Hi,
I got the results from my hair analysis and didn't show high on any of the toxic metals. Not sure how accurate it is, but the Dr. said he reads the results from this lab differently than the lab does and he said the mercury is actually high (.23 and the normal is .02 - .28).
He feels very strongly that I should do a DMPS right after the fillings are out and then again in about a month to see where I am and if it mercury levels are dropping.
I really don't feel good about doing a DMPS. I tend to be more conservative and want to not over do it at first.
He claims if I don't do the DMPS right after the mercury that I am exposed to (he said no matter how good the dentist is there will be exposure) will just go into the brain.
Anyway, what do you think?
Also, he was concerned about the calcium and magnesium levels. The calcium is very high the the magnesium is high. He said it could indicate that the calcium is depleting the magnesium and wants me to do a bone density test.
So I have been reading a little about calcium and magnesium and you have to make sure that you take enough magnesium with calcium or the calcium will pull the magnesium out of the body.
I did a vinegar test today on the cal-mag tablets I am taking and it hardly dissolved even after an hour!
So, do you know of a good supplement with mag?
Also, I was very high in copper but didn't have any comment about that. I am also pretty low in potassium.
Any advice??
Vicki

What type of cal/mag supplement are you taking?

I was inspired by you to do the vinegar test on my NSP Calcium-Magnesium supplement and here is the result after about 30 minutes (actually I used red wine vinegar because it's all I had):

Calcium-Magnesium Dissolving in Red Wine Vinegar


I then put one of my NSP Calcium-Magnesium caps in water and here's what it looked like after about 15 minutes:

Calcium-Magnesium Dissolving in Water


Now, I put 1/3 of a capsule of NSP's PDA Digestive Supplement
which is essentialy Hydrochloric and pepsin used to aid in digestion. I did this to mimick (as well as I can at 3:17am) the conditions on the stomach. Here's the result after about 20 minutes:

Calcium-Magnesium Dissolving in Water with Hydrochloric Acid

I found it very interesting that the tablet dissolved better in water than in vinegar. I'm not sure what the implications are but it might be worth noting that the tablet in the vinegar was completely dissolved after about 75 minutes.




Here is the potassium supplement I use occasionally if I feel I need it:

NSP Combination Potassium




I side with Huggins on this one. I did DMPS but would not do it again. It was very harsh and my business partner got very sick with a 104 fever on the third DMPS session. It was a little scary. Huggins says it's dangerous because of the danger of mercury redistribution.


Here is some additional information I posted to another thread that may be helpful...


"It is interesting to note that some physicians are beginning to recognize that vitamins and minerals are a necessary adjunct to building bone. What they do not recognize is that it is important to use the full spectrum of minerals when trying to build bone. Calcium alone is not sufficient. If one takes calcium long term without balancing it with magnesium, serious imbalance between the minerals will occur. The same can be said of taking magnesium without calcium. A frequent side effect of this imbalance will be muscle cramps, especially during the menstrual cycle. Other minerals such as zinc, manganese, silicon, and boron are also helpful for building bone and usually available in a good bone building supplement formula."

Annals of Internal Medicine June 1, 1999 volume 130


"...studies have shown that calcium supplementation alone over extended periods has resulted in decreased calcium retention, or has had only minor beneficial effects. The causes of osteoporosis are numerous. Many nutritional factors can contribute to the osteoporotic process other than calcium deficiency. Calcium supplementation has even been shown to contribute osteoporosis when other minerals such as magnesium, phosphorus, and copper are deficient. As an example, magnesium is deposited on the surface of the bone, and if a person?s magnesium status is marginal, then calcium supplementation can further contribute to a magnesium deficiency. Magnesium deficiency will produce cortical thinning of the bone with resulting fragility. When the neuro-endocrine factors are included, there are over 30 mechanism can be involved in contributing to osteoporosis. This may explain why the etiology of osteoporosis is controversial."

(1) Harrison M, Fraser R, Mullan B: Calcium Metabolism in Osteoporosis: Acute and Long Term Responses to Increased Calcium Intake. Lacncet ii, 1961.

(2) Schwartz E, Panariello A, Saeli J: Radioactive Calcium Kinetics During High Calcium Intake in Osteoporosis. J. Clin. Invest. 44, 1965.

(3) Watts DL: The Nutritional Relationships of Calcium. Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine 5:2, 1990.

(4) Wynchank S, Saltman PD: Trace Elements and Osteoporosis. S Afr Med J 87:4, 1997.

