Hello everyone,

I'm going to a psychiatric clinic on Monday and will stay there for a week! I know know! Before you say anything, know that I'm aware of all their shitty approaches at drugging people and won't let them push any meds into me. Besides I'm going there just for observation, and won't be signing anything or hadning them my rights to them or sthg like that, it's just that the doc that I talked to offered me MRI scan on my head plus toxicology and other tests, and I would surely make use of them, esp MRI, esp. since my episode with amalgam removal 3 months ago after which I started feeling like an ALZHEIMER (and still do, but it's stabilized). So these tests are the only reason why I agreed.

The thing is, mercury doesn't always show up in the blood nor urine, so I will need to direct them at other tests that I think they should do in order to convince them that something is wrong, and it isn't just my head. So, can you tell me what tests I should make them do on me?

fractioned porphyrins, adrenal tsts, thyroid, anything else that would point to mercury?

I'd appreciate it!

Hi Jinx, as you know the testing for mercury is notoriously inaccurate, which is why it's not wise to try and look for a level as much as look for the hallmarks of mercury (what it causes) and the minerals that have certain pattern of distortion.

The way to do that is usually with the hair analysis test. Again, the levels of mercury may not be telling, but the mineral patterns may be very evident in that mercury is active.

Here is a link you may find helpful
http://home.earthlink.net/~moriam/HOW_TO_hair_test.html#counting_rules

One other sad problem is, some of the sickest patients show the lowest levels of mercury....make sense I guess when you consider they are obviously retaining it deeply, rather than readily excreting it, so the levels maybe high, but could be bound up in brain and body organs/tissue....also can mean the levels "may' be low, but the person may react severely to only a very small amount of mercury.

Many meanings to why and not fair to diagnose a patient based on levels alone, particulary when one considers the nature of mercury itself.

Hope that helps (great pic by the way lol).

hey bex, I PM'ed you BTW.

Yes I know all of that what u wrote. And I already had a hair analysis, and it did show - I think - the wonky minerals thing plus mercury.

it's just that I need to have some proof that there really is something wrong with my body, otherwise I might be classifed as a psycho.

bex, I wonder , could (or anyone lese feel free to do so) you have a look at my hair test from a couple of months ago? As I said, I did the counting rules thing and it showed up that I am mercury toxic, but would like sb else to have a look at as well! It's like I can't really believe myself 100% thinking I might be pushing it with the whole idea of mercury poisoning.

here's the link, if you wanted to look:
http://img408.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hairtestdz2.jpg

Hi Jinx,

I don't know in which country you reside .. and this might make a difference in tests which are available. But, if I were in your shoes, I'd read up on as much as I could on Functional Medical testing. There are a bunch of functional tests which can be done that can help give a better picture on what's going on with your body.

One such test is the Adrenocortex Stress Saliva profile that you mentioned. There is another such comprehensive profile that can be done for the Thyroid. These are far more detailed and accurate than blood testing for the adrenal glands and thyroid.

One lab that I've had good experiences with for functional testing is Genova Diagnostics Lab (formerly "Great Smokies Lab"). Here is a link to their website. In the upper right hand corner of this page you'll see yellow boxes "By Condition" and "By Test Focus." Click on either (or both) of those to read about some of the types of Functional tests that can be done.

http://www.gdx.net/home/


Also, there is a functional test called an Organic Acids Test. To find out a little more about what this test is and how it might help you can begin here: http://www.jigsawhealth.com/products/diagnostic_medical_test.html

I'll also include another link to Pat Sullivan's website that explains a little about Functional Testing:

http://www.jigsawhealth.com/articles/benefits_functional_testing.html

My doctor has used Functional testing on me in the past and it has been extremely illuminating. I finally got answers where none had been provided previously.

Hopefully this will be enough to help you read further. And if the psychiatric facility next week doesn't offer these tests, you can look into them when you return.

Good luck, jinx. I hope it goes well for you next week.

