Chronic Inflammation as a contributor to Alzheimer’s

[LA18]

Thanks for posting about the questionable validity of the (costly) urine mycotoxin tests and providing the link to Dr. Kharrazian’s post about chelation and autoimmunity! Good timing for me, as I’m grappling with a heavy toxin load and am very likely chemical intolerant. The Cyrex tests discussed could be a good starting point for symptomatic individuals wanting to know if chelation is likely to be beneficial or harmful in their case.

[CoachDD]

You are very welcome LA18. Hope things improve for you real soon!

[laurie]

Since I have not been getting better cognitively, I insisted that the Dr. do a mercury test. The blood mercury test is used to determine exposure to methyl mercury. However a urine mercury test is used to test for metallic mercury and inorganic forms of mercury such as amalgam dental fillings. From what I have read, inorganic mercury is also converted from methyl mercury by the body and is the main form of mercury in brain, which can lead to dementia, autism, ADHD and more.

Additionally, I paid $377 for a Clifford Dental test at BetterLabTestsNow. The Dental Clifford Materials Reactivity Testing is a lab test that identifies existing bio-sensitivity problems in dental materials. So, the results are that I am sensitive to mercury, and at this point I will need to replace all my silver fillings with composites.

Cathy if you are interested in removing and protecting yourself from mercury you may want to do some research on L-selenomethionine as it has been shown to be effective at removing mercury from your body. My husband who is a chemist has been researching aluminum for the past several years and is now looking at lead, mercury, arsenic and how to remove them from the body. His focus is on understanding the chemistry of the body. Selenium is essential to our bodies. Selenium is used in some enzymes to protect us from oxidative effects of toxic metals commonly found in the body such as aluminum, manganese, nickel, lead, cadmium, and mercury. Selenoenzymes are involved in reducing the oxidative effects of these metals by reducing the amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by these metals in the body. ROS causes damage to our bodies by weakening and killing mitochondria and the cells powered by these mitochondria. Here is an evidenced based write up my husband Dennis N Crouse did on using L-selenomethionine for removing mercury. You probably already know this but make sure you find a dentist who is experienced in safely removing mercury fillings. https://prevent-alzheimers-autism-strok ... ethod.html

[CathyS]

Cathy if you are interested in removing and protecting yourself from mercury you may want to do some research on L-selenomethionine as it has been shown to be effective at removing mercury from your body. ....... You probably already know this but make sure you find a dentist who is experienced in safely removing mercury fillings. https://prevent-alzheimers-autism-strok ... ethod.html

Laurie,

Thank you VERY much for this information.

Cathy

[laurie]

Laurie,

Thank you VERY much for this information.

Cathy

You are welcome.

Laurie

[CathyS]

Laurie,

Thank you VERY much for this information.

Cathy

You are welcome.

Laurie

As an update for anyone who is fighting both mycotoxin, aka biotoxin, aka CIRS (chronic Inflammatory Respond Syndrome) as well as Mercury Toxicity from dental fillings (aka amalgam fillings), from my experience it appears that I will have to tackle the removal of biotoxins with the binder cholestyramine 1st. I have been on cholestyramine for over 3 months now and am finally getting some improvement in my VCStest.

Last Thursday, I had 2 of the 8 amalgam fillings replaced (along with precautions including oxygen). I still take an Aleve at dinner time, and have for some time now for the CIRS inflammation. Beginning on Friday, I started the Selenium for detoxifying Mercury. The first 3 days went fine. However, today I woke up to severe joint and muscle pain, which I previously experienced from the mycotoxin illness.

My plan now is to finish the binding with cholestyramine 1st, and then start the Selenium for detoxifying Mercury.

[Julie G]

Congrats on removing several of your mercury amalgams,CathyS. I couldn’t help but wonder if your increased pain might have something to do with your daily Aleve. See this. I know how difficult it is to break this pain cycle without using OTCs. Are you already using a good fish oil capsule with curcumin? Both can be very anti-inflammatory as well as upregulating glutathione, the master detoxifier, which would also provide benefit for you now. During this healing period, especially considering the likelihood of increased gut permeability, you may want to be really careful with dietary lectins and other anti-nutrients. Lastly, if the pain persists, you might even consider low dose naltrexone. Use our search to see previous discussions. Best of luck as you move forward. Please keep us posted on your progress.

[CathyS]

Congrats on removing several of your mercury amalgams,CathyS. I couldn’t help but wonder if your increased pain might have something to do with your daily Aleve. See this. I know how difficult it is to break this pain cycle without using OTCs. Are you already using a good fish oil capsule with curcumin? Both can be very anti-inflammatory as well as upregulating glutathione, the master detoxifier, which would also provide benefit for you now. During this healing period, especially considering the likelihood of increased gut permeability, you may want to be really careful with dietary lectins and other anti-nutrients. Lastly, if the pain persists, you might even consider low dose naltrexone. Use our search to see previous discussions. Best of luck as you move forward. Please keep us posted on your progress.