(5) South China Morning Post 10/7/99


"Chelating factors in various foods can prevent mercury absorption, including citric acid, tartaric acid, and cysteine, (22), selenium (29), garlic (46), chlorella (also an anti-inflammatory) (101), and cilantro (64). Methyl mercury can bind with L-cysteine and be transported across the blood brain barrier. L-leucine inhibits this transport. A balanced leucine/cysteine ratio is found in Whey Protein (71). Calcium and magnesium are also protective against mercury and methyl mercury toxicity (81)."

(22) Endo T, Nakaya S, Kimura R. "Mechanisms of absorption of inorganic mercury from rat small intestine. IV: Effect of chelating agents and cysteine on absorption of mercuric chloride in situ and in vitro." Pharmacol Toxicol 1991, 68(3): 171-6.

(29) Goyer RA. "Toxic and essential metal interactions." Annu Rev Nutr, 1997, 17: 37-50.

(46) Lee JH, Kang HS, Roh J. "Protective effects of garlic juice against embryotoxicity of methylcercuric chloride administered to pregnant Fischer 344 rats." Yonsei Med J 1999, 4(5): 483-9.

(64) Omura Y, Beckman SL. "Role of mercury (Hg) in resistant infections and effective treatment of Chlamydia trachomatis and Herpes family viral infections (and potential treatment for cancer) by removing localized Hg deposits with Chinese parsley and delivering effective antibiotics using various drug uptake enhancement methods." Acupunct Electrother Res, 1995, 20(3-4): 195-229.

(71) Quig, David. "Cysteine Metabolism and Metal Toxicity." Alternative Medicine Review, 1998; 3(4): 262-270.

(81) Singh CB, Singh SP. "Protective effects of Ca2+, Mg2+, Cu2+, and Ni2+ on mercury and methylmercury toxicity to a cyanobacterium." Ecotoxicol Environ Saf, 1992, 23(1): 1-10.

(101) Yasukawa K, Akihisa T, Kanno H, Kaminaga T, Izumida M, Sakoh T, Tamura T, Takido M. "Inhibitory effects of sterols isolated from Chlorella vulgaris on 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate-induced inflammation and tumor promotion in mouse skin." Biol Pharm Bull, 1996, 19(4): 573-6.


NOTE: In the following article, read "Ca2+" as "calcium" and read "Mg2+" as "magnesium".

Protective effects of Ca2+, Mg2+, Cu2+, and Ni2+ on mercury and methylmercury toxicity to a cyanobacterium.

Singh CB, Singh SP.
Algal Research Laboratory, Centre of Advanced Study in Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.

"Toxicological investigations of the impact of inorganic mercury (Hg2+) and methylmercury (CH3Hg+) in terms of growth, NH4+ uptake, in vivo glutamine synthetase (transferase) activity, and regulation of toxicity by Ca2+, Mg2+, Cu2+ and Ni2+ in the diazotrophic cyanobacterium Nostoc calcicola Breb. have been completed. Photoautotrophic growth of the cyanobacterium was extremely sensitive to both mercury compounds, CH3Hg+ being 2.5 times more toxic than Hg2+. Although NH4+ uptake was 6 times more sensitive than in vivo GS activity against the two mercurials, both processes had a greater susceptibility toward CH3Hg+. On the basis of Km and Vmax, it is suggested that both mercury species inhibit such metabolic events noncompetitively. Ca2+, Mg2+, Cu2+, and Ni2+ did not change the nature of inhibition and effectively antagonized the Hg2+ and CH3Hg+ toxicities in the sequence Ca2+ greater than Mg2+ much greater than Cu2+ greater than Ni2+."

Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 1992 Feb;23(1):1-10.

(In other words, both calcium and magnesium ["antagonize"] protect against mercury toxicity)


Following is the data sheet we produce on the NSP Calcium Magnesium we use. It contains the other minerals besides calcium and magnesium mentioned in the articles above. This is one of the things I like about NSP supplements, they have formulas based on real research:

NSP SynerPro Calcium-Magnesium Supplement

Here is the magnesium supplement I use when I feel I need extra magnesium (I keep this in my desk cabinet):

Magnesium Complex

Thanks Russ! That is alot of information! It's interesting to me the symptoms of low magnesium because my main struggle is with tension, and neck tightening. It feels like the blood vessels are constricted to my brain. My husband can't even rub my upper back at all because it causes my head to feel really full. It's weird. I will take time and look at all the links. I appreciate you taking so much time to help!
Thanks!
Vicki