Sharon

I forgot to add -- and I'm sure you'll see this on those links -- Functional Tests such as the Organic Acids Test can actually measure how well your body's methlyation process is working, it can measure many other things -- how the body is handling/using minerals, and it can be an important tool in evaluating heavy metal toxicity. It'll help identify which of your body's processes might be weak, or challenged, and what is causing the challenge.

I do hope you feel better soon!

SomedaySoon (SHaron)

Hi Jinx, sorry I didn't know you'd already gone down that road. But if you want further comments and confirmation, you'd be wise to join and post it on this forum here -
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/frequent-dose-chelation/

People there do this often and there are those on there that know how to do it very well. I'm ignorant of it really, not too sure of the minerals, but they will know.

Sorry I can't be of more help. It's a difficult area, but usually in many health problems, mercury is often a contributing factor, if not the cause in some cases. Which is why it is wise to consider it, especially with confusing and frustrating health issues. Mental, physical, emotional symptoms, mercury can do all manner of things and yet remain mostly hidden.

They maybe able also to suggest other ways for yu to get further answers.

I don't think that they will accept the hair analysis as proof that you are mercury poisoned. Neither will they believe that chronic low level mercury poisoning exists. If they should do a analyisis of the blood or urine levels will probably be normal and this will only confirm that it's all in your head. Believe me I tried to talk about that with western medical doctors about this. It's a waste of time. You will only be disappointed and angry. They will probably try to convince you to take meds which are harmful to the brain and will label you with a fictional disease. I hope I am wrong but this is my experience with allopathic medicine <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Let us know what the 'experts' find out. How long will you be in this clinic?

Jinx, alot of mercury toxic people have thyroid and adrenal issues,(me being one) and the tests that mainstream docs use is a blood test which isnt accurate and there are people walking around with thyroid/adrenal probs which are undiagneosed because of this.
Saliva tests are more accurate for this, so let them know, but i wouldnt be suprised if they refuse to do this. Last year i was at my doctors surgery with loads of symptoms and he sent me out to do a urine test and when i had gone he told my partner that i may have to be hospitalized if it carried on as i kept telling him that my depression wasnt really depression, like low serotonian, it was something else, i now know it was low T3 in my brain due to low thyroid. if i told my doc now that my depression has gone with taking T3 he would laugh because they just dont recognise this in mainstream medicine.
I still get the odd flicker of depression but thats the mercury in me, its more of an anxiety.
I really hope that clinic looks after you!

hey everyobody, thanx for answering.

DiasRuit - I know I test high on mercury in my hairtest, it's just that I'm not sure of the reference range the lab used. It shows that my Hg hair level is 0,68 mg/kg which, as I calculated is the same as 0,68 ug/g or 0,68 ppm. (if I'm mistaken, please correct me). And these figures do not look high to me from all these hair results I've seen on the net. Or I'm just plain stupid and can't read it or compare well:( So, DiasRuit do you happen to know sthg about the values for hair Hg? Each lab seems to have a different one.

And the skewed mineral thing is really for persuadaing 'the experts' as sb has eloquently called them <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />, not me as I know I have mercury poisoning, hence I ask. Plus the fact that the presentation of results by that lab is a bit different from that that most people get and it's hard to apply the counting rules. That's why I wanted sb else to have a look.


no, it was my word choice:) well they have to classify me somehow since I feel like an alzheimer, but that's not equivalent to drugging me, cause if they wanted they'd have to do it againts my will, and to do that they would need a court order. Of course, I'm not letting them drug me or anything, besides I will be there just for (a so called) "diagnostics" .

If you dont have amalgams anymore, do a round of chelation with DMSA. If you get increased symptoms, or if you feel much better during the round, you know you have mobilized and/or eliminated mercury. Most mainstream Drs will probably know that if you don't have any toxic heavy metals in your body, taking chelation meds won't change how you feel.

Also, the porphyrins test is recognized by mainstream medicine as confirmation of lead poisoning (its an FDA approved test for such), and there is research published about the pattern shifts for mercury and other chemically induced diseases.

If they won't order an ASI saliva test for the adrenals, have them do a 24 hour cortisol. If low or high, it shows something is up. Be careful though, if high they will tell you have major depressive disorder, which is associated with high 24 cortisol. (Indeed MDD is one of the many things associated with high cortisol - so if its high it doesn't tell you much except your body perceives its under a lot of stress).

IMHO, the thyroid blood tests are actually accurate, as long as they order the right ones. Make sure they get TSH/FT4/FT3 and RT3. Also, make sure they interpret the T4 and T3 numbers in light of their own ranges. Most people just look at the TSH, but if you have central hypothyroidism (due to pituitary problems, ie mercury, or adrenal problems) your TSH may not be all that elevated, but your T4 or T3 may be reduced. If its adrenal issues mainly causing problems, your conversion from T4 to T3 or your T3/RT3 ratio may be weird.

I'm not a Dr., but in having all the testing I have had, I have figured out at least that much. Good luck!

About the counting from your Polish (?) test, I was hoping someone else would take that up, lol! One look at it and my heart fell. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I did go to the DoctorsData site and found a sample hair toxic elements test, here
http://doctorsdata.com/repository.asp?id=1271

The 1270 file (hair elements) won't open for me, so I couldn't compare reference ranges for nutritional elements.

Well, the reference ranges between yours and DDI's are slightly different but not too far off. Of course, it would have to be the mercury range that is furthest off, to give us more fun.

ref ranges: ......arsenic ....lead ....mercury ....cadmium
DDI ......... .........0.2 .........4.0 .........2.0 .........0.5
Puczkowski .........0.5 .........4.0 .........0.5 .........0.3

Hg on your test came in at 0.68 which is higher than your lab's ref range but lower than DDI's so I see the confusion.

The problem with trying to use the counting rules with your test is that your lab did not supply percentile ranges, so there's no way to know where the yellow/green/red lines would fall for each element, if I'm understanding this correctly. Perhaps the thin black bars over the reference range green bars are meant to show a similar indication... not sure!

The second little catch is that the elements tested aren't identical between the tests.

I guess you know all this! :-D

Well, maybe some very determined person will try to work this out for you! It's a tough little job, but do-able perhaps.

A note, though: nickel and manganese are very high, and iodine is very low. That's three of the four VH or VL's needed to indicate mineral transport trouble, according to Cutler.

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I am VERY relieved to hear you're not living somewhere where they might enforce some kind of drug regimen (or worse) upon you ~ stay strong, Jinx! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

hi DiasRuit , thx for your input.

Yep, I'm Polish, and the results are too <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Where are u from, btw?

My lab did supply the ref ranges for nutritional elements as you can see on the right side of the reults page, but they didn't supply the ref ranges for toxic elements:(
the Black bars that you mentioned, I think they specify more or less the same as the DDI's green field , but again, the ref values aredifferent.

As of right now, I'm tryng to compare the two, but it's so hard being so dumb from all this mercury, I wouldn't have major problems with it like 2-3 years ago. It's unbelievable how much my iq has dropped because of this, damn!:(

But that was on a side note, sorry about it, needed to vent:/



I'm confused by that, DiasRuit! what are u trying to say, where , again, do you live? Can they enforce drug regimen on you there, do you have to sign anything if you go to a clinic of your own will? I'm wary of psychiatrists, but I'd think that in every civilized country they can't make u undergo a treatment if you are an adult without a court order... can they?

hello everyone

Am going to bed now and will be leaving in the mornig, I wanted to thank everyobody for your posts, wish me luck. (and hope the brain MRI win't show anything...)

DiasRuit
- I will read everything to a dot and acknowledge myself with their policies. just for ya.. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> but seriously, thx, for the warning.