Hello,
I have had the hair analysis and blood work done as recommended by the Huggins Clinic. My hair analysis mercury level is below the 'reference range' on the chart. My white blood cell count is low. So I am wondering if my problems are from my amalgams. I don't honestly know who else to ask about this and am again at my wits end. Can my amalgams be causing my problems even though the mercury level is so low?
Debi

Based on the Huggins research published in the book, "It's All In Your Head", a low hair mercury level can indicate long-term chronic mercury exposure through amalgams in stage 2.

In other words, according to the research, people who are in stage 1 would have high blood mercury levels and thus have mercury show up in the hair.

In stage 2, the body begins compensating in numerous ways and blood mercury levels go down and thus hair mercury decreases too and can show up very low. You may still be experiencing chronic exposure, it's just that the body is managing to keep blood mercury levels low in order to protect itself.

In stage 3, the body can no longer compensate and blood mercury levels again shoot up and this is when people begin experiencing dramatic symptoms over just a period of months or a few years, even though the amalgams have been in for 10, 20, or even 40 years.

At this point, hair mercury will again rise and be detectable with hair analysis. Therefore, hair mercury analysis are generally high in stage 1 and 3 and low in stage 2. Stage 2 is, by far, the longest occuring stage of mercury poisoning from long-term exposure to amalgam fillings

Some doctors recommend a urine-based DMPS challange test, but others recommend against because it can redistribute existing mercury throughout the body and facilitate more damage. It is, nevertheless, easy and inexpensive.

I elected to have mine removed because I had enough of the symptoms to convince me that this was indeed the problem. Of course, my recovery was dramatic. If you're interested, you can read about it here:
My Mercury Story

Because mercury interacts with the body in so many different ways, and because it causes such diverse symptoms, it can be hard to detect. Here is an excerpt from the book, "It's All In Your Head" which describes a number of the possible signs. Please note that due to the complexity of the symptoms, the book notes that mercury diagnosis is often a "professional judgement call", I also believe, given numerous symptoms, it could be considered common sense.

o A white blood cell count above 7,500 or below 4,500

o Hematocrit above 50% or below 40%

o A lymphocyte count above 2,800 or below 1,800

o A blood protein level above 7.5 grams per 100 milliliters of serum

o A blood tryglyceride level above 150 mg percent ml

o A blood urea nitrogen (BUN) level above 18% or below 12%

o A level of nickel in the hair above 1.5 parts per million

o A hair mercury level above 1.5 ppm or below 0.4 ppm

o A hair aluminum level above 15 ppm

o A hair manganese level below 0.3 ppm

o Immune reactions to aluminum, nickel, mercury, copper or gold

o Oxyhemoglobin above 2.5% saturation

o T-lymphocytes that have been inactivated by mercury

o DNA analysis that indicates mercury-induced malignancies (doubled chromosome count)

Also, I will be posting a list of common symptoms on the Mercury Talk website soon and perhaps this will help. You may also want to find a doctor who specializes in heavy metal toxicity and testing if you can find one.

Best of luck and please keep us informed.

Oh thank goodness, I have hope again. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I thought I had read that the mercury hair analysis could be low, and yet still be a major health issue. I don't retain much of what I read (no surprise). My white blood cell count is low and my manganese is very low. I had a lot of the findings that indicate that it is my amalgams. Also, I tried 20mg of manganese and got very depressed the next day along with nausea and diareah. I wonder why the manganese is so low and why I reacted that way.
Thanks again,
Debi

Is your manganese below 0.3 ppm?

My manganese levels were .09 ppm. The Huggins clinic sent me some maganese and several other supplements. My chromium was low too .29 and my sodium was 29. I feel a little better today after starting the supplements but it is hard to tell if it the new supplements or just the how it goes. I am usually emotionally bad every other day and physically bad on the in between days. I have wondered why but I can't figure that out.
Thanks again,
Debi

Wow. Your manganese is low.

Please keep us posted on how the supplements affect you throughout the next few weeks. This may be helpful for others in the same situation.

Thanks!

Do you know of any link between manganese and amalgams?

Here are some snippets for you. Hope they're helpful.

Relationship between Mercury and Manganese

Mercury from amalgam binds to the -SH (sulphydryl) groups, resulting in inactivation of sulfur and blocking of enzyme function, producing toxicity. Sulfur is essential in enzymes, hormones, nerve tissue, and red blood cells. These exist in almost every enzymatic process in the body. Mercury also blocks the metabolic action of manganese and the entry of calcium ions into cytoplasm. Mercury from amalgam thus has the potential to disturb all metabolic processes. Mercury is transported throughout the body in blood and can affect cells in the body and organs in different ways.

Physicians, dentists and toxicologists who have treated the increasing number of people with problems associated with mercury have identified six general categories of pathology:

(1) Allergies. Mercury combines with allergens to more readily rupture white blood cells than with allergens alone,

(2) Immunological diseases,

(3) Collagen diseases (further accentuated when dental fluorides are administered,

(4) Cardiovascular diseases,

(5) Neurological degeneration and

(6) Psychological and behavioral disorders caused by systemic physiological or neurological damage.

It is also interesting that each of the first five areas use the element manganese - the action of which is blocked by mercury. For this reason, manganese is often recommended as a supplement in this context.