Findings At the Doctor's Visit

I went to this new doctor with the lowest expectations possible. I was thinking, she will probably call me a druggy, crazy, in the need of taking some meds! I set myself up for the worst possible doctor visit ever. I am happy to say that yesterday went fantastic! This time I decided to go to a D.O. A D.O is a doctor who isn't completely blindsided by handing out prescriptions in hopes to stop specific symptoms. Typically D.O's are more involved in the "whole body" and they try to help their patients prevent problems before they happen by evaluating a family's background and risk factors. You'd think this would be common sense, but most M.D's don't care. There are exceptions (of course), but most of them just hear your list of symptoms and hand out a pill (s).

The visit was much better than expected. She is very concerned about my health and I could see it in her eye when she felt the lymph nodes. I think she was scared... There are enlarged lymph nodes near my collarbone and further up on my neck. I told her that I haven't been "sick" for a LONG time, so we are forgoing antibiotics that may take care of a lingering illness. I had a bunch of blood work done yesterday.

• CBC (Complete Blood Count)
  
• ESR (Erythrocyte sedimentation rate)
• TSH (Thyroid-stimulating hormone)
• T4 (Thyroxine)
• CMP (Comprehensive Metabolic Panel)
  
• CMV (Cytomegalovirus) Titre

I repeated a few of them because I didn't want to deal with getting the results from Goldstein's office. Sometimes his office is REALLY difficult to work with especially something like this. They don't know how to use a fax machine...They won't even call you with results! That is totally up to you and they always sound very annoyed by it. I have never seen a doctor that doesn't call immediately as results come in.

CBC, I am curious to see how the results compare to Goldstein's.

ESR will show any inflammation in the body. Many months ago I had a C-Reactive Protein checked and it was very low, so we'll see what happens with the ESR.

TSH and T4 are thyroid markers, which I expect to come back completely normal.

CMP is a whole list of things including liver tests. Once again, I didn't want to deal with getting results from Goldstein's office. It's just too frustrating for me to handle. I still can't understand why Goldstein would order a BMP and a liver enzyme test...A CMP does all of that in one.

CMV Titre. I don't know how accurate this is going to be since I already had EBV when I was 16/17. I told her this so I'm not sure what she is looking for. From what I've read it's very difficult to interpret the results if someone has already been exposed to one of the viruses. Part of me is concerned that she will blame everything on EBV is this comes back high. Let's hope she has an open mind!

I am just glad that I finally found someone who listened to me and went ahead and felt my neck for swollen lymph nodes. She felt lymph nodes that I had no idea were enlarged. The ones she said were enlargde usually indicate something very very bad like metastatic cancer or lymphoma. However this is only the first step and I'll probably need referred to an ENT to do a biopsy if they deem necessary. I'd at least want a PET or CT-scan to check everything out.

The Rash & Primary Care Doctors

Trying to find a primary care doctor that will see you quickly is difficult. I have an appointment scheduled 3 months from now to see a good doctor in my area. 3 months...

Now I am forced to go to a place that looks like it might be a complete waste of time. Ugh...they can see me today too. That's a terrible sign! In my experience any doctor that is good has always had a long wait.

It appears that I am having very itchy skin, but the rash is from me scratching it. I did a little test today to see if I scratched myself whether or not a "rash" would form in the spot I scratched. Every single time I did this I got a large rash that looked like hives. It would disappear within 30 minutes. Google is absolutely amazing. I found out that there is a very common condition called, dermatographic urticaria, which means "Skin writing hives". I've never had this before in my life, so it is new within the past 5 weeks or so. I wonder if the first set of hives set something off inside my skin.

You can see exactly what this looks like here. Don't click on that link if you are freaked out by red irritated raised skin. This one artist even uses her skin as her canvas. Even this was a little too strange for me! Now some of these people say it doesn't itch at all, so that makes me wonder. These spots and the skin underneath itch like hell for me.

Now I am realizing that I'm just itchy all over. Sometimes it gets so bad that I want to scream and now that I know I CAN'T scratch it, it makes things a lot worse. I feel completely helpless because I can't do anything to relief the itch! My doctor said to try quercetin, so I've ordered some to try it out. It is a natural bioflavonoid with anti-histamine properties. It is found in apple peels, onions and teas. Maybe that's why I really like all of those things! ha!

