Hair Analysis Results

[Ursa Major]

Well, it took long enough, but today I got the results of my hair analysis. It is bad news pretty much all around.

I have tested high for mercury (I expected that), uranium and arsenic! I don't have a clue why I am high in uranium and arsenic. For the mercury, I will have my amalgam fillings removed, and you can do chelation for mercury and arsenic. They haven't found a valid treatment for uranium toxicity though. Just general detoxing will hopefully help with that.

For nutritional elements, I am dreadfully low in calcium, magnesium, phosporus, strontium, selenium, barium, boron, cobalt, germanium, iodine, lithium (undetectable) and manganese.

Calcium is 203 (range 300 - 1200

Magnesium is 13 (range 35 - 120)

Manganese is 0.05 (range 0.15 - 0.65)

Phosphorus is 142 (range 160 - 250)

Strontium is 0.28 (range 0.50 - 7.6)

Iodine is 0.20 (range 0.25 - 1.3)

Copper is low normal at 14 (range 12 - 35)

Iron and potassium are excellent, strangely.

My naturopathic doctor said that because I am low in so many essential minerals (hair analysis doesn't test for vitamin deficiencies), he thinks it is a malabsorption issue. I have been on the gluten-free diet for almost three years now! I am also almost completely dairy free, and I am soy free.

To detox, I am supposed to take psyllium, eat garlic and cilantro, and take chlorella and selenium (which I am low in anyway). I am also supposed to take a mineral supplement (colloidal minerals) as well as taking my multivitamin and extra calcium and magnesium.

It says that high mercury can cause (and I will list only my own symptoms from that list) suppressed selenium function, decreased senses of touch, hearing and vision, fatigue, depression, emotional instability, peripheral numbness, poor memory and cognitive dysfunction and neuromuscular problems.

High uranium can cause chronic fatigue. It binds with phosphate, where it substitutes for calcium in bone!

Low calcium can cause muscle cramps, myalgia and skeletal pain.

Low magnesium symptoms are muscle twitching, cramps, muscle spasm, mental depression and heart arrythmias.

Low manganese symptoms are fatigue, lack of physical endurance, allergies and inflammation.

Low cobalt indicates low vitamin B12 (darn, I didn't buy vitamin B12, I just read that).

Low boron indicates low B vitamins.

Lithium moderates neuronal excitability in the nervous system.

I am also going to do a liver cleanse before I do the next parasite cleanse (it is both ordered).

So, when you look at it all, it is no wonder I have chronic fatigue, have little strength, are depressed, can't think clearly a lot of the time, have auditory processing problems, palpitations, and vision problems. It is surprising I am not worse.

If everything we're doing doesn't make a difference, then I will get tested for Lyme disease by IgeneX in the fall.

[home-based-mom]

Yikes is right! Now you can rightfully say, "See! I told you I was sick!"

All that has to be a bit discouraging after being gluten - and all that other stuff - free for so long.

I hope that now you know where the problems are, you can speed down the road to recovery!

[ShayFL]

Uranium....that's just weird. Near a nuclear power plant??

Like the rest of us...tests.....doctors....supplements....treatments.....when will it end!

[Mariela]

Ursa Mayor,

I just read your posting, I can't believe you have so many things to cope with!

Congratulations on your attitude, getting all the information and doing what it's at your hand to help it.

I just feel so lucky, I was diagnosed at 1 year old, and thank God except for some bad "vertigo" attacks and mini seizures and some dental problems, I am all right. However, you have so many tests done, and I went to a general practitioner a couple years ago (I have a stomach ulcer) but I don't think I've had such thorough test done in a long time.

Now my sisters and brother (32, 26 and 17 years old) have just now been diagnosed with Celiac Disease also. After reading your posting, it made me think that we should really keep a closer eye on what's really going on inside, since we may not have symptoms if we ingest something with gluten. I never had stomachaches or immediate symptoms, so I always hoped I had been diagnosed with the wrong disease. But after some bad neurological episodes that I had throughout the years that were intensified in my early 20's, I realized that the consecuences may be much worse than abdominal pain.

I wish you the best. Stay with that positive attitude to improve your health and keep doing all you can to make it better. Best of luck!!!

[Ursa Major]

  ShayFL said:

Uranium....that's just weird. Near a nuclear power plant??

No, I've never in my life lived even close to being close to a nuclear anything! The next nuclear power plants are about 200 km south-east from here. Why I have elevated levels of uranium is a total mystery to me.

[Ursa Major]

Thanks, Mariela.

I am also thinking that maybe I should have an endoscopy with a biopsy after all (without eating gluten beforehand) to see what is happening with my villi. With all that malabsorption happening, maybe they are damaged beyond repair? I really hope I don't have refractory sprue. But I better make sure I don't. Sigh, my problems seem neverending!

Of course, if I get referred to a GI doctor, it could take up to a year and a half here in Canada to get an appointment. In the meantime I will do all I can to get better.

[Phyllis28]

I hope everything you plan to do works and you feel better soon.

[home-based-mom]

  Ursa Major said:

No, I've never in my life lived even close to being close to a nuclear anything! The next nuclear power plants are about 200 km south-east from here. Why I have elevated levels of uranium is a total mystery to me.

Does it seep out of the ground like radon gas? Do you eat home-grown or locally vegetables, and if so has there been a soil analysis?

[confused]

How high was your arsenic. Mine was sky high. Everything u are low in i was really high in. I havent started to take anything for my problems yet tho lol.

