Toxic Metals Test: Kyeann Unleaded?
by Kyeann Sayer, Nomad on 03. 6.06
Last week I found out that my body is carrying a heavy lead load. My mercury is high, but the lead is through the roof. Where did it come from? How long have I had it? What do I do about it? How is it affecting me? These curiosities coincidentally coincide with the EPA releasing new guidelines for home renovation to protect children from exposure. If you're remodeling, have a gander. Additionally, on February 22nd, the state of Rhode Island won a case against paint companies that marketed and sold leaded paint with full knowledge of its harmful effects. According to the Boston Globe, the companies may have to pay billions in damages and clean up to 300,000 homes of toxic lead.
As to the origin of my exposure, it’s still a mystery. My most recent apartment building supposedly had updated pipes and unleaded paint (I told my fellow tenants about it anyway, in case something had been overlooked). I have lived in urban areas for the last seven years, but my exposure is too high to have resulted from routine city existence. None of my hobbies involves playing with leaded fishing weights or pottery glazes. Since, according to the CDC, "Lead poisoning affects virtually every system in the body, and often occurs with no distinctive symptoms," it's hard to say when or where it happened, or how it's affecting me.
One possible answer: the indoor arena that served as my playpen on the horse farm where I grew up. Starting when I was two, a truck would show up every six months to spread a used motor oil/gas on the dirt in our barn. I played in it like a sandbox for about three hours per day during my childhood summers. That's right. A great solution for keeping the dust down when working with horses, my parents didn’t think about the effects of a used leaded gasoline/motor oil cocktail on all of our health.
The question of what to do about it is the easiest to answer: chelation, which has become my favorite word next to constabulatory. It derives from the Greek, meaning claw. A chemical claw surrounds the metal so that it can be safely carried out of the body. The toxic metals test involved such a process to pull the metals out of the tissues for testing, and I followed up with a weak, oral vitamin C chelation to make sure the released metals didn’t settle into other tissues. Afterwards, I felt amazingly well, so I’m very optimistic about the much more intense intravenous chelating that I’ll begin today. My health practitioner says (not surprisingly) that it’s very taxing for the immune system to constantly fight the metals, so doing a series of chelations may dramatically improve my health. Fingers crossed.
Blood levels in children have dropped significantly since the early 80s when I was in elementary school, but as the Alliance for Healthy Families points out, there are income- and race-based disparities in improvements.
I'll keep you posted on my adventures in extraction. Anyone out there with leaded wisdom to share? ::
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Do you have metal fillings in your teeth? That is a possible cause... always go for resin / porcelain!
Be cautious about chelation therapy. There may be counter-indications for some individuals. Several adverse incidents recently were reported as potentially attributed to one of the chelating agents. (Please do not ask for brand names or detailed anecdotal information Lawyers will be watching). Common sense recommendation: have your doctor look at the literature and go over the pluses and minuses.
According to the Alliance for Healthy Families:
"On Feburary 28, 2006, Judge Silverstein decided to bar punitive damages against the three liable defendants. Next, the judge and attorneys for both sides will begin a series of hearings to determine the scope of other financial and programmatic responsiblities that the three companies will owe to the citizens of Rhode Island. No word has been received on any industry intention to appeal the jury's verdict."
Bummer about the punitive damages. Hayden -- metal fillings are a concern mostly because of mercury. John -- the chelation agents we used today were EDTA for the lead, and a small amount of DMPS for the mercury. I'm not endorsing either of them. EDTA has historically been used for lead poisoning. There is some contraversy about DMPS. The original test was an oral DMSA that was supposed to chelate for mercury. I trust my practitioners -- we'll see how it goes!
I have nothing of substance to add, but I sincerly hope that everything will be all right, Kyeann.
Where other members of your family working/playing in the same place as you did when you were young? Did these people get tested? That could probably help you know if that was the source.
Good thinking! I'm making my brother get tested because we were living in the same place until I was seven and then lived separately. So, if he also has high levels, it's likely all about our first farm... Thanks for the good thoughts -- I'm so glad I got the test and can deal with it, and hope that posting about it will encourage other TreeHuggers to check out possible environmental health issues.
Sorry to hear this, but glad you found out. And, of course, our coincidences continue... I was just talking about this today at the office and copied some information co-workers received at a Detox. Talk that I missed last week. Being a pediatric therapist that has dealt with autistic and learning disabled kids, it isn't uncommon to see a child who may need chelation therapy. I think there are also some homeopathic remedies to be tried. I sometimes worry about my mouth full of fillings, but fear it may be worse to have them removed and replaced with porcelain. Best of luck!
wow--what news! good luck with the chelation therapy.
how did you find someone to test you, etc.--i'm very interested in having this done myself. i know that some seaweeds can function in the same manner (removing heavy metal toxins)--
again, good luck!
I don't know if this will help or not...
Maybe there was some phytoremediation near you or near plants you ate. If I am not mistaken, there are no natural accumulators of lead (as is the case with heavey metals) and therefore chelation is used to help break the bonds that make lead hard to remove from soil and allow for it to "float" in the water-table and for plants to "suck" it up via their roots. (Same basic principle used in the human body.)
The plants sequester the lead in their vacuoles and are usually removed after the sites lead levels are deemed low enough. However, causing the lead to becoming aquecious can be dangerous when done wrong. Because if the phytoremediator's roots do not reach low enough or cannot suck quick enough then the lead (instead of being "stuck" to the soil) will become free to move through a water-shed.
Lead "loves" to bond with some of the most commonly known ionic compounds found in the environment (like forming carbonates). When the pH of soil, water, etc. changes, that can cause lead to come into and out of solution.
Either of these could have happened in an area where you drank the water, ate the food, etc. And if you had the resources to get tested over a local you foud out but they never will! (lucky you)
Check to make sure your chelator is most favourable for lead NOT iron or other important metals as they have "preferences." Ask about side effects to other metals and minerals in your body and the pH of your blood as well as what you can do to temporarily circumvent problems until the chelation is done.
Hope that was of any help!
Just thought I'd toss my two-cents in as a toxicologist...
Lead is not well absorbed by the intestinal tract, since it is not an essential metal. Generally, less than 5 to 10% of an ingested amount will be absorbed by an adult, slightly more in children. (Most scientists believe that is is absorbed through an iron transporter, and usually, most people who absorb significant amounts of lead are in fact iron deficient, one of the reasons it afflicts disadvantages individuals more.)
The maximum acceptable lead level for candy bars is set very low (.1 parts per million) in part because it is something children consume and they are uniquely vulnerable to lead poisoning because they absorb more, and it does more damage to a developing nervous system. So even if Dagoba had ten times the acceptable lead level (which is not likely) and you ate a really phenomenal amount, it would be unlikely to cause lead poisoning in a healthy adult. Not saying its impossible, though.
Inhaled lead, on the other hand, is much worse -- you generally will absorb about 30-50% into your bloodstream. So if you want to track down the source of your contamination, I would seriously look into any local smelters (they still bellow lead out into the environment), or travel in areas with unleaded gasoline as a more likely cause.
Sorry to be all science-geeky here.
Thanks for the comment, Alex. It's always great to hear from an expert!