I have been suffereing for seven years now. About seven and a half years ago two of my mercury fillings cracked off. About six months later I started getting headaches once a month. THen a headache once a week. And finally a headache every other day. So now for seven years I have been suffering from headaches, eye pain, sensitivity to light, neck stiffness, fatigue, nausea, gaining weight like crazy, and can't concentrate to save my life. It drives me nuts. I have been to over 20 doctors. I have been to neurologists, internal medicine doctors, infectious disease doctors, headache specialists, chiropractors, and even a psychic cuz I was so desperate for someone to tell me what is wrong with me. I was told I might have lyme disease by one doctor and went on antibiotics that made me bleed every time I went to the bathroom. I have had MRI's, Cat Scans, a spinal tap, Chiropractic adjustements, and tried migraine medicines. I have been at my wits end. I can't tell you how many times I have thought about just ending my life. Then recently this one doctor told me to start taking Alpha lipoic acid cuz I was on this one antibiotic that can cause cysts and tumors. I think the ALA made me worse. I now have sever Acid reflux which I didn't have before. I think what is causing all my problems is Mercury fillings and TMJ. I have burning in my stomach all the time and I feel acid refulx constantly now. l think the ALA stirred something up to make me worse. I live on SSI and am trying to get the government to help me pay for the dental work. I am hoping a praying they do. I am so discouraged by living on SSI. It's not enough to live on. I can't afford any altenative treatments I would like to try. I am getting to the point where I just want to give up. I went to see a neuro opthamologist today. I thought they would know about neurological symtomps such as eye pain and light senstivity with these headaches. He was so clueless. He was no different then the other 3 opthamologists I had been to. He just simply dismissed it as migraines. I am trying to read up on stuff on the internet. I get so exhausted reading all the stuff and my eye pain just kills me. I just don't have the energy. I am just praying someone can help me. If the gov doesn't help me get my teeth done I don't know what I am going to do. I even applied to this one foundation to help get my mercury fillings replaced and paid for. They did nothing but get my hopes up. I waited on them for 8 months to tell me that only one person got approved for help. They claim on there website they help 10 percent of applicants per quarter. They told me they had 200 applicants that quarter. I was like well one is not 10 percent of 200. 10 percent of 200 people would be 20 people. THe foundation is called Jigsaw health foundation. They gave me nothing but the run around and got my hopes up. I don't think I can take anymore disappointments.

HI Compcoll, it is very hard to know what to say to someone suffering like this and the sufferings of mercury are tremendous (particularly the mental sufferings).

I would say you have nailed what is wrong with you, because the toxicity of mercury is extreme and the symptoms are vast. It can mimic almost anything because it poisons almost every area of the human body and typically no amount of testing shows anything with this problem.

You end up being treated often like a neurotic, when inside you're being literally tortured. Suicide is common with this toxin, and the urge to do is also and is one of the symptoms of mercury. Hal Huggins talks about this also and one thing he finds disgusting about amalgam toxicity is the suicide urges of the victims.

Yes, I have heard the jigsaw foundation aint nearly as helpful as being made out. I've heard a number of people now express their disappointment in them, which is very sad.

Im very sorry for your situation and this is just compounding things even further. I am living on a sickness benefit and I'm lucky to get that, but at the sametime you get enough just to live on and not much to spare...which does not really give one much to spend on alternative treatments.....

ALA was a very bad thing for you to have been given and no wonder you got worse. It is definitely not advised with someone who still have amalgams, let alone given to someone who still hasn't reduced their body/blood levels first. On top of which, it needs to be taken the right way in order not to make things worse. The same with cilantro etc. But most of us have done many things wrong with or without amalgams and gotten very sick, painful lessons.

Is there any possible way that you can get your amalgams out little by little? Paying things off bit by bit? Is there anybody around you that can help you at all? Family/relatives/friends?

If you cannot afford supplements, then don't. If you can, concentrate on diet and get rid of the unnecessary stuff like sugars and gluten, which will likely increase your suffering ten fold. Anything like that causes far more suffering from diet is unnecessary and should be completely avoided, because in a mercury toxic body, sugars and gluten can cause total havoc and feed candida even further, making mercury more toxic, the body more toxic and messing up the gut and liver in the process. From there you end up much more toxic and distressed and often will not know what problem is doing what. If you're not on a specific candida diet, that is what I would do if I was you.

You may feel like a wreck for a while when doing this diet, but it is well worth it and can be essential. a dentist here actually will not do any amalgam removals on his sick patients until they are first on a diet like this. He gets them on it and then waits for improvements before removing the amalgam. It is that important.

Supplements are helpful, but the diet is even moreso and without the diet, the supplements are unlikely to do much anyway. A toxic body high in yeast is unlikely to absorb many nutrients. If I had not gone on such a diet, I doubt I'd be here now. I was this close to ending my life. I was determined to try it out of total desperation and after a few weeks, improvements were noticed and it gave me more strength to cope.

Right now I am paying off expensive dental replacement materials (porcelain), because my composites were old and needed redoing. It is back breaking to afford many of these treatments and sometimes I feel I may have done the wrong thing getting these materials, but I am hoping they will last most of my life!

I wish I could help YOU! Sincerely, with a cause like this it is quite heartbreaking to hear someone going through this. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> You deserve someone to intervene that can help you financially afford to get this neurotoxin out of your mouth and I hope and pray that will happen for you. But please do not underestimate the sufferings that sugars/gluten/high carbs can do in your diet. It is not just about amalgam removal, the body requires dietry support so it can handle the extra exposure and is able to detox easier and heal.

Feverfew will make the headaches go away. you can buy herbal caps at most any health food store for a few bucks, I would grow it fresh in a pot for the best stuff (that's what I do, it's real effective fresh, 2-3 leaves per day for awhile then just twice a week and real easy to grow, find seeds online). If you add calcium, magnesium and zinc supplements that's helpful to keep plenty of good minerals in your body so you don't absorb mercury... selenium too. You should be able to pick up all 4 for under $25.00. Get the best you can, not cheap multivitamins. Drink plenty of water. Garlic will help your body eliminate mercury and other toxins. Adding fresh organic garlic to your menu, in salads is easy, or however you'd like (uncooked, chopped).

Some of us find it easier and more reliable to simply get the teeth pulled. If you go that route make sure the dentist scrapes out the periodontal ligament after the extraction.

Do not drink coffee unless you want migraines.

I suffered for several years with migraines, they are pretty much gone due to a few teeth pulled, chelating, parasite and liver cleansing, and I still keep the feverfew handy. I really like the feverfew. aspirin makes my headaches worse. I stay away from OTC/prescription meds, they contain metals a lot of the time (aluminum), which i don't think I can handle very well anymore. I am not on any special diet, but I have kept my distance from sugar for quite a few years, not perfectly but for the main part... I use honey mostly or stevia or xylitol. Past that I can eat anything (except coffee and fish these days), light duty on alcoholic bevs.

Take the feverfew a couple times daily for a week to really get it going then stay with it. It is a blood thinner, you need to be aware of that, but nothing compares for headache relief. Don't take aspirin once you are using feverfew. Use the calcium-magnesium combo instead with it, it works better.

You'd probably also find cod liver oil helpful, make sure it is assayed mercury free.

Russ probably sells all those items in good reliable form right here.

Prayers for you.

I was using the feverfew long before I concerned myself with the teeth by the way and I was headache free after suffering for several years. Even when i got big deal mercury poisoning I was still headache free for a couple months, and i hadn't used feverfew most of that time, but I guess it was in my system or else my body had really stopped making wjatever it was that caused the headaches. Feverfew really is the first item you want on your list as a headache sufferer, it will keep headaches away no matter what your mercury or other toxin levels are. You won't make progress with the headaches sticking around, I surely couldn't. Replacing amalgams won't help the headaches immediately either.

Get the feverfew and start using it right away, you should be headache free within a couple weeks at most. Stay on it and grow some. It's ok to take a bit more than the recommended daily dose at first till the headaches subside. Don't overdo vitamin C with migraines, it makes them worse. i generally use only 1000 mgs-2000 mgs C per day maximum, usually less.

If you can afford it, get the book "Amalgam Illness" by Andy Cutler, it will be by far one of THE best investments you can make towards getting your health back together. AND YOU CAN GET WELL. It just takes time.

I, too, had a cracked crown and was exposed to the mercury filling for 4 years. If you can afford to get ALL the metal removed off just those teeth (including the nickel based cap under the crown) and have it replaced with composite or porcelain material that will be a big help to you immediately. I don't know how many teeth you need to address, but start with the ones that are exposing you the most.

Changing your diet will help you fight. I highly recommend going to www.curezone.com and clicking on the "cleanses" link. There is a series of steps to take to rid your body of ALL toxins and this advice is SOUND.

It will seem overwhelming in the beginning, however, you are turning a ship around and it takes time to undo things.

This is a good forum. I highly recommend you read the posts and get the book and don't go crazy on supplements. Starting slow is the way you can tell when something is or is not working.

btw...depression is a symptom of mercury. whatever it says to you is lying...this is surmountable, you will make it...just get started.

Keep asking questions...

Best wishes...

http://curezone.com/diseases/health.asp

it sounds like we have been down the same road with mercury poisoning, your hell has been for 10 years, mine only 6 years ,some days I still find it hard to believe that I am mercury poisoned by my dental fillings , if we only knew back then what a nightmare we were headed for ,i would of fought tooth and nail to prevent this from happening , I was very lucky that I got dental insurance as part of my military retirement pension, I had no idea how important it would be to me now for my corrective dental work .
have you checked with other dentist that do probono work or other orginizations like DAMS or IAOMT that may know more info on programs that may be able to help you ?

I just wanted to say thank you to the people here who have given me some encouragement. I tried the orginization DAMS. They are the ones who told me about the jigsaw health foundation. The foundation that did nothing for me but got my hopes up. I was so excited that I was going to have my amalgrams removed and then I was let down. The representative made it sould like I was going to get them paid for. She sent me to a dentist for a treatment plan and everything. Then all of a sudden she says only one person is getting help this quarter. I was so disappointed. I was so depressed. I mean eventually if I don't resolve these headaches I will have to have the courage to end my life. I can't live like this for the next 30 years. I am in pain with my head every other day. It is constantly a headache, eye pain, and light sensitivity. I mean why the hell can't I get help. What makes me mad the most is that if I was someone with money I could get it all resolved. If you have no money you have to suffer until you do have the money. Rich people make me want to vommit.

Hi compcoll, I am disappointed and angry on your behalf and pretty digusted to be honest. This is the last time I think I'll ever recommend the jigsaw foundation because quite frankly I do not know what they are doing - if anything? It seems that anybody who gets in touch with them ends up disappointed. Not yet come across anybody whose mentioned them in good terms. What is going on I wonder?

Why have they set themselves up as a help organisation to those who cannot afford amalgam removal, if they seem to be letting down anybody I come across on forums? Is it just coincidence that all the people they ARE helping are somehow not the ones I meet?

I know that in your condition, everything also becomes overwhelming. And I cannot tell you how many times I've nearly taken my own life becuase of it and simply not being able to afford what I needed or the fact my symptoms were so intolerable, I didn't know what to do...

I know it's very hard, but if you can gain any aid from any information we have given you (diet etc), I would be happy. I used to get horrendous headaches (like my head was being crushed in a vice) and this began to occur everyday. I cried and thought of suicide. A wonderful doctor put me immediately on a no sugar, no gluten grain diet and excluded the coffee. After the initial detox, I started to improve quite dramatically. yes the mercury toxicity was still there, the amaglams were still there, but my body's health was much improved.

I know the bottom of all this maybe the amalgams (no doubt it is), but in the meantime, emergency efforts maybe required dietry wise and maybe the fever few that sosick has recommended could help too, along with getting rid of caffeine drinks. You can still drink herbal teas and believe it or not, some of them are actually very soothing. Anything at all to relieve some of these toxic symptoms.

I didn't have much choice but to do this. I hated it yes because I had a lot of food addictions and did not wish to give up my sugar, my bread/toast, coffee etc. However, pain is a great motivator.

I apologise if you are already doing this, because it's the last thing you would wish to hear repeated, but I am just really concerned. You sound a lot like myself.

By the way, light sensitivity I have had too. Absolutely awful, to the point I can be crying whilst driving. This too can be candida, as well as mercury. I cannot tell you exactly what all your symptoms are attributed too because yeast overgrows in teh presence of toxicity/metals and can many times take over and cause even more problems than the underlying cause! even though the amalgams maybe the main reason for it all, addressing yeast is pretty crucial for symptom relief.

take care and I pray you will hang in there.

compcoll,

i think you are new here but i just wanted to say you are not alone. i'm 23 years old and was just approved for getting disability/SSI. i have no help from my parents because they are sick themselves. it's funny because i have been in my room all day worrying myself sick about how am i ever gonna afford to get the things i need to get well. i was hoping i could stay with my parents while on disability to use the money to try and get well. but when i am with my mom or dad, i am in a constant state of stress and anxiety wondering when the next attack is gonna come.

a couple months ago i was hospitalized because i wanted to end my life. i was suicidal feeling many times after i left and today i was thinking if i can't get my needs met, i will be suicidal feeling again all because of money. the thing is, you know what the problem is so you have to keep fighting. suicidal thoughts are so scary because you have no hope. you see no end. for me its been because of money and a chronic stressful environment. if i go out on my own with SSD/SSI, i doubt i will have enough to even eat right. i am really really scared. i already have enough anxiety from the condition and candida.

please just hang in there ok? i am really sorry you are going through this because i know what you feel. if i were you, i would go to every single church. tell them about your situation and see what happens. pray to God. if the people from the church have Jesus in their hearts, they will love you and i think will do everything they can to help. i was homeless right before christmas and some christians let me stay with them at their home.

there are a lot of wonderful people on this site that have a lot of experience. after learning from them, i believe the ALA did stir things up being you still had the amalgams in.

just keep fighting until someone helps. are you like me and have no help from your family?

shawn

Hi all

As I understand it, the Jigsaw Foundation has now closed down. This is a link to Pat Sullivan's blog - you need to scroll down to the entry on September 11 2007 to read why.

http://www.patsullivan.com/blog/mercury/index.html

Sorry to hear of your plight compcoll. I think we have all been desperate at some stage in our illness. I know I was - I was convinced I was going to die, and would drive down the road on a sunny day in tears, because I thought death was round the corner. Also, when my adrenals crashed, it was only the thought of my children growing up without a mother that kept me going. I wasn't living for myself, but for other people. I thought about suicide often. It doesn't make it any better, but you aren't alone.

I'm sorry to hear about your financial situation, which means that amalgam removal is difficult. There are things you can do to improve your life in the meantime. Diet, as Bex said, is fundamental - not much fun but the basis for getting better. I also strongly advise testing for and supporting your thyroid and adrenals properly - being low in these crucial hormones can cause a lot of misery. T3 hormone has really lifted my outlook on life. These are things you can do before and amalgam removal.

One naturopath told me that some people opt for symptom control alone - as they cannot afford amalgam removal. I don't know how possible that is, and I guess it depends on how far gone you are. I know it wouldn't have worked for me - I HAD to get my amalgams out to start healing.

The makers of NDF claim that their mercury detox product can be used with amalgams in. This goes against the Andy Cutler protocol, which is acknowledged to be the safest one around, but everyone is different, and it might help you.

There IS a way through this, and you WILL get through. It is not a comfortable journey for anyone, and I'm absolutely furious that my health has been trashed without my consent since I was a small kid. I hope these dentists rot in hell. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Nicola

compcoll: andy cutler mentions in amalgam illness page 124 that migraines are common with mercury poisoning he also mentions that ginger may help , I have a spare bottle of ginger that you can have , I can send it out to you if you are interested ?.