I'll be sure to report how the doctor's visit went. I'm expecting the worse possible scenario where she calls me a cocaine addict, stupid and a psychiatric patient. This way if something other than this happens I'll be pleased!

More Rashes Today

Sigh. I've had a lot of rashes today. The redness on my right hand, I thought was dry skin. However today I discovered that it is in fact related to the other rashes. When I begin to break out, everything starts to break out. My hand got even more red! The red itchy rash was even on my forehead today.

Usually it starts with a small tingling feeling, almost hurts, then it begins to itch, itch and itch. This is what they looked like today.
I'm still very itchy right now. Today I get to call the doctor to see what I do next. Whatever doctor I go see, I am definitely taking my camera full of pictures to see what they think.

What If It's More Than Just Mercury?

I need to thank Dana Herbert, you can check out her blog at danaherbert.blogspot.com, for informing me that lymphoma can cause red rashes. This is where my focus is going to be at the moment. This needs ruled out immediately. Part of my gut tells me she is right...

You may think that I am over reacting, but this is a real possibility. I have almost EVERY- single symptom and I have had them for years. I certainly think I need to have this checked out before doing anything else.

Hodgkin's Disease symptoms

• A painless swelling in the lymph nodes in the neck, underarm, or groin
  
• Unexplained recurrent fevers ( I don't have this one)
  
• Night sweats
• Loss of appetite
  
• Unexplained weight loss
  
• Itchy skin
  
• Red patches on the skin
• Severely itchy skin, often affecting the legs/feet
• Alcohol-related pain

Now I never wrote about this before on my blog, but I suspected lymphoma the night I went to the ER in 2007. You may all recall that I had the doctor from hell who said I was a heroin addict? Well I told him about my swollen lymph nodes and cysts, but he had already decided in his head that I was a heroin addict and was collecting fibers in my joints from filtering it. He stood there and explained how it all worked. I told him I had never done drugs, but he didn't want to hear it! Nope I was looking for drugs in his head.

If I really do have Hodgkin's Disease, this could have all been resolved over a year ago. My PCP yelled at me for losing weight and completely dismissed the swollen lymph node on my neck as nothing to worry about. She said it was probably a virus and the rash I had at the time was probably just poison ivy. I told her I wasn't even outside, so there was no way it was poison ivy (didn't matter to her). I still had my hair back then, so it's been at least a year! I'm thinking it was some time in May 2007. My sister was diagnosed with her brain tumor in March of that year, so that sounds about right.

I had night sweats the whole week before going to the ER. I never experienced anything like that before, so it was strange. They weren't drenching, but it was certainly waking me up at night. Now more recently, I had terrible night sweats on Nov 1, 2008 and Nov 2nd, 2008. My entire side of the bed was soaked like I had jumped into a bath tub, but I just figured it was diabetes insipidus. Maybe it still is?

The loss of appetite and unexplained weight loss really sneaked up on my this time. I knew I had been eating less but I didn't realize just how much less. Yesterday I got some food in me, so that is good. However it is still wanting to go right through me for some reason. I can't figure it out.

Itchy skin/red patches of skin. Look at the 1st picture on the 2nd row. I did some digging last night and I found an entire forum dedicated to Hodgkin's Disease. A ton of them had the itching, red skin prior to diagnosis that a doctor shrugged off as poison ivy, dermatitis, a need to change laundry detergent or to get rid of a pet. The itching I am experiencing is so unbelievably itchy it actually makes me shake. I remember having an itchy face when I went to the ER in 2007. No one cared. All they were thinking about is whether my husband beat me or if I wanted drugs. Never at any time did I ask for pain medication, so I can't understand this. Yes the pain in my neck was terrible but I actually hate taking pain meds as all of you should know by now. My goodness, I don't even like taking a Tylenol or an Aleve. That whole encounter totally puzzles me to this day!

