[I]’m 50 years old and first saw a doctor for fatigue at 17. I’ll try to summarize my situation here and then give you the long version.
Executive summary: I lived fairly normally with adjustments (stopped drinking alcohol, eating sugar, carbs, etc) for declining capabilities until about 12 years ago when I went into a tailspin in 2007 after moving to South Florida (2001). I made an emergency move to Colorado in 2007 and started feeling better quickly, but when I abruptly stop taking Ambien, my nervous system just fell apart. After a visit to the Mayo Clinic and five subsequent years of avoiding doctors and improving slowly, I discovered heavy metal toxicity was likely a key source of my troubles. I spent a year and a half doing Frequent Dose Chelation and full-spectrum methylation support which left me healthier in some ways and sicker in others.
My liver and detoxification genetics including copper and iron metabolism were probably the weak links in my body that allowed, mold toxins, heavy metals and other toxins to accumulate. If that’s true, chelation likely overwhelmed my liver. I’ve worked on addressing my SOD2 flaws and restoring my liver, kidneys and gut health. After seeing the big, gnarly stones, sludge and crud that out of my liver in my fourth flush, and the plaque that came off my colon, I felt sure I was on the right track. Now, I’m tackling Lyme Disease and co-infections, which I may have had for 30 years…
Here is the long version: In 2007, I reached a crisis point and went to see the famous Dr. Galland in New York who did around $3,500 worth of blood tests which turned up a high mercury number on a plasma test (three times the normal high end range).
At the time, I was thinking mold allergy was at the root of my issues and he thought it was reasonable to pursue that angle first. He mentioned that he had patients with much higher mercury numbers with no symptoms. So I moved to Colorado to test the mold theory. Five years later, I’m a lot healthier (I was in a desperate slide earlier) but still feel like there are 80-year-olds with more energy and vitality than I have. I’m discovering that I probably was on the right track with the mold toxicity thing.
That’s changing, though, because in 2013, I finally discovered the root of 30 years of declining health and I expect to be back up near 100% by 2016 2018.
Then and now my issues were/are in order with the most disruptive symptoms at the top:
- Metabolic disruption
leading to constant hunger - Metabolic disruption leading to difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep
- Fatigue
- Cognitive impairment / brainfog
- Muscle tightness leading to tendinitis and repetitive strain injury
- Temperature related itching which disrupts sleep
- Exercise intolerance
- Low blood pressure
- Heat intolerance
- Cold intolerance
- Edema
- Alcohol intolerance
- Positional sleep apnea
- Osteoporosis
- Mold allergy
- Mild chemical sensitivity
- Mild anxiety
- Emotional sensitivity
- Ears ring when it’s too loud in the room
- Mild tinnitus
Low body temperature- Low cholesterol
Low vitamin D & migraines from supplementation or sunshine- Light sensitivity
- Dimmed vision
Omega-3 intolerance
Here’s what happened after arriving in Colorado — I felt remarkably better, so much so that I neglected to refill a prescription of Ambien I had been using for three months. That night, I experienced a nervous breakdown (which took me the next 4 years to overcome). In a panic, my wife escorted me to the Mayo Clinic where I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which I considered nearly useless. I was really fed up with doctors and decided to just focus on diet and exercise.
For many years, I had been under the assumption that I had Adrenal Insufficiency in spite of the Mayo Clinic doctors refusal to diagnose me as such. My symptoms are nearly a perfect match. So, I thought that perhaps I just needed rest, a good diet, gentle exercise and clean air and water. I thought maybe if I stopped using cortisol for a few years and went on a high-fat Paleolithic diet to build my cholesterol back up (which had dropped down to 99), my adrenal glands would heal and I would recover naturally.
After a couple years of gorging myself on steak, pulled pork, shrimp, and chicken liver, I realized that my adrenal glands were not recovering. I started using cortisol again and currently take about 20 mg a day.
What didn’t quite fit the Adrenal Insufficiency theory is that supplementing got me functional, but never resolved a lot of issues. It just moved me from 20% functional to 60 or 70% functional. I’ve read Dr. Jeffries Safe Uses of Cortisol several times and everywhere he talks about patients living their lives out happily after they start supplementing. I never got enough mileage from cortisol to feel well more than a couple hours a day.
Recently, after watching the documentary “Forks over Knives” I went vegan. Having eaten a strictly whole food diet for many many years, with no alcohol, no caffeine, no sugar, no fruit and almost no carbs, I’ve come to the conclusion that neither adrenal supplementation nor diet alone will cure me no matter how many people have recovered from cancer using vegetables.
Finally, I turned my attention to heavy metal toxicity. I asked my Doc for a test and he gave me a challenge test kit which involved taking the chelator DMSA. Twenty minutes after taking the first 75 mg dose at breakfast time, I had an extremely rare clearing of brain fog (which did not last more than 45 minutes unfortunately) and felt unusually energetic all day. Then I received the results and was convinced at first sight.
Later, I confirmed them with a hair test. When I’m not despairing about the length of the treatment, I’ve become so hopeful that I want to document my detoxification using Andy Cutler’s frequent dosing protocol. I also encouraged my parents to get hair tests and they look toxic as well, so it seems to run in the family.
My possible sources of mercury/metals exposure include:
- Playing with Mercury in the house at least once as a kid.
- Extensive vaccinations at a very young age.
- 9 allergy shots weekly for at least a year as a teenager.
- Lots of vaccinations including hepatitis B in my early 20s.
- Melting lead a handful of times to make weights.
- Lots of fishing with lead weights / using my teeth to open them.
- Having two tiny mercury fillings which were removed when I was a teenager.
- Eating fish from contaminated lakes in Canada during the summers.
- Eating tuna fish almost daily for many years as a young adult.