Who did your testing, was it doctors data.

paula

[Rachel--24]

The toxicity from heavy metals...particularly mercury has an effect on every body system. It suppresses the immune system and the result is a susceptibility to infections (bacteria, yeast. parasites, etc).....and often those are the problems which lead to gut damage/food intolerance/malabsorption.

Dont forget about treating the gut!

In addition, having these mineral imbalances also contributes to the body's inability to detoxify itself...which also leads to more stress on the immune system and increased susceptibility to infections. The higher the toxic burden....the more the immune system has to deal with.

Mercury tends to throw all of the minerals out of balance. Its able to take the place of essential minerals in the cells....which causes deficiencies and obviously this would lead to many health problems.

We are all exposed to ALOT of different toxins...including the metals....however, mercury is the most damaging to the system and when mercury is present it tends to cause all other toxins to accumulate in the body. Getting rid of mercury (which is not always an easy task) will allow for the body to eliminate these other toxins much more efficiently.

Honestly, I dont think that villi damage is the cause of the problem....you've been gluten free for quite some time now. I would focus on these other issues....because with these problems going on you will have much difficulty healing the gut. If you can address these other problems (including any infections/dysbiosis) the gut should eventually be able to repair itself.

It is not only foods which are responsible for damaging the gut.

[Ursa Major]

  confused said:

How high was your arsenic. Mine was sky high. Everything u are low in i was really high in. I havent started to take anything for my problems yet tho lol.

Who did your testing, was it doctors data.

paula

Well, my arsenic is barely below the limit. The range is <0.060, and mine is 0.059. My doctor is concerned with that.

I had my testing done through my naturopathic doctor, and Anamol laboratories, which is analyzed by Doctor's Data Inc.

The uranium and mercury aren't sky high either. Uranium is 0.067 (ref. < 0.060), and the mercury is 1.3 (ref. < 1.1).

But the symptom list was given specifically for my ranges, and it said that "At hair levels below 3

[Ursa Major]

I just talked to one of my daughters, she called me for some information. Anyway, she and my husband are convinced that all my problems are psychological, and I am just lazy. So, I told her about these results, and that every one of those things (high mercury and uranium and low minerals) cause fatigue as one symptom. And that is why I have no energy to do things.

She actually told me that it was all nonsense, that they likely confused the results with somebody elses results, because there is no way I should have high uranium levels. And that me having those kinds of tests done is just so I can justify my laziness.

How I am supposed to have managed to somehow 'get them' (whoever those co-conspirators are supposed to be) to find deficiencies and toxic levels of heavy metals to justify being 'lazy' is beyond me. I feel like slapping the brat (but of course, I try to explain things nicely anyway, even though I was seething inside). This 'kid' is 22 years old, married and expecting her first baby. And I absolutely know that she needs to be gluten-free and dairy free as well, but she refuses to even consider the possibility.

[Rachel--24]

Ursa,

I was reading about a study on a product which I just started taking...and I came across some info. about uranium....so I figured I'd post ity here.

  Quote

Thirty people were tested for depleted uranium (DU), a very serious worldwide radioactive contaminant resulting from DU armaments, which are used in Iraq. Of the 30 people tested, 28 had DU in at least one organ - the liver, breast, or brain - and 25 had DU in all three of these organs. After one week on the study protocol, all these people became DU-free except one, who still tested positive for depleted uranium in the liver.

You dont have to live by a nuclear power plant to be exposed to it. Its the same with mercury.....alot of people think that if they dont have fillings they're not exposed....when in fact they can have high levels of mercury in their body without ever having had a single amalgam....and even without consuming large amounts of fish.

We're ALL exposed to all sorts of toxins each and everyday....its all about the body burden. How much is too much?? In my opinion we're seeing the effects all around us.

I looked up the uranium.

  Quote

Depleted uranium, or simply "DU," is a by-product of the uranium enrichment process, where uranium is prepared for usage in nuclear reactors or atomic bombs. In depleted uranium, the amount of the fissile isotope, U-235, is reduced in comparison to natural uranium. There is no difference in chemical properties between natural uranium, enriched uranium and depleted uranium. All are mildly radioactive

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[Ursa Major]

  Rachel--24 said:

Thirty people were tested for depleted uranium (DU), a very serious worldwide radioactive contaminant resulting from DU armaments, which are used in Iraq. Of the 30 people tested, 28 had DU in at least one organ - the liver, breast, or brain - and 25 had DU in all three of these organs. After one week on the study protocol, all these people became DU-free except one, who still tested positive for depleted uranium in the liver.

Rachel, do you know what the product is those people were taking?

[home-based-mom]

I got this link a long time ago from a Desert Storm veteran. It's more than a bit scary.

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[Rachel--24]

  Ursa Major said:

Rachel, do you know what the product is those people were taking?

Natural Cellular Defense.....its a zeolite product. I just started taking it.....its expensive but I'm gonna give it at least a month to see what it can do for me. Its done wonders for some of the kids with autism and there are some studies underway to try to determine how effective it is as a natural chelator of heavy metals and other toxins.

I only started taking it today. One of my friends (that I met on the OMG thread) started taking it recently and has had significant improvement.

Heres a few links.

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[dbmamaz]

Ursa, sorry about the depressing results AND the reaction from your daughter. I know its hard when your family isnt supportive. Good luck getting some relief!