Mercury Toxicity and How It Affects Energy, Nervous System and Cholesterol by Sheila Yonemoto, PT

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

Dr. Chris Shade outlined the basics of mercury toxicity and what can be done to remedy the problem. It is my hope that I can condense his wonderful knowledge into a concise, understandable and usable format without getting too technical.

Mercury toxicity presents a problem in the body because it is more binding than other metals. It never exists as a free ion and attaches itself to enzymes in the body making them inactive. It is a billion times more attaching than zinc and will bind to cell membranes including the vasculature, causing holes in arteries and triggering cholesterol production to spackle these holes. Messing with enzymes messes up the body chemistry and can cause depression, anxiety, hyperactivity, chronic fatigue and other neurological conditions.

Mercury toxicity can come from coal burning, dental amalgams, vaccines, fish consumption and flu shots. Fish get loaded with mercury from coal burning fertilizing the air with mercury, which then falls to the oceans as acid rain.

There are several forms of mercury toxicity with ethyl mercury being the most toxic followed by methyl mercury, as these penetrate quickly into the body. Inorganic mercury from dental amalgams, aka silver fillings, are very slow to break out. Seventy-eight percent of people have amalgams and 50% of dentists do not use amalgams.

There are several ways to test for mercury toxicity. Urine tests show more inorganic mercury, such as from paint. Blood tests do not make much sense for elemental mercury vapors. Hair analysis is a good marker for methyl mercury in blood but not good for inorganic sources such as dental. Testing from various labs can differ considerably. Some tests are 50 times more sensitive than others.

People with numerous dental amalgams who do not eat fish will show low mercury in the blood. People who are sickest from mercury will show lower mercury in urine because problems with the kidneys will not let mercury pass into the urine. How well you excrete mercury makes a difference in the tests.

Inorganic sources, i.e. dental, are more toxic but do not accumulate well in tissues, while the organic/fish sources accumulate more.

Detoxification from mercury should be done slowly, often over a period of several years, requiring several rounds of detoxification along with lifestyle changes.

Some ways to consider eliminating the hazards of mercury toxicity include chelation and removal of dental amalgams which should be done under the care of experts. Other lifestyle changes that can be employed even without the benefit of testing include adding the following items to your diet: vitamin C, chlorella, N-acetyl cysteine, garlic, lipoic acid, CoQ10, astaxanthin and other powerful antioxidants, plus cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli or cabbage and also whey protein, but be sure they contain no hormones or BHT. Eating a diet high in antioxidants and low in carbohydrates emphasizing good quality proteins and good fats is highly recommended.

I have found a detox diet kit that is great for helping rid the body of heavy metals, although any fasting diet will help.

---