- Eating salmon sushi regularly for a couple years.
- Contrast agents ingested at least three times for CT and nuclear bone scans.
More important than the source of mercury is the idea that people who get sick typically do so with exposures to heavy metals that don’t bother others. The theory behind this is that the ones who get sick have deficient internal detoxification mechanisms. Put simply, the unlucky ones don’t eliminate mercury the same way most of the population does.
For example, the MTHFR genetic mutation prevents folic acid from converting to its active form which has a cascading effect on your health when your store of glutathione is eventually depleted. It can run in families also which might explain why my father’s chronic health problems are similar in some ways to mine. The failure of your detoxification system is not just genetic however. It’s a multi-factorial condition which may involve high stress or emotional trauma, use of antibiotics, infections, and toxic exposures (of which I’ve had quite a few not listed here).
I’m not sure exactly what got me started on heavy metal toxicity after having neglected the idea for five years. Maybe, I just reached a point where I’d exhausted so many other possibilities, there was nothing credible left. Part of the problem too for anyone suffering from something like what I’ve got, is that the cognitive impairment (poor memory and brain fog) is a significant obstacle to healing yourself.
Finally, we are too close to our problems and can’t always see what’s right under our nose. When you have experienced brain fog for 20 years, and when it increases gradually, you tend to assume incorrectly that everyone sort of has it and can become complacent. It’s especially easy to become complacent when your experience with MD’s tells you that wherever you go, you’ll get a blood test and the doctor will say “Everything looks good!”
No matter that, 15 minutes of gentle walking incapacitates me for the rest of the day, that 20 minutes of sunshine can give me three days of migraines, that I’m unable to carry on a social life or provide and care for my family in any normal way. None of these mysteries ever seem to trouble my MDs much.
To be fair, a couple had various theories which we tested, but unfortunately they were the wrong theories and some of the therapeutic trials were very harmful including powerful antibiotics and industrial strength antiparasitics.
You might be wondering why I’m creating this website before I’ve recovered. It’s a good question! The answer is — I want badly to heal — and also to help others with what I’ve learned on my journey. This site will help me organize all the information and will be useful in the event that I do recover. It would be impossible to document after the fact. I want to show the process as it really is and feels in the moment and not through rose-colored glasses after the fact.
1 year update: I‘ve completed a year of chelation now with 23 rounds and 97 chelation days under my belt and it’s time to review my progress. Big picture: chelation is a bitch as Val from FDC explains perfectly:
Mercury toxicity is like someone who has been hit with an arrow. It caused damage going in, it is causing damage while it’s lodged in your body, and it causes damage when it is “yanked” out, so to speak. Not until it’s removed, can your body truly heal. Can you imagine healing with a big arrow stuck in your flesh?
and from Patrik Askert:
Chelation in general is a fine art, a balancing of releasing chelated toxin molecules into the blood stream, over and above what you liver normally has to deal with (in terms of digestive functions and breaking down toxins), and not releasing too many ‘new’ toxins into the blood in one go that the liver is not able to process comfortably in one go. Chelation, depending on how well the chelation agent ‘masks’ the toxin, is akin to a form of very mild but controlled poisoning, occurring over a prolonged period. When one takes too much chelant, then one is effectively ‘poisoning’ the whole body and it certainly feels like this.
3 year update: I’ve got Lyme disease
4 year update: making progress with mineral balance
The alternative is IV NaEDTA or CaEDTA or DMPS depends on if Mercury or Lead is higher on which one to use.
thanks Julie, I reacted very badly to DMPS which I know is rare…
Hi–you still around? Still in S.FL?
I’m in Colorado now…
I can total relate re: the EMF’s. My mom’s house has a smart meter and I thought I was going to die when I got there in May, which coincided with a full moon to give me the double whammy. I found an instructional video online how to make a shield to cover the smart meter which can reduce the EMF’s emitted by like 90%. All the materials cost me $15.00 at Lowe’s and it took about an hour to make. It saved my life! Hope it helps you too! Those things should be illegal.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CwzeMOH-Jl4
Hi Eric, I thought I’d leave a brief comment this morning before I run off to work. What a journey is this, and has been! This healing process does seem like a peeling the onion situation… once you complete one thing, you learn what’s next. And somewhere in the mix, I’m sure you know, is the spiritual component. I wanted to thank you for writing about your failures… that awful feeling when you give something your all, your best… when you just KNOW it will work, and it doesn’t. OR at least, it’s not the miracle cure.
I am glad to have discovered and eliminated (hopefully) strongyloides. I don’t know why I won’t give Lyme the time of day, but right now, I wont. However, I have been very focused on learning about EMF’s. My question for the longest time has been.,.. what happens to me between the time I go to bed, finally feeling ok and happy, and the time I wake up, feeling like I was hit by a train. I don’t buy the adrenal exhaustion idea (for a lot of reasons). SOMETHING goes wrong in the night, or at least makes itself known in the night. So I had an EMF consultant come to my house with all of his gear and testing equipment, and he spent 5 hours testing every conceivable thing. He then wrote me a lengthy report which I’d be happy to share. It turns out that I have/had A LOT of 3 issues: 1) dirty electricity which is what washes back into the house from the neighbor’s solar systems, as well as applicances within my house and sort of sprays an electrical field around the house (And I witnessed these measurementsj!) 2) magnetic fields, which were by far the worst for me in my kitchen due to some bad wiring and 3) microwave radiation coming off of cell phone towers, cell phones, wi fi’s and a whole lot more.
I fixed #’s 1 and 2. And my house feels a whole lot better and different. I also slept 9 solid hours without interruption. However… #3 is the stinker. Where a level of “10” is ideal… I have microwave radiation at my bed of 200 with spikes of over 20,000. We identified that this is coming off of a local cell phone tower, as well as the Smart Meter on my house. I have asked the EMF guy to come back tonight and set up his equipment to do a 24 hour real-time test. I also found, to my dismay, that my beloved hybrid car is generating about as much magnetic energy as my kitchen was. So, the possibility that I’ve been exhausted when driving due to car fumes might be instead that I’m exhausted from driving around in the same bad soup as I’ve been living in… energy-wise.
This is still a work in progress. My goal is not to be continually delving into weird things… but to learn about this, fix it, and move on hopefully. With this project, I’m halfway there.
Thanks for sharing that Lori, identifying the problem is 80% of the battle, so congratulations on your new findings! I also live very near some cell towers but fortunately they don’t face my direction and I think I’m relatively okay. Also sleeping in my aluminum screening cage helps a bit – looks ridiculous but so what 🙂
I’m also exhausted by driving, but it doesn’t matter which car I drive. I think it’s the attention required to get where I’m going safely…
I used to have a pretty bad sensitivity to sulfur and thiols. A friend told me to try molybdenum 1,000mg three times a day. It worked like a charm. I haven’t had any trouble with sulfur foods since. I also currently take DMPS with no trouble. I’m on a low dose bc I’m so mercury toxic but not having sulfur issues. HTH
great to hear Sherri, I also use molybdenum..
Are you looking for a chelator?
DMSA caused a lot of problems for me due to sulfur issues caused by CBS snp and mercury toxicity.
Have you thought about zeolite, homeopathics or herbs? If you are mercury toxic ,be very careful.There are mobilizers and there are chelators .I would be careful with mobilizers till you know for sure that you can dump whatever you mobilize otherwise you will have more problems because mercury will be distributed into new places. I would suggest chelators first then mobilizers .Also make sure you do not have snp for MTHFR.
I seem to respond well to the DMSA and not particularly interested in zeolite, homeopathics or herbs… Hope you find something that works better for you!
I had a lot of these issues. Only after surrendering to God did I start feeling better. Have faith and trust in God and Jesus and learn more about Him. dont so it by yourself. We all need God.
If you eat high-protein isn’t that high sulfur?
not sure, I imagine it depends on which protein, but since I’m not sensitive to sulfur I’m not an expert on that…
If one is sensitive to sulfur; what’s an alternative to DMSA?
sorry I don’t know
QUESTION for Eric
I have suspected for awhile that my fatigue and depression was associated with inflammation because I always feel great after taking Ibuprophen..Came across this site and now I am sure this is the problem and like you I have mercury toxicity and CBS snp.I still have not figured out if it is the snp or the mercury causing sulfur intolerance..My question to you is I How you are tolerating DMSA and ALA since they are both contain sulfur? Yrs ago when I first found out I had mercury toxicity my dr recommended DMSA which then caused a lot more problems.
With your sulfur sensitivity,how are you tolerating DMSA and ALA?
Thanks
Chantal
I’m not actually sensitive to sulfur and I tolerated DMSA better than any other chelator I tried… I know my blog can be confusing! in fact, I’m using DMSO now which is like drinking pure sulfur and it seems to help me.
Hi Renae: Yes by all means you can email me! I will be more that happy to share everything I have learned about copper, lead, and mercury.
Sincerely,
Mark
Hi Mark,
I have contacted Eric previously regarding copper toxicity and he suggested I read your posts. You appear to have a huge amount of knowledge in this area and I am, after four years of hell, trying to find some assistance from someone that really knows what they’re talking about (and not just trying to get me on a NB programme) my story is lengthy and I was wondering if I could email you privately?
Thanks.
Renae.
Hi Eric: You won’t need to take copper very long, maybe a few weeks. Whether or not you take Zinc during your copper supplementation won’t matter in my opinion. If you did take it about a 7 or 8 to one zinc copper ratio is typical. For a very long time I did exactly what you did and avoided copper rich food and water sources. It is too late tonight but I am going to send the names of a couple of sleep supplements that are truly extraordinary. Talk to you tomorrow. Cheers!
thanks Mark, a few weeks sounds reasonable. How did you feel during those weeks and after? I’m looking forward to seeing your sleep supplement list… Most of the things I’ve tried to make me feel worse, Valerian and melatonin are good examples of that. I used to use HTTP5 with some success but recent trials not so much. Taurine and iodine seem to help, but I really haven’t found anything magical yet.
Hi Eric: I use Magnesium Bisglycinate (with Taurine) from New Roots up in Canada. My Vit B5 dosage is 100 to 200 mg. I think your B5 dosage at 1500 mg is maybe too high, but i have heard of people taking megadoss of 10 grams/day for skin problems! On the vitamin C side of things I must admit that I too question the wisdom of taking ascorbic acid verses natural vitamin C. In my cases I used to get low blood sugar like disturbances depending on wht time of the day I took it. I never heard you mention too much about yeast problems (ie Candida Albians). High copper people have what is called biounavailable copper. They are copper toxic(tissue wise) and copper deficient (metabolically) at the same time. Copper is nature’s yeast and fungus killer. If you have biounavailable copper you are going to have Candida, and you are goig to have Candida because Candida binds mercury in the gut. To control yeast and get the body to start dumping copper you must actuallyTAKE COPPER in order for your body to start dumping it!! (read that a second time) I am talking about say 2-4 mg/day. It won’t take long before you start to dump copper provided you’re giving the adrenals everything they need (B5, MG,Vit C, B6). You may have already experienced some copper dumping reactions and didn;t know that is what was going on. I say this because copper levels going up from one HTMA to another doing everything you are doing health wise means copper dumping. The reaction in some people can be seere enough to require hospitalization (nearly always women). Women who take the birth control pill store vastly higher amounts of copper as estrogen facilitates copper absorption big time. For every man who is copper toxic, there are 100 women. Estogen is why. Copper is synergistic and faciitates raising tissue calcium levels (notice how high your HTMA Ca levels are). The leads to calcium induced insulin resistance and blood sugar problems. Many women on the pill have their doctor tell them to take a calcium supplement without every checking their HTMA calcium. The ultimate result is eventual hardening of the arteries (through calcification), insulin resistance, osteoporosis (calcium without co-factors like K2, Boron, Strontium, D3, and magnesium is a formula for osteoporosis…read The Calcium Lie) and depression, on a truly grand scale. Ninety percent of women should never go near a calcium supplement. Most men too. That includes YOU! Now back to the foundation of recovery: DEEP SLEEP I lived with this since I was poisoned at age 12. Only recently (a few months ago) have I transitioned into having deep sleep almost every night. This is a problematic are as I beleive that your toxic metal levels are they key reason. If you need to take prescription meds for sleep do so (your already taking Ambien). There is a newer one i just saw recently that may be worth a try. I used Clonozepam for years. Getting off of it was a personal horror story of epic proportions so you might want to avoid that one. More later…..
hey Mark, I was about to order magnesium bisglycinate when I read that it is the same as magnesium glycinate! amazing that we both found the same type of magnesium through our struggles… I have read about the idea of taking copper to get rid of copper – I think Morley Robbins talks about that also. Maybe a better first step for me would be to start eating a normal diet instead of avoiding copper rich foods… I am nervous about taking copper. I’m guessing you did it or still do it. How much zinc do you take with your 2 mg of copper?
Regarding sleep, I had my own epic horror story after quitting Ambien. It caused a nervous breakdown and was more than five years before I recovered and to tell you the truth, I think I still have some small vestiges left over seven years later. At the time, my doctor offered me clonazepam, and I turned him down after reading about it on Askapatient.com. In fact, I kind of lost faith in him after he so casually offered it to me. I used Ativan and then did a Valium taper. But, I feel like I’m making progress with my sleep and getting enough that everything is workable. I sort of consider it like a good yardstick for measuring the impact of various changes to my supplements and therapies if that makes any sense…
Hi Eric: I had a look at your HTMA and was blown away by your copper level!! The CU values are absolutely ASTRONOMICAL!!!!! I don’t need to look for hidden copper although you can be very high copper AND be storing vast amounts of copper hidden in tissue stores. Your INCREASE in copper levels in subsequent HTMA’s in extremely positive!! Your body is starting to dump excess copper!! You have no voluntary control over when you body will choose to dump, only that it gets rid of excess copper on its own schedule. You must be strong enough for this to happen and the way to do that is to support your adrenals. Magnesium, in the right form, is the foundation for adrenal strength. I experimented for a long time supplementing with different magnesium supplements and to make along story short you want to be taking magnesium bisglycinate with added TAURINE. My HTMA showed an an increase of 50% in 3 months. No other form of magnesium was absorbed to any acceptable degree. Super high doses of other forms of magnesium resulted in ridiculously high HTMA Mg levels indicating a Mg LOSS. Be warned that high levels of magnesium will cause a drop in adrenal function. How high is difficult to say but 600 mg was the upper limit for me. The next supplement is vitamin B5, followed by the coenzyme form of B6 (P5P). The next is Vitamin C. I took 5 grams of ascorbic acid or buffered vitamin C daily for several years. This will help you drop your copper levels as it is antagonistic to copper absorption and increases excretion. You are going to do some consulting work with Dr. Malter. He’s your man. What he didn’t know about why my copper got so high is that mercury exposure disables metallothionine in the
gut. Once this amino acid is blocked it sets the stage for massive copper overload over time. That is how you and I got so copper toxic. Once the body becomes preoccupied parking mercury wherever it can it doesn’t take care of the lead we are all exposed to daily. In the world of metal toxicity arithmetic, one lead plus one mercury =100 times the toxicity. To answer your question about how I felt after I got my copper down, well I was greatly improved, but just not where I knew I should be, not even close. However I was able to put one serious side effect that copper overload had on me: Schizophrenia. Nobody in my sphere of friends, my wife, or coworker ever knew I had begun to slide into the world of this illness. I would look at my coworkers and I had to really work hard at times to recognize their faces. I simply wouldn’t know who they were at first glance. I never told a sole about this. In fact this blog is the first time I have shared it in public. I am totally healed of that. Getting rid of the copper was the first challenge, and it is mission number one for you Eric. Supporting your adrenalS is JOB ONE. Now that you are on HC your must be very careful which supplements you use an some of the herbal products increase the half life of Cortisol. I found this out the hard way. I am currently on 2.5 mg of Prednisone which is equivalent to about 10 mg of HC. Prednisone has a much longer half life that HC. That is why you may have found that splitting your dose of HC by taking more in the morning (always with food) and a smaller dose after lunch may be best for you. At one point I was on 60 mg of Prednisone (240 mg of HC)! This was after an adrenal crisis. Very soon I will be off of it. Don’t be in any hurry to do that. Your job is to feel as good as you can and HC at the right dosage will work better than any supplement for anyone who has adrenal insufficiency, like you. 35 to 40 mg of HC is 100% hormone replacement, at least that is what the experts say. I say differently. I needed three times that amount for months and slowly tapered but at no time showed any of the Classic Cushing Syndrome side effects. I was totally normal. No weight gain, no swelling, no buffalo hump. I have been on Prednisone for several years now with no ill effect. One side effect is that iOS has lowered my DHEA to nearly undetectable levels. I will have to check but HC I believe won’t do that. Another bonus is that while you are HC you can still run blood tests (or saliva) and get accurate results. You cannot do that on prednisone. The numbers in this case could come at literally anywhere (super high or low….I checked for myself). Time for me to crash. We need to talk in future emails about your quality of sleep. If you are like I was it probably is not good, to put it mildly. God Speed Eric! You are not alone!! Cheers!
Sincerely,
Mark Power
thanks Mark, it’s really touching to hear from somebody who’s been through something so similar to what I have. your story is really inspiring and a big congratulations to you for coming back from the brink of such scary symptoms!
What brand of magnesium bisglycinate do you use? I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not but I use magnesium glycinate because it boosts my energy and I tolerate much higher quantities than other forms I’ve tried. How much B5 do you take? I’ve often wondered if I should be taking larger amounts (I take 1500 mg)… I also have taken around 5 grams of vitamin C daily for years but recently cut back after reading Morley Robbins – ever looked at his writings? he writes a lot about copper and warns against taking ascorbic acid, saying the natural/raw vitamin C is much better, but it’s expensive!
I’ve probably been on hydrocortisone for more than 10 years now and it definitely depresses DHEA way down.
Yes, my sleep quality is awful to put it mildly. On the rare nights that I sleep well, I feel almost human again the next day.
warmly,
Eric
Hi Eric: Dr.Richard Malter (retired) is probably the world expert on copper overload from a clinical setting point of view. I met him online after running an HTMA through Trace Elements Inc. (TEI). They referred me to him as the go-between to the lab as he provides additonal interpretation to any report they produce. He coached me through the three year process of getting the copper levels into the normal range. He was a lifesave for me and I did numerous phone consultations with him. During copper dumping episodes which over time I began to recognize symtomatically, he was very supportive in coaching me through the process. I did several colonic cleanses at a clinic near my home and passed some very large liver stones, one was nearly 3/4 of an inch in diameter. The colonic hydrotherapy got the bile flowing however after the third treatment some much bile obstruction was removes that I slid into moderate psychosis for nearly 24 hours afterwards until I could clear the mobilized toxins. That was many years ago. With regards to your high serum zinc during supplementation I wouldn;t be too concerned. Mine was off-scale high too but keeping it high is te beat way to lower copper absorption, provided you copper is really high. Low copper levels on a HTMA don’t necessarily mean low copper. You need to look for the inidicators for hidden copper in you hair analysis. I will take a look at your HTMA and look them up for you and send you the results of what I see. Ceruloplasmin and serum copper are not an accurate reflection of stored copper levels. I ran mine periodically and found that out when I compared them to HTMA copper leves. They don; correlatate so save you money. I learned 90% of what I know about detoxing from personal research and playing guinea pig to just about every supplement you have ever heard of, and then some. I switched over to Prednisone from HC because that is all my eventual endocrinologist would give me although I would have preferred Methyl Prednisalone. I has to buy the HC originally off the web. Nobody would give it to me despite having a flat line saliva cortisol reading. I convinced one doctor to run an ACTH stimulation test. The results came back normal because people with mercury poisoning repsond noramally to ACTH, THEY JUST DON’T HAVE ENOUGH!! The have a paradoxical response to stress. Their ACTH levels go DOWN when they get stressed. Have you checked your testosterone and SHEA levels?
thanks Mark! we’ve been through some very similar things, it’s uncanny. I used to buy my hydrocortisone online without prescription and had those same crappy experiences with endocrinologists. but recently found an md here who has been supporting me with whatever I need. She also tested my testosterone and DHEA and the testosterone is low normal while DHEA is low unless I supplement. Really really want to know about your current hydrocortisone situation… Were you able to get off it? how much were you taking during your detox years? did you feel a lot better when your HTMA stopped showing high copper?
Hi Eric: I keep accidentally tripping over the submit button! Your ability to handle 200 mg of zinc daily tells me you are copper overloaded. I consumed up to 300 mg of zinc gluconate for more than year with no ill effect and was only barely able to raise my zinc levels (hair) into the normal range. Copper overload and mercury poisoning have identical symptoms. I undertook a three year therapy to lower my HTMA copper levels before I even knew I had extreme levels of lead and high mercury. I ran HTMA’s every 3 months for 4 years and tracked my body dumping copper cyclically with max readings of 202 PPM (normal 25). You may have hidden copper signs in your HTMA results. Check for them and I will get back to you with other things you may find useful. God bless you!
Mark
Thanks Mark! I don’t think I ever noticed any side effects from zinc but my blood tests show high zinc and I have stopped taking it recently. You can see my last hair test here which was still showing high copper – after that test I did about six months of high zinc and molybdenum supplementation. Any day now I will get the results from a follow-up hair test done after that last six months of zinc/molybdenum…
Hi Eric: Just came across your blog. I am a recovering lead and mercury poisoned person. I have had many adventures in my quest to recover. Detoxing is a very dangerous business. It needs to be approached with the greatest of care. Chelation triggered four separate adrenal crises in case. One of them was a close to fatal as you can get. I had to save my own life in each case with self administered hydrocortisone. Have you ever run a saliva cortisol test(AM/noon/Late afternoon/Evening)? I find the dosage of cortisol you were taking too low for someone clearly adrenally exhausted. Did you ever try more? If you have trouble falling asleep you are a bit too high. You will get a caffeine like
thanks for writing Mark! I do feel that my hydrocortisone dosage at 30 mg is low and I feel better for sure at 35 mg… I keep it low in the hope that it will make it easier to taper off eventually. Were you able to taper down your hydrocortisone? how are you doing now? you must have done some real hard-core chelation to trigger a near fatal crisis!
I just sent off my fourth hair test – I was doing them annually but think I will start doing twice a year now. Hoping my copper will be low this time. I did blood copper test recently and they were all low normal…
Who helped you through your detox process?
warmly,
Eric
Overmethylation or methyl trap, may need to take niacin flush with nicotinic acid to slow down methyl trap.
I take 150 mg of regular niacin every evening… Is that what you’re referring to?
HI, I have just finished reading your blog. You seem very organized about your health and doing everything right or possible to get better. Unfortunately it sounds like you have been through alot of doctors without huge improvements. I was in med school in Colorado doing amazing until I spent 1 week in the Hamptons. While visiting family in the Hamptons I had a tick bite, I did not get sick immediately it was slow progressive malaise or fatigue that happened over 1 year time. I became almost bedridden with horrible insomnia. 26 years old but on the inside I felt 90. Several negative lyme tests and worthless doctors with no answers. Finally found a lyme specialist who did the only correct lyme test out there Advanced labs and Igenex- I was very lyme positive. It took 4 years to get the proper diagnosis! I suffered on so many levels until I started lyme treatment. It feels like your going through life half alive when you have lyme. I was a med student, swimsuit model, engaged to a billionaire until I became sick. I lost everything important to me, it was beyond devastating. I have never responded to anyone on a blog but your symptoms point strongly to lyme. I am getting better with extensive treatment. You deserve to have tons of energy!! Mls
Wow Malory, what a story! so sorry for your losses…
What sorts of treatments have you had and what do you think helped you the most?
thanks for writing!
-Eric
hello
i really appreciate this site
i have been recovering from mould issues for almost two years.
i have to wonder if some of it began from air drying clothing outside in humid North East Florida, wearing clothing that has mould…
I have been working on something maybe you might have a suggestion
I live in four seasons now in Ontario Canada and when it becomes humid, my ears seem to get affected. i alternate peroxide, and then a day or so later a drop of apple cider vinegar and alcohol. i have had black mould in one ear ten years ago from using excessive product plus a poor immune system. i was told to try to never get water in ears. anyways I just think my ears get so sensitive to weather and possible mould spores so what else can I try?
thanks
jen
Jen, I think the most important thing you can do is to move to a dry climate. The entire East Coast has fairly high mold levels. You might also try the internal food grade hydrogen peroxide therapy…
Hi
The pics you posted concerning the stringy/algae things which you pass following enema are exactly the same as me. I believe they are advanced biofilms and I think they are sulfur reducing bacterias and archea andmethanogenic bacterias it is almost a symbiotic relationship between these pathogens.
Do you have symptoms of bad breath and fecal body odor??
hi Paul, fortunately I haven’t had bad breath or body odor… that I know of lol.
Hi Eric
Everything started us a “sinus infection” to numbness and bad migraine. After an MRI and blood test they only could say that my b12 level is very low. I got two shots and feeling worse everyday. I have pressure in my head and feel dizzy all day long. Low energy and other sympthoms.
Doctor keeps saying that there’s nothing to do with migraines and low b12. My nutritionist wast the first person in give me answers and connect all sympthoms… And I ended up in this. Thank you so much.
I’m trying a diet low in thiols and having supplements for digestion and energy.
Besides the shots I got B12 supplement – “Pure encapsulations” b12 liquid, methylcobalamin 1000 mcg. I’m having it in the morning with my breakfast.
I just need an advice of what supplement (kind and brand) should I get and dosage, Nobody can give me a right answer.
your symptoms after the B12 shots are consistent with the experience of most people who have B12 deficiency. I like the idea of using sublingual supplements at home because you get to control the amounts.
Eric,
Thank you for your important information and insight. You have one symptom that might be an important clue: positional sleep apnea. Me,too. Plus, I have had a bunch of mercury filling. Yes, played with liquid mercury as a child in 1950s. Lived in Pittsburgh area – heavy industrial pollution.
However, I was well and energetic until a neck/sacrum injury at age 49. – 1998. I have mild scoliosis – it runs in my family, as does all kinds of heart/ neurological/fatigue issues. I, too, have searched and searched. tried everything, ran large support group 13 years.
I think that many of us have structural issues possibly related to scoliosis and the torque it is related to in the dural tube- with consequent blood-brain barrier weakness.
My son has scoliosis ( now age 34) and some similar issues. He had a lab documented case of severe EBV at age 5. Many neuro problems afterward including sleep problems. His injury to the neck was at birth – delivered with suction.
It is important to appreciate that the sacrum influences the neck and lower brain area. I have an abnormal CINE CSF flow study ( MRI), and also suspect vertebral artery syndrome. Check out the site: The Downside of Upright posture by Michael Flanagan, a neurological chiropractor.
Thanks again! May we find the answers we are seeking. Interesting that this ‘scoliosis’ group also had wonderful gifts:)
Thanks Merida, I get a lot of relief from lacrosse balls – check out massagetrack.com
Hey Eric, I was about to walk away from my computer, when I just felt the nudge to add this post. If it’s too much information… my feelings won’t be hurt. But it could also ring a bell for someone.
This year while trying to get to the bottom of my own myriad symptoms, I agreed to see a regular allopathic bone doc. After the first round of lab tests he said “You could have a parathyroid tumor.” What? We are continuing to monitor me, because it can be difficult to catch on a first lab. But what struck me is that, whatever brand of doc you go to, may never have heard of anything but their own specialty. If they’ve spent years studying MHFR and methylation, they may be a deer in the headlights when you bring up hormones or parathyroid glands. Too bad we have to do our own sleuthing.
http://www.parathyroid.com/parathyroid-symptoms.htm
I have personally talked with some of the folks who had this simple 20 minute surgery, and they immediately and permanently felt well. They got their life back, after sometimes decades of illness. You kind of have to wonder when it takes buckets of supplements and very difficult and/or esoteric therapies to just tread water… whether you may have missed something simple. It’s worth a look.
A good thought Lori, I did have them imaged and they’re good:)
-e
Hi Eric, How generous of you to be journaling while you are still trying to find your answers. I hope that you are feeling better all the way (although I know how easy it is to say, how hard to do). Sounds like we are all in the midst of trying to find our answers… while not going off the rails. I happen to love Ayurveda, and that is core for me. But it doesn’t cover some of the modern day stuff I’m encountering. So, my challenge is not to get hooked into fads… (for me, Lyme diagnosis makes me run for cover since a “good Lyme doctor” will find it in 80% of the people who walk through his door… I know, one of my docs is LL and I’ve asked him what percent he treats for Lyme). The hardest part of all this is just keeping your balance in the midst of so many theories. Stay joyful, Eric… you sound like a joyful guy with a great sense of humor. Bet you’ve needed it!
When I read your long list of symptoms, my first thought was that it sounds like you may have low testosterone. I dont know if you’ve checked that out. Can I throw my few healing strategies into the mixs, as well? As I am approaching the sixth year of my own implosion, a few things I heard from my doctors are “keepers”: 1) I finally agreed to take gluten completely out of my diet (not just 99% but 1000%)… even though I did not test positive for celIac, Rapid osteoporosis, calcium loss, iron loss, and all the GI issues I was having, along with autoimmune issues (and issues with Vitamin D!) caused my docs to say let’s not mess around with this. Get it out of your diet. I had lost 30 pounds last year, unaccountably… and I have regained all that weight and some strength since eliminating gluten and most other grains completely. 2) I am supplementing with transdermal hormones including testosterone (very small dose but man it makes a difference), estradiol, etc. My doc is a male, and HE uses all of these. I was also open to HGH… but that comes after you get all the others worked out. They would have to pry my hormones out of my cold dead hands… they’re that important to me. There are several good/easy books on hormones, which includes those for men. 3) Salt (more of it). 4) Iron (lots more of it… I don’t know why. Doctors tend to overlook Ferritin levels, and in men it’s usually fine. But if a ferritin level drops below 50, you WILL be exhausted, depressed, and eventually, unable to do anything. Immunity, etc just goes to hell. For some reason “functional medicine” docs do not look at iron… even if it’s just blatantly in their face. This is one thing I’ve had to tackle on my own, even doing my own frequent labs. One way ferritin levels can drop is by taking zinc, since those minerals are oppositional. I was also surprised to find that my copper levels were extremely low… and in women, copper is usually high. I had to greatly reduce my daily zinc to 7 mg for a good long time, so my iron levels could have a fighting chance. (Now I wish I had labeled that #1… it’s that important). I am back at the gym, and my ability to exercise is directly proportional to the amount of iron I have taken. 5) I did not want to get too woo-woo and go into really weird stuff, but I have had to wonder about EMF’s. (and for you, the fact that Colorado improved things for you a bit… might be a factor for you, too?) I thought I’d give it a go, started throwing my circuit breakers to my bedroom and surrounding rooms every night. Wow. An immediate change in my sleep… sound, sweet sleep without waking up a single time. I don’t know if this is forever, but maybe when everything is delicate and in the process of healing, it’s a good idea to get rid of as much radiation and electrical noise as possible. I hate to admit it… it’s made a huge difference. I’ll be camping in Santa Cruz tonight, for that very reason; I’ve noticed that sleeping outdoors, on the ground, just revives and energizes me like nothing else.
I’ve known people who just head out for a forest and stay there for a week or a month, where they do nothing special but just “be” and soak up the no-EMF clean air and sit in a creek. And laugh. And come home whole. Food for thought.
I, too, am doing cleanses and considering a liver flush, but I want to make sure that it’s not too depleting. In Ayurveda that’s the first rule…. no point in draining the small life force you have. Coffee enemas used to make me feel great. Now they put me to bed for days. I also had large exposure to mercury 30 years ago… wound up in Psych hospital for 3 months. Figured it out… two horrible years of detoxing.
Maybe it’s “e”… all of the above. If anything I have said sounds interesting to you… feel free to email or contact me. I’ll be praying for all of us!
Lots of good stuff here Lori, thanks!! Clever trick with the circuit breakers, I should try that for sure.
I quit gluten too ages ago:)
Will try to have ferritin checked next time – I took a lot of zinc.
warmly,
eric
Hi Eric,
I just found your website and have been reading it for the last hour or two. I love the fact that you’re documenting your journey while still in the midst of it. Very helpful! I’ve thought of doing the same myself but haven’t yet begun to do so. I’m glad to see someone doing it! Thank you.
Question for you: do you work with practitioners on all these therapies and protocols you’re doing? I’m considering working with Dr. Dan Kalish on my adrenal fatigue and balancing my neurotransmitters, or with Dr. Jess Armine for the methylation and neurotransmitter side of things. I can see that you’ve experienced a lot of frustration (as I have too!) with docs who tell you you should be fine according to the blood work, but I’m curious if there are any docs that you have found helpful in your path to healing.
Thanks,
Paul
hey Paul, I haven’t found any doctors or practitioners that could really lead the way for me – the ones that come very highly recommended often have weight lists of two years or more and cost a fortune. Having had so many bad experiences in the past, it’s a big hurdle for me to pin my hopes on one guy. My health issues are like a full-time job so I also get skeptical every time I think about the likelihood that any practitioner could be of great help with just the couple hours that I could afford… I’ve been thinking about writing a post about doctors for a long long long time.
I wonder if I’ve made a mistake by doing this on my own but my best guess is that I am slowly getting closer and closer to the causes and recovery.
Hi Eric,
I have been reading a lot of your material. I am particularly interested if it is safe to take b12 injections while doing chelation therapy. It is 5mg/ml in 2 ml intramuscular injections of methylcobalamine. I take it every 6 weeks.
Per
Per, I much prefer daily sublingual mb12 – i think you have better control and it should be smoother. It’s recommended by Dr. Cutler during chelation too.
Eric, I was directed to your website today by someone in a reply to a Dr. Mercola post. Thank you for all this terrific documentation! I too recently found out that I had a genetic mutation on the MTHFR gene and don’t methylate B. My energy is pretty good, but as a mom, homeschooler, and business owner (I own a colonic practice), I could use more some days. As long as the B is methocobalamine (sp?) its ok? I eat very clean (most days!), gluten free, I employ intermittent fasting, juicing and follow an O blood type diet, but cannot take a multi, as they all have folic acid and that’s obviously poison to my system. I crave sugar like a mad-man and I believe that’s my body screaming for energy. I would like to supplement with additional B, just asking about the type/dosage. thanks!
yes, you want methylcobalamin and methylfolate. try taking them together… start low and increase over a few weeks.
Paul,
I follow this site as I too find it of interest.
I”m curious – how did you find the two doctors you reference, Dr. Dan Kalish and Dr. Jess Armine? I find it really odd that neither has a MS, both have their doctoral degrees in Chiropractics.
I always tend to question these things now as I am a bit skeptical of a lot of doctors these days. And I ask because I am trying to find someone good in genetics as well, and I realize this is all cutting edge that many are just getting started in it.
I found a site that appears to be interesting, http://www.healthcoach7.com. It’s interesting in that it takes 23andme results and promotes itself as ” Empower your life with the knowledge of your genetic code and set the course towards greater health and a longer life. Receive a report of your results, team up with our health coaches and learn how to harness the power of your genes to move more quickly towards your goals.” I did a search on the primary doctor, Dr. John Catanzaro, and found that he had his license taken away for a year for “experimenting” on his patients (http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/2014/12/03/dr-john-catanzaro-suspended-will-return/19871277/) That said, he has 57 outstanding ratings on http://www.RateMDs.com – https://www.ratemds.com/doctor-ratings/113349/Dr-John%2BA.-Catanzaro-MTLK%2BTERRACE-WA.html
I could not find Dr. Kalish on RateMDs.com, but I did find Jess Armine: https://www.ratemds.com/doctor-ratings/2404575/Dr-JESS%2BP.-ARMINE-Havertown-PA.html
Hey Eric,
I too had a very high load of heavy metals, mainly from my mom and from having mercury fillings for several years.
I to have seen tremendous improvements with a program very similar to the QuickSilver Scientific protocol. I started almost 2 years ago and I’m a million times better now without having to taking any IV’s or pharmaceutical chelators like DMSA. I took liposomal glutathione, liposomal R-ALA, MSM in very high doses, NAC, zinc, selenium, zeolite, the IMD by quicksilver scientific, and liposomal EDTA by quicksilver scientific, and those were the most helpful to me. I took them with niacin (vitamin b3) and feel like that hugely amplified the detoxification effects. I also supplemented with topical magnesium regularly and feel that helped with my detox as well.
Another thing that I found to help during detox was having a zero sugar diet (as I also had candida and parasites) and eating large amounts of garlic and high sulfur foods along with supplementing with molybdenum as it can help with the sulfur metabolism especially for people who can’t tolerate sulfur.
I wrote about my experience in great detail here on my blog: http://thesupermandiet.com/detox I’d be happy to share more details with anyone
congratulations Alex, I’m very envious! I look forward to reading your blog.
how much MSM did you take and why? I also find zero sugar very helpful…
Thanks Eric. I took a lot of MSM, at least 3 tablespoons a day or more, and it really helps. MSM is a very powerful liver methylator and has helped me with digesting fats more than anything else (more than enzymes, probiotics, herbs, etc.). It contains very high amounts of sulfur which can help in boosting glutathione levels. Sulfur is also antagonistic to mercury. If you take it in such large doses you will feel a very strong detox effect from it almost instantly.
The only MSM I would recommend is the plant-based MSM which is called OptiMSM. The brands I had great results with are Bluebonnet Nutrition and SunFood and as far as I know they are some of the only ones that have plant-based MSM in powder form which is better if you will be taking the large doses needed for detoxification.
MSM is also recommended for cancer treatment in similar large doses, more information can be found on the cancertutor site here: http://www.cancertutor.com/faq_msm/
very interesting Alex!! I put that on my ‘to try’ list – I’ve been using DMSO which is MSM’s kissing cousin and have found it remarkably effective at reducing inflammation and fighting migraines… Thank you:)
Hi Eric!
I will start my 17th round on ALA 3mg, but l started to have some kind of allergical reactions to everything l eat. Red-hot-dry face, dry eyes, feeling so depressed. I just eat chicken dark meat, rice, potato, cucumber, zuccini, salad. Is this normal n this stage? And heat intolerance as well.
Thanks
I’m not an expert – would definitely recommend you join the Yahoo group for frequent dose chelation and ask there!
2008 I had a lot of dental work done,2010 a lot of weird stuff, GP said it was mini strokes, was good for a couple of years.
Back to the dentist because the composits fillings were junk, the mercury was put back in, my biggest mistake ever. All the weird stuff came back, the mercury thing was bugging me but the doctor had me convinced it was mini strokes, but with 3 MRI’s there was only one sign of a possible mini stroke. After a lot of internet hours I now know it’s heavy metal poisoning, I had the mercury fillings removed by a competent dentist at a substantial cost. I’m going to do the Andy Cutler protocol, the DMSA is on order. I was wondering what you think of using Modified citrus pectin
Simon, I bought modified citrus pectin once and took it for a week or so but never felt anything one way or another. I tend to go in for more intense therapies for whatever reason. I guess because I’m in a big rush to get healthy and recover my life! Sorry to read about your horrendous experience and wish you lots of luck..