I am taking the chelated magnesium/calcium, Wild Oats brand.
The vinegar test I found on the internet is to take one cup of white vinegar and then place the cup into a bowl of hot tap water and do that twice. That will raise the temp of the vinegar about 98 degrees. Then place the vitamin in the vinegar and it is ok to stir it around at several intervals throughout an hour (but do not touch the vitamin). The vitamin should be dissolved by then. They said it is common for nurses that work with bedpans to commonly find whole pills in the patients bedpans.
What do you think about my mercury level coming back normal on the hair analysis test? Is this kind of test accurate?
Vicki

I have some whey protein, but i haven't started taking it yet. I am going in June 14 to get the last filling removed. Should I wait before I start the protein, do you think or would it be good to start it now? I don't know my blood type, what if I don't have the type O blood? Is it still good to take?
Vicki
P.S. Sorry, I am full of questions today! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

i just got back my hair analysis test back too. i didn't get a chance to talk to the doctor about it, but i just picked it up.
apparently my tin and barium are high. so are my calcium and mag. if anyone knows amounts:
uranium - .0015
arsenic - .003
beryllium - .0010
mercury - 0.01
cadmium - .001
lead - 0.10
aluminium - 0.4

anyone can tell me about this??
thx,
janet

That is my first symptom that my magnesium levels are getting too low again. I take more right away and use my heating pad on my shoulders to avoid the headahe.
Missy

Looking at my hair anaylsis results, it looks like all the metals are low except for aluminum. normal is .04 - .28. That is going by my paper.

That is interesting to me. So, do you struggle with dizzyness as well? It seems like the neck tension causes alot of pressure in my head from my upper back to the bridge of my nose. Causes my jaws to ache and pressure in my eyes. I keep telling my husband if he would cut off my head I would be much better! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

One more question?? Thanks! Russ!
I got to looking at the hair analysis results and my calcium is insanely high. Normal is 40-80 and I am at 329!!! My magnesium is 16.9 and normal is 6 - 10. My potassium is 5.7 and normal is 3 -16. I eat alot of green leafy vegetables every day, almonds, broccoli but not that much. I take the cal/mag supplement that has 1000 mg of calcium and 500 mg of mag. I am wondering if I should stop the calcium for awhile and just concentrate on the magnesium. Maybe I shouldn't even be taking a supplement since I am eating good sources of magnesium and see how that goes.
It really concerns me because it may mean I am dealing with bone loss big time!
Any thoughts?
Thanks!!!!
Vicki

A hair analysis test alone does not accurately determine mercury toxicity levels in the body. There is a lot more to it (too much to write here), but it is explained in the Huggins book It's All In Your Head. The hair analysis could mean the exact opposite if what it seems. Unfortunately, interpreting this is a complicated subject.



Generally speaking, in your situation, I would start taking it and see how you feel. Just try a single serving in the AM. If you start to feel bad for several days, stop.

Even if you're not an "O" blood type, you will still benefit from this because of several other factors.



These are very common symptoms in the people I speak with. hang in there.


Unfortunately, I don't have enough info to intelligently answer that. Many practiced health professionals believe the cal/mag levels that are normally considered high are actually normal. There are also other factors to consider.

I would search the Internet for others who are experienced in this area and see what their opinions are about what is actually "high" calcium/magnesium.

Sorry I can't be more help on this.

Vicki,
I don't struggle with dizzyness so much now, but I did before . Yes, the muscle tension causes lots of problems and I use to have TMJ problems, now I only have the jaw pain when the progression of the muscle tension starts up.

That's so funny. I told my husband the same thing. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />The good news is, it does get better and magnesium is wonderful!!

As far as your hair test, I wonder about the levels (from my research) being high for the calcium and magnesium because your body is not "using" what you are taking? It's hard to image a mercury toxic person having high levels of mg-it is necessary for phase II of detox-and besides you have symptoms of a deficiency. What type are you using? I know I had a very difficult time finding a form that I could assimilate (bad digestion). My favorite is an ionized form (cellular ready) I get from mag-i-cal.com.

Hope this is helpful,
Missy

The magnesium I am taking now is chelated magnesium/calcium. It has 500 mg of mag and 1000 mg of calcium and betaine. But I did the white vinegar test on it and it hardly dissolved at all in over an hour. If the supplement is not dissolving it really has me stumped to why my calcium level is so high.
My dizzyness has been lighter the last few days. It is always a relief. The dizzyness is the hardest thing for me to cope with.
Have you hear of Natural Calm? It is supposed to balance calcium intake and restore healthy magnesium levels. I got a pamphlet on it from the organic food store. I am very impressed with the information it has on the pamphlet and I am going to do my 'organic' shopping tomorrow and am going to check it out. I am looking at various sources of magnesium and trying to decide which way to go.
Thanks for the help!!!
Have you had your fillings out?
Vicki