Prior to visiting the ER I started to develop the "pain" from drinking alcohol. This was the strangest thing. It would start at my neck and go through my stomach. At the time I thought that perhaps yeast or gluten was bothering me, so I just stopped drinking alcohol. My husband started researching what can cause this and it came back to Hodgkin's Disease. You can read a small case report of it in this medical journal.

When we went to the ER that night, we hadn't gotten the blood work results from the doctor yet. If I had them, then things would have went much differently. As you can see, I list "illness" from alcohol as part of my mercury poisoning symptoms. Even if I drink 3 sips of alcohol, I begin to feel very sick. Therefore I no longer drink it in any amounts. Mercury poisoning can cause this though, so I'll have to see.

I know I have mercury poisoning, but what if it is more? I certainly shouldn't turn a blind eye to all of this. Especially because of everything that has happened in the past 4 years. My health just went downhill very fast. It was like someone had turned on a switch. My sister had a very rare type of brain tumor and she is likely listed in some case study somewhere today. She told me there were a ton of people watching her during the surgery because she was a "medical anomaly". These are words her doctors used.

Let's hope that in a few days I'll report that everything is OK. If it isn't OK, then I'll have to decide what's next. I refuse to take their poison chemo/radiation, so I'll have to figure something else out. This is going to be a stressful week to say the least.

More Pictures of the Rash

Here are more pictures of it from tonight. I'm going freaking crazy.

First one is from my chest right before we left to get some groceries. It was unbelievably red.



Front of my neck. Very itchy but went away within 25 minutes.

This one was weird. Very blotchy. It totally faded away though.

Mercury Exposure According to Immunization Records

I thought this would be a little neat. I found my high school diploma the other day and inside of it showed me most of the vaccines I have been given during my schooling years. Now looking at this, I don't think it is complete because I remember getting the stupid Hepatitis shot in 6th grade and that is not listed on here. This isn't going to be completely accurate because I don't know brand names, but I think most brands across the board either have thimerosal or don't.

Here we go-I was born on 4/13/1984

Diptheria and Tetanus * It says on the bottom that they are usually combined in DTP, DT or Td. I have no way of knowing what I had unless I asked my mom.

• 1st dose 6/15/84
• 2nd dose 8/23/84
• 3rd dose 10/12/84
• 4th dose 10/14/85
• 5th dose 4/12/89

According to this chart that I got from the American Academy of Pediatrics
http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;104/3/570/T1, all DTP have thimerosal in them. Each shot has 25ug/0.5ml of mercury. A ug means micrograms. I think they do this so it isn't confused with mg. Leaving off the c in there could be fatal!

From that one vaccine series alone, I got 125 micrograms of mercury. Thanks mom! All before the age of 5! I probably lost a lot of IQ points...

Polio * It says 3 doses of oral or 4 doses of Inactivated (Salk) vaccine. It looks like I got the Salk vaccine.

• 1st dose 6/15/84
• 2nd dose 8/23/84
• 3rd dose 10/14/85
• 4th dose 4/12/89

Supposedly the Salk vaccine didn't have thimerosal in it. There's really no way to even verify this and they lied about it being contaminated with SV-40, which is the main source of the increase in cancers we have seen today. If you got a polio shot from 1953-1960 you probably got injected with SV-40! This wasn't by mistake though and they admit that here....
Merck Drug Company Admits Injecting Polio with Cancer Viruses

Measles, Mumps, Rubella * It seems I got 1 shot with all 3 of them in it. Supposedly no thimerosal, but it is a live virus which is really bad for a developing immune symstem.

• 1st dose 7/12/85
• 2nd dose 5/4/91

TB * I can only assume that TB means Tuberculosis. This wasn't a "mandated" vaccine, so I don't know why I was given this. I don't remember anyone in my family having TB. This one is also a live virus, so no thimerosal. Although a quick search reveals that it isn't recommended to give to kids because 1) it isn't effective and 2) you can get TB meningitis from it...

• 1st dose 10/11/95 (I would have been 11 years old)

Hepatitis B * It isn't listed on the sheet, but I know I was "forced" to get it in order to be allowed in 6th grade. That is a scam in itself. Now in my research this is one of the vaccines that USED to have thimerosal in them, but are now "free" of thimerosal. This doesn't make me feel any better...3 doses of Hepatitis B vaccine contained 37.5 micrograms of mercury. This info was hard to find, but I did find it on a medical journal website here.
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/13/1278

• 3 doses-No specific dates available. Approximately 10/11/95 up to the summer before 6th grade which would have been 8/31/96

In the meanwhile, by the age of 12 I already had TONS of amalgam fillings in my mouth, lost the baby teeth with the amalgams and then had new ones put in. Right around 14 my family stopped going to the dentist and refused to take me. In some way that may have been a blessing, but I used to be so mad at my family for this.

Just from vaccines alone I have been exposed to 162.5 micrograms of mercury. Now let me explain to you how terrible that is. In order to be considered "symptomatic" the FDA says you must be excreting 25 micrograms of mercury in your urine. How in the hell does this even make sense? Injecting it directly into your bloodstream which bypasses every single safety mechanism your body has, is totally OK!

In the bad challenge test I did (which you should NEVER EVER DO) I excreted 30 micrograms of mercury from only 60mg of DMPS. Most other challenge tests shoot you up with a few hundred mg of DMPS, so I can only imagine what the results would have been then.

You may be thinking well lots of kids had all of those shots and are doing "fine". I laugh at people who say these sorts of things. Do you think since you've only see white cars, that only white cars exist? Do you think if you close your eyes that no one can see you? This may sound stupid, but saying that everyone is doing fine or things would be a lot worse off is the same type of mindset. If it doesn't affect YOU and someone YOU are close to then it doesn't affect ANYONE. Can I have what you are smoking!

What is fine to most people? Still walking and breathing? Most people would look at me and think, pretty young girl, thin, she must be doing fine! haha When in fact, if I'd lift up my hair and show them my bald spot, then my recurring rash and let them see how fast my heart rate races on a daily basis, they would quickly back down from their "doing fine". A lot of people in their 20's are now finally getting sick and it is a "hidden sickness". These people LOOK okay.

Mercury poisoning doesn't make you grow 4 ears. It looks like what "getting old" means to most Americans. You just start to slowly deteriorate and for some people that happens sooner. I think MS, Fibromyalgia, Lupus, chronic fatigue and most autoimmune disorders is directly related to heavy metal load. Most people who suffer from these DO NOT chelate properly, so they never see the results.

Pictures of My Rash

Since I've been complaining about it so much, I figure it's time to show you what the rash looks like.

This one is from very very early this morning around 5am. It is difficult to sleep with them. My bone looks weird here because I had to hold the camera at a strange angle. haha!

At that exact same time, I had one identical on the other shoulder.In less than 10 minutes they had both vanished. There was no sign a rash had ever been there and the itchiness completely faded.

This rash on my back was extremely itchy. I was jumping up and down so I didn't scratch it so much. The marks are part of the rash. I've seen one of these form out of no where.

This rash was from last night near my right armpit. It was extremely itchy, but faded completely away within 30 minutes.
What could this be from? It could be from elevated liver enzymes. Some people say though it wouldn't cause a rash, but others who have elevated liver enzymes experience the same type of of rash as me. One that comes and goes about as fast as they appear and it usually appears later in the day. I haven't had a rash yet this morning, but we will see how it goes.

On average I am having about 10-20 rashes a day that form, itch like hell and then disappear completely.

I did get my bloodwork done today. I didn't have anything active at the time, but I can feel my body is on high alert. Whatever it is causing this will hopefully show on the bloodwork.

More Bloodwork Is Needed

Before I jump into the candida rabbit hole, I want to rule out a few things. This rash can be from 923402934 different things. Rash is like one of the worst things to get diagnosed properly. I got the slip from Dr. Goldstein's office to get some more bloodwork! Now the tricky part is making sure I am in a full break out of hives/rashes when I go. Considering how often I am getting rashes, it shouldn't be TOO difficult. Unfortunately the rashes usually show up late at night--like right now. AHHHH itchy.

I'm going to have the following blood work done:

• CBC (Complete Blood Count) with differential
• BMP (Basic Metabolic Panel)
• Liver Function Panel

The CBC will show what is going on with my blood. DMSA can lower your neutrophils, which can be very serious. This causes you to get severe infections VERY quickly. Just today I noticed the flesh behind my wisdom tooth is very very sore. It isn't my tooth, but the skin back there. I just hope this isn't an infection. I have this really really bad feeling it is. It is so sore to the touch.

I also wanted this done because it's been at least a year since my last test. I am very curious to see where my WBC are (higher or lower). They were always low for me. Off the top of my head I can't remember the number, but well below what even the lab recommends. My Eosinophils were always VERY HIGH. Most people say it is from allergies and even though I insisted I didn't have allergies they just shrugged it off like nothing. I often wonder if this was a warning sign for alopecia and the development of the autoimmune disease. No one was really ever concerned about it though. "Oh you are young, don't worry about it". That's what EVERYONE always said. Now look where I am at.

I took a new picture of the other spot on my head. This one looks so much better than before. For comparison this is a picture from mid September, so only about 5 weeks ago. There is no hair growth whatsoever on the spot. This was BEFORE I started to chelate with Dr. Cutler's protocol. I do believe I had been using EDTA though.
I just took this picture a few minutes ago. From the time of the last picture above, I have done a full 8 rounds of frequent-dose oral DMSA chelation. Coincidence? I think not.If it continues to grow how it's been, I think this spot will be completely covered over in 2 months! WOOHOO!

Yeast Overgrowth Causing Itchy Rash?

I don't even want to say this out loud, but my rash may be from candida. Oh no...No one that I have known has EVER been successful in treating "candida". Some of these candida websites are out of hand. Every single symptom is from candida! Hang nail? Candida of course! Toe nail fungus? Candida! Okay I'm being a little sarcastic and nutty, but in all seriousness, a lot of documented mercury toxicity symptom is on this so-called candida list. It is a little ridiculous to say the least. Maybe a lot of the people who suffer from candida also have mercury toxicity? That makes more sense to me.

What do you do if you have candida? I have no idea. The things most people say you have to do is totally non-realistic. It would make me even more psychotic when it comes to food. Why make myself even more OCD about my food rituals and habits. I am a recovering anorexic from 8 years ago...Those of you who have suffered from anorexia know you are never completely recovered. It is much like what an alcoholic deals with.

Most websites say you have to eliminate all carbohydrates and sugar. This includes candy (okay easy), fruit, wheat, potatoes, carrots, rice! Basically anything that has carbs in it even if it is good carbs. Some people say this works, others say it doesn't do anything. With a diet like this I don't know what I'd eat and would likely starve to death. What is a person supposed to eat to make themselves feel full? I do not find any enjoyment when eating meat. I basically eat meat because I have to live.

Let me just list what 1 website says are the symptoms of candida. You will understand what I mean when I say total ridiculousness. A lot of these are mercury toxicity symptoms. Sounds like someone whoever reported all of these symptoms has multiple problems going on. Stuff in ( ) I added in.

• Fatigue or lethargy
• Feeling of being drained
• Depression or manic depression
• Numbness, burning, or tingling (b12 deficiency)
  
• Headaches
• Muscle Aches (mineral deficiencies)
  
• Muscle weakness or paralysis (mineral deficiencies)
  
• Pain and/or swelling in joints
• Abdominal Pain
• Constipation and/or diarrhea
• Bloating, belching or intestinal gas
• Troublesome vaginal burning, itching or discharge in women
• Prostatitis in men
• Impotence
• Loss of sexual desire or feeling
• Endometriosis or infertility
• Cramps and/or other menstrual irregularities
• Premenstrual tension (can be from copper toxicity, mineral dificiencies)
  
• Attacks of anxiety or crying
• Cold hands or feet, low body temperature (hypothyroid)
  
• Hypothyroidism (I still don't understand why this would be listed...makes no sense)
  
• Shaking or irritable when hungry (hypoglycemia-Adrenal issues)
  
• Cystitis or interstitial cystitis
  
• Drowsiness
• Irritability
• Poor coordination (mineral deficiencies)
  
• Frequent mood swings
• Insomnia (mercury?)
  
• Dizziness/loss of balance (possible B12 deficiency, low bp, dehydration)
  
• