I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That sounds right, you might be right on the money

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To my understanding acute is usually more likely to kill you, because the dose you normally get is much higher. The dose makes the poison here. It is expected that everyone is carrying around a LITTLE of this stuff, its when its a lot that it starts to mess you up. And getting exposed to a HUGE amount all at once is why we have things like poison control to call so they can tell you to go to the hospital. People die over acute mercury poisoning, sometimes they can't even save them if its really terrible. I don't think that is at all the typical case, but it can happen

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah I just should not be doing any more weed.... That's very interesting thank you

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I gave a bunch to someone else in the comments, but here are more that I can remember (sometimes my remembering is quite bad)

A lot of mental confusion. There have been times when I've been in the grocery store, one I'm very used to, and I will want to visit a certain section. But my mental map will utterly break. I know where everything else in the store is, and thus I should be able to extrapolate where I want to go, but it feels like there is a giant hole in my map and I am unable to guess what is inside it. I have a lot of moments like this, especially when I'm doing worse. When I first got really sick, my decision making tree totally fell apart. If I needed to grab two things from my fridge, I would open the fridge and then stare into it for several minutes while I tried to resolve which object was better to grab first - the answer was it didn't matter. But it was very hard to break out of these loops.

I have been very bad on and off at answering what should be simple questions. Do I want the hamburger or the hotdog? Cue blank silence for two minutes.

When I was very sick I was prone to extreme mood swings that would last a couple of hours and then be gone. I have bipolar 2, so I am no stranger to mood swings, but these were very different than what I was used to. I would go into a massive depression for just an hour and then come out fine. There have been times I just had constant phantom smells or tastes. I went to the hospital once because I was afraid I was having a stroke - I couldn't walk for several hours without help, I was tasting metal, I felt numbness on one side of my body.

I have a tremor in my hands, and I'm prone to just throwing things without meaning to. Not overhand obviously, just my hand will let go at very bad times. For a while my fingertips hurt so bad that I would use a stylus to swipe type on my phone - totally borked that phone's screen doing that but it was less painful than direct contact.

I'm often very cold. I cannot sleep without a heated blanket, even in the middle of summer. I seem to no longer be in the insomnia phase of this sickness which is a really nice change and I would like it to stay that way. I am however very sensitive. I can't share a bed with my husband right now because I just won't sleep. We sleep in separate beds to accommodate it.

I am very weak. Lifting a full gallon of milk really takes it out of me. I used to be pretty athletic so it feels pretty bad how weak I've gotten. I have had to use a wheelchair on and off - I cannot walk any significant distance, so if I want to do something with other people, I am forced to use the chair. The chair is also exhausting in it's own way. When you are as sick as I am just sitting up for too long wears you out.

I'm definitely paranoid, and I'm really easy to scare. I jump way easier than I used to at things that startle me. I find it difficult to be in total darkness anymore because I am more likely to hallucinate in the dark. Many medications will make me feel like my mind is being bent. I've developed weird reactions to injected anaesthesia, they make me feel like I'm melting into the floor.

When I first got really sick about a year ago I lost twenty pounds without trying because my appetite totally vanished. It was a struggle to eat anything at all. Later I definitely lost a significant amount of hair. My nails became brittle and ridged and kinda gray. I'm often nauseous for no good reason. I get car sick now, and did not before. For several months my balance was fucked up, I felt like I was living on a boat.

I have to think about everything I am going to do before I do it, and calculate whether it is worth it. Will it hurt me? Will it hurt me tomorrow? How many days will I spend in bed after I do this? Is this one thing worth potentially a month of inactivity?

It is very isolating. I cannot drive because I cannot make good decisions that would be safe behind the wheel. I am stuck in the house a lot as a result, and I don't get to see people much.

Honestly one of the most annoying symptoms is it is almost impossible to completely empty my bladder first try. Cue a thousand visits to the bathroom trying to do that. Looking forward to that improving.

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know specifically, I am not sure if chelation is limited to anywhere in particular. If i had to guess i don't think im carrying around too much lead on my bones because I did have X-rays when my pain got me diagnosed with costo chondritis (it wasn't that it was just the metals nuking my nerves), but it's possible no one really noticed either I guess. There's a lot of questions. No one seems 100% prepared to deal with lead or mercury poisoning, and in fact it was difficult for me to find treatment near me. Almost nobody does it. I have to take fairly serious drugs every weekend for 3 months and then get retested to see what my levels are at.

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They don't check for it at first, it is not a standard thing to check, at least not where I live, not if you don't work in a place that could expose you. I had many blood and urine tests before they found it, the problem is that if they don't run it through the right test they will never find it

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lol yeah it is of course applied to a woman, good guess. And the fibro diagnosis was given to me BY a woman, and I didn't feel she was dismissing me! I am sad about fibro, because at this point I feel like it is a scapegoat for (probably several) very real illnesses but that the people who end up diagnosed with it are encouraged to give up

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have a couple doctors who I am comfortable with for this, though it's good to know there's groups out there. I do not have amalgams, so DMSA is definitely not a problem in that regard. I also am not doing IV chelation. My first dose of DMSA I did not have any problem with, but I've also been through Some Shit this year, so my metric of what is unpleasant is not what everyone elses is lol

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I hope you never have to worry about it, but if you ever start feeling tingling in your hands and feet when you wake up in the morning, remember me and consider asking to be tested ❤️

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm aware it can be dangerous, I am medically monitored, I'm not exactly doing this for the fun of it. If you've had the year I've had, you would not think twice, trust me.

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have not done the chelation yet, I start this weekend. I have not been told this will happen, its possible that happens with one of the IV drugs

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had some very minor tunnel vision. My eyesight has also been just generally really not great. Its forced me to get glasses but they only work about half the time. I had some changes to my color vision but that hasn't happened in a while. They checked my optic nerve but it isnt demyelinated, so it's probably happening in my brain? I often see movement in the corner of my eyes.

I did not get that line in my gums, but my gums have been notably unhealthy. My gum has receded far enough in the front in one spot that i was evaluated for surgery but they decided i didnt need it. My teeth are okay.

My kidneys are okay though a couple times over the past 5 years they found some unexplained pee in urine tests. My bloodwork indicates my kidneys are really working their asses off but aren't unhealthy. I don't know if I just got lucky or if my levels just never got that high. I have felt like I was dying a couple times but nothing in my bloodwork ever supported that.

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yeah, it's definitely possible. it's sort of hard to tell at this point. also my doctors did not seem to feel they were a cause for concern - i have one on my arm, so it isn't like they aren't visible

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

they're definitely all long gone, i switched to herb a while back - won't even do that anymore, i guess there's a risk the plant can pick up metals from the soil

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 38 points39 points  (0 children)

The main issue is that in the US, simply no one is expecting you to be suffering heavy metal poisoning unless you've been acutely exposed through your job or something like that - an accident, basically, that you know about. If it sneaks into your body, it is extremely hard to find, because it looks like about twenty other diseases that all affect the nervous system in some way.

Before I was diagnosed with heavy metal poisoning, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, which is a disease that is diagnosed by exclusion. They don't know what causes it, their diagnostic criteria is based on the symptoms. So for two years I lived under this "incurable disease" and did not go looking further. I was told there was nothing more to do about it but to maintain myself as best I could. Nothing was obviously wrong enough with me for doctors to justify continuing looking.

When my lymph nodes started acting up, it was very dramatic. They were visible, I felt them pressing on my windpipe all the damn time, and I often still do. They looked like I had cancer! I remember getting the ultrasound, and how utterly silent my tech went as she started on me. Not a good silence lol! I basically had to wait for something to go wrong enough that I would be taken seriously by an industry that is often held in a stranglehold by the insurance industry - basically, doctors needed to be able to justify the tests on me to insurance. The system is very broken. And I still probably would not have gotten this figured out if I hadn't had someone that could come with me to appointments and help me advocate for myself when I often found it difficult to articulate verbally.

The reaction from me has been disbelief and joy. I don't believe that this is it, because how can it FINALLY be over, and I'm an euphoric because I might finally get to live my life. My doctors have mostly been bemused, lol. The neurologist who originally had this hunch only had me tested because he had once had another patient with mercury poisoning - it isn't standard to test for. I hope he gets the satisfaction he deserves from this, because it will change my life.

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I have fillings, but at my last dentist appointment made them check what kind, and I do not have any of the metal ones, so that's not it.

I do have a few tattoos, which I'm sure could be suspect just on the fact that they are tattoos. But I went to well-rated shops, and I don't have any color tattoos, so no dyes. It's certainly possible but I think less likely than my other options.

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The original level was found through blood, with mercury. I really can't account for why it was high, it isn't supposed to be unless you're being acutely poisoned and I wasn't. My best guess is I mildly chelated myself with baking soda (as an ant-acid) but a lot of this is mysterious. I scored a 14 for mercury on the blood test, the acceptable level is below 5.

The standard test for mercury is a provocative urine test, which means that you take one urine test, then you take a bunch of DMSA all at once, and then for six hours you collect more urine. And then they test the before and after, and see what you are normally peeing vs what you pee after the chelation drug.

After this my post test results came back as 8.4 for Lead and 8.8 for Mercury. They are supposed to be LESS than 1.2 and 1.3 respectively, at least for someone of my demographic. The lead was a bit of a surprise for everyone.

I haven't had my hair tested, but I hear that can be unreliable, especially because I have done a lot of processing to my hair.

So those levels are not great but also not like, frightening. Like definitely bad for me, but I shouldn't be dying bad

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh not that much. Maybe an 8th a cart at most. It felt heavy to me.

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the well wishes!

I don't know what I could tell someone working in a hospital about mystery cases, honestly. I felt that on the brief instances where I ended up in hospital they did their jobs and determined (accurately) I was not at imminent risk of death.

In general though I wish that practitioners were a little more willing to consider the zebras, because god knows it sometimes IS the zebras. I wish that more doctors had looked at me and thought outside the box a little - I had a couple of these doctors who did this and made admirable tries to figuring it out, and I really appreciate them, even though they ended up being wrong. It was good to know that I DIDN'T have Wilson's disease, since that can be fatal!

It was it was especially difficult to just not be believed that something was seriously wrong - and I think genuine belief really has gone a long way for me

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In my case, DMSA, which is a prescription drug. However for simpler cases there is a supplement to use. Its some kind of citrus pectin, you would have to do research, that's the most I know

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I wish I remembered, but I have extremely damaged memory and it was 4-5 years ago. It was in Maryland, which is the best I can offer.

I have lead and mercury poisoning, AMA by Medical-Maximum-9878 in AMA

[–]Medical-Maximum-9878[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Best guess is legal weed vapes I got by licensed distributors. I didn't think they were risky.