Hi Julie,

Thank you very much for posting! The fish oil that I take is Carlson's Liquid fish oil. My FM provider recommended this several years ago when my triglycerides were off the charts, and the Cardiologist had only recommended fish oil capsules. The FM told me that liquid fish oil is much better for absorption. My triglycerides finally got back within normal range with 2 teaspoons each morning. The Carlson's Liquid fish oil appears not to have curcumin. While trying to treat my CIRS, I have upped the dosage to 5 teaspoons each morning (taken in a little shot glass with measurements).

I have not heard of curcumin before, and just now googling it. It looks like I could take that as a supplement and get rid of the Aleve. It says if I want anti-inflammatory effects I will need to get 500 to 1,000 milligrams of curcuminoids per day.

Thanks Julie! I need all the help I can get!

[circular]

Metals
Arsenic high, and yes, I eat chicken & some rice. Tanio says supporting detox system will help, but I'm cutting both back at the moment.
Mercury is a bit high. Time to ditch all tuna and watch my intake of other fish like cod (yep, it's in the same range as light canned tuna).
And I need to increase zinc during detox.

Hi Susan,

You might want to get consumerlab.com's detailed report on canned tuna and salmon. They measured arsenic and mercury in all the products they tested. I found it helpful and a little surprising. Some tunas are high in both mercury and arsenic. I now occasionally enjoy Gennova Yellowfin Tuna in EVOO since it's very low in mercury and under the caution zone and no where near the warning zone for arsenic, although it's not one of the more robust for DHA, which I can get elsewhere. I get a case of 24 at Amazon that lasts awhile.

Overall though the canned salmons are a safer bet. I emailed CL and begged them to include sardine brands next time.

I find this report and the chocolate/cocoa one to alone with worth the price of the subscription, since we can often make purchasing choices following a broad notion and still be making a decision we wouldn't if we were in the know.

I didn't know about rice in chicken. Hmmm, will have to see if there's a way to confirm chicken with lower or no arsenic?

[floramaria]

Jumping in to this thread since some of the discussion is around CIRS and Environmental Illness (EI). This is near and dear to me as it has been the major driver in my mysterious symptoms over several years. Thankfully, I am much better today, thanks to the help of FM doctors and a hybrid Shoemaker treatment plan. This journey led me to change my career at mid-life and become a Certified FM Health Coach - with a focus on AD and EI. I am currently leading a small advocacy group of FM Certified HC's to train other coaches on the effects of EI and how best to support our clients. Stay tuned for more information on this.

That said, I am knee deep in the research and want to bring to your attention a publication that Shoemaker released within the past month about the urine mycotoxin testing (spoiler alert ~ he does not believe it should be used to test mycotoxins): https://www.survivingmold.com/legal-res ... m-controls

Here is the paper: https://www.survivingmold.com/Publicati ... lished.pdf

And here is the summary from this paper: "Even if we are presented with impeccable lab results from ELISA and thorough use of standard differential diagnosis (we aren’t), based on world-wide control data, and a robust literature on CIRS, there is no basis to ascribe any diagnostic significance to urine mycotoxin testing."

Also, Dr. Datis Kharrazian (a prominent FM practitioner, clinical research scientist and academic professor) had this to say about chelating heavy metals when testing positive for autoimmunity and/or symptoms of compromised brain function: https://drknews.com/chelation-autoimmunity/

Hope this helps!

Hi CoachDD and others following this thread. First, thank you CoachDD for this important information. After reading the summary you posted of Ritchie Shoemaker’s paper, I used your link to go to the study. It was a tough read; by the time I finished it, I felt very confused. What I took from my reading of the article was that urinary mycotoxin testing showed ingested mycotoxins, and that a high percentage of people tested for urinary mycotoxins would be positive for many because they are present in much of our food. Shoemaker made a strong case for urinary mycotoxins not correlating with CIRS, which he linked to inhaled mycotoxins. (Again, this was my interpretation though admittedly I am not a scientist and found the paper difficult.) The whole thing distressed me. Is there any value to tracking urinary mycotoxins, I wondered?

Yesterday I submitted the question to Dr Bredesen on the Apollo Health website, hoping it might be answered in the practitioner Town Hall.
I included a link to the article and asked, “Given this article, what do you think is the appropriate role of urinary testing for mycotoxins?”
Dr Bredesen replied that he is well aware of the article by Shoemaker. “However,” he replied,”Dr Neil Nathan, who is an expert in this area, supports the use of urinary mycotoxin tests, and currently there is no alternative way to identify mycotoxins.” He went on say that the tests Shoemaker recommends such as C4a are tests for inflammatory response, and don't directly test mycotoxins.” Also “The new GENIE test looks at transcriptomics, again without any direct testing for mycotoxins”. He mentions work by Thrasher et al. showing treatment and improvement was associated with reduced urinary mycotoxins. Dr Bredesen continued, “So admittedly the testing is not perfect but there is no alternative for this information currently.”

For those who were perplexed by the Shoemaker article, as I was, I hope this response from Dr Bredesen provides clarification.
I plan to pick up Dr Neil Nathan’s book!