Vail health column: Clearing the damaging mercury from your body

The fact is that mercury can directly or indirectly cause, contribute to or worsen every health issue you will ever deal with. The effects and symptoms of mercury toxicity are different in each individual. Here’s a list of some of the signs and symptoms of how mercury may be affecting your health:

• Anxiety

• Depression

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• Brain fog or decreased concentration

• Fatigue

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• Frequent headaches

• Ataxia (decreased control over muscular movements such as with walking or picking up objects)

• Sleep disturbance in children

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• Autoimmune disease

• Allergies

Chronic mercury poisoning makes its way into the body via two major pathways. The first method is by way of fish consumption. The second method is by way of dental amalgam fillings.

Half of all the mercury released into the atmosphere today comes from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. This mercury pollution falls directly into the world’s water supply (oceans, lakes, rivers). Water-born bacteria then convert the mercury into its highly toxic form, called methylmercury.

At this point, the food chain takes over. The methylmercury is absorbed by phytoplankton, which is then consumed by zooplankton, which is then feasted on by small fish and onward and upward as the amount of toxin exponentially accumulates in the larger fish. The largest fish in the seas, such as sharks, swordfish and tuna, can have mercury concentrations that are 10 million times higher than that of their surrounding habitat.

Beware Seafood?

Seafood is the source of nearly all of the methylmercury we acquire in our bodies. The answer isn’t to avoid seafood; it’s to limit mercury intake. For example, salmon and shrimp have very low mercury levels and are considered safer than larger fish.

Chronic mercury poisoning also comes from dental amalgam fillings. It takes years for your body to accumulate the mercury from an amalgam filling, as 80 percent of the mercury gas slowly leaks out of the filling and is absorbed by the body. Amalgam fillings should be removed and no additional amalgam fillings should ever be placed.

Mercury poisoning symptoms can develop at any stage and are often overlooked as the primary source of a patient’s medical concerns. The good news is that there are excellent means of both testing the body’s mercury levels and methods to systematically remove the toxins from your body. Specific medical tests are available to identify a patient’s current mercury load. If a patient is found to have an elevated level, then it is recommended he or she begins a course of treatment to remove the mercury.

Treatment can be received using medical chelators to bind the mercury, which allows the patient to excrete the toxic metal via urination. The chelators can be administered using a combination of both oral and intravenous medications.

Mercury can cause a vast array of symptoms that are often only attributed to heavy metal toxicity after successful chelation therapy. Patients begin to see resolution of their symptoms as their mercury levels decrease, and the improvements can often be life changing.

Scott Brandt, M.D., of ThriveMD, practices leading-edge regenerative medicine. He offers stem-cell treatments, bioidentical hormone replacement, intravenous nutrient therapies, medical diets and liposculpture. To learn more, contact ThriveMD at 970-766-8245 or visit http://www.thrivemdvail.com.