testing

Post by jerryb »

My wife has had DMSA pills with I.v. nutrients for four sessions and is now scheduled to begin 20 sessions with EDTA via I.v. The more I read on the net including some links mentioned in other forums, the more sceptical I become. One meta analysis mentioned that normals scored in yellow and red zones when doing urine provocation testing. The science on this seems non-scientific.
Can anybody say for certain that their cognitive functioning truly started improving on chelation? If not maybe we just have placebo effects: “ I think I started feeling better after x number of treatments. “
Anna
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Re: Heavy Metals testing

Post by Anna »

floramaria wrote:Thanks for posting this which explains what is behind your doctor's concern about low urine pH. Please post when you get the results of the challenge test.
I got the results of the provoked test: very high lead (18ug/g creat -- at the high end of the red zone) and high thallium. Lead was within "normal" limits on the unprovoked test, and thallium was already high on the unprovoked test. Everything else was within the reference range, with cesium and mercury pushing the upper limits of normal. So now my head is spinning with lots of questions . . . How should I interpret the results of a provoked test (especially since Doctor's Data does not provide a reference range for provoked tests)? Where did I get the lead and thallium? What is the safest way to detox them?
jerryb wrote:The more I read on the net including some links mentioned in other forums, the more sceptical I become. One meta analysis mentioned that normals scored in yellow and red zones when doing urine provocation testing. The science on this seems non-scientific.
Jerry, do you have a link to that meta analysis? I am not at all up-to-speed on the science on heavy metals testing and treatment, but I, like you, would love more scientific info.
~Anna
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9999
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Re: Heavy Metals testing

Post by 9999 »

I'm completely perplexed. My blood tests were within normal range. Then my doc ordered Doctor's Data, the provoked urine test, and my mercury and lead tested REALLY high. He of course recommended IV chelation, which I wasn't so sure I wanted to go ahead with. I have instead been doing oral DMSA, which I only just found out doesn't have any effect on removing lead. But what is even more baffling is an article I just read about the "provoked" tests being ridiculous and meaningless. I have no symptoms and no apparent exposure to either lead or mercury. Help????
Anna
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Re: Heavy Metals testing

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9999 wrote:I'm completely perplexed. My blood tests were within normal range. Then my doc ordered Doctor's Data, the provoked urine test, and my mercury and lead tested REALLY high. He of course recommended IV chelation, which I wasn't so sure I wanted to go ahead with. I have instead been doing oral DMSA, which I only just found out doesn't have any effect on removing lead. But what is even more baffling is an article I just read about the "provoked" tests being ridiculous and meaningless. I have no symptoms and no apparent exposure to either lead or mercury. Help????
Hello 9999. I am not an expert -- just someone who has high levels of lead in my urine on provoked urine tests (and high thallium on both provoked and unprovoked tests). My understanding is that serum levels of lead and/or mercury only stay elevated for a relatively brief period of time after exposure. Lead is largely stored in the bones, and mercury is stored in fat. When an unprovoked test shows levels in the normal range, and a provoked test shows elevated levels, that means the chelating agent brought those metals out of storage. As for doctors saying provoked tests are ridiculous (which was my rheumatologist's response), my take is that this is due to the fact that there is no reference range for provoked tests; the reference range that Doctor's Data reports is for unprovoked tests (I believe elevated numbers correspond to levels in which people experience symptoms). However, if the chelating agent is pulling out lead or mercury or any other metal (determined by comparing unprovoked results to provoked results), then, in my opinion, that's meaningful data. I'm not sure where you got that DMSA is not effective for removing lead, but all I know is that I have elevated leavels of lead in my urine after I take DMSA. The CDC states that there is no safe level of lead. So my personal choice has been to take DMSA (with binders and other supplements and the guidance of a functional medicine doctor) to slowly remove the lead (The originally prescribed dose was making me feel sick, so I backed off to a very low dose, which I tolerate much better). There are certainly risks with this (such as redistribution), but I do have a history that is consistent with significant lead exposure, as well as current health challenges (osteoporosis, chronically active Epstein Barr virus, autoimmunity, etc).

Was there a particular reason your doctor did the provoked test? Does the DMSA make you feel ill/toxic? Did you also do an unprovoked test? Did you grow up in the lead generation?
~Anna
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floramaria
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Re: Heavy Metals testing

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9999 wrote:I'm completely perplexed. My blood tests were within normal range. Then my doc ordered Doctor's Data, the provoked urine test, and my mercury and lead tested REALLY high. He of course recommended IV chelation, which I wasn't so sure I wanted to go ahead with. I have instead been doing oral DMSA, which I only just found out doesn't have any effect on removing lead. But what is even more baffling is an article I just read about the "provoked" tests being ridiculous and meaningless. I have no symptoms and no apparent exposure to either lead or mercury. Help????
Hi 9999, I am perplexed on this subject too, and I spent almost a year doing DMSA chelation primarily for lead and cadmium in spite of that. My levels were also REALLY high. Did it do any good? Don't know. I can say that from what I heard from pharmacists when I was very skeptical about beginning chelation, in their opinions (I spoke to three) DMSA is a good chelator, at least for lead.
Personally, I have serious doubts about the value of urine challenge tests, the efficacy of oral chelation, and also have reservations about IV chelation.
With all of those knocked out of my own personal arena of options, my intention was to test with Quicksilver Scientific's Blood Metals Panel and Mercury TriTest and see what my levels look like with their testing. And then to take it from there.
But at this point I don't want to go to any lab unnecessarily so heavy metal detoxification is on hold.
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laurie
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Re: Heavy Metals testing

Post by laurie »

9999 wrote:I'm completely perplexed. My blood tests were within normal range. Then my doc ordered Doctor's Data, the provoked urine test, and my mercury and lead tested REALLY high. He of course recommended IV chelation, which I wasn't so sure I wanted to go ahead with. I have instead been doing oral DMSA, which I only just found out doesn't have any effect on removing lead. But what is even more baffling is an article I just read about the "provoked" tests being ridiculous and meaningless. I have no symptoms and no apparent exposure to either lead or mercury. Help????
There is a method for removing mercury and lead from you body which is much safer than using chelating agents. Chelating agents remove lots of things from your body even things essential to your body and can cause you to have more health issues. Here is a safer way which is called targeted detox.
Research has shown that lead can be removed with Thiamine, Zinc, and L-Selenomethionine. Mercury can be removed with L-selenomethionine. Selenium is an essential mineral however high levels in the body are not good. Thiamine and Zinc are also essential to the body. My husband who is a chemist has written evidenced based documents on targeted detox for mercury and lead. Here are the links. https://prevent-alzheimers-autism-strok ... -zinc.html https://prevent-alzheimers-autism-strok ... ethod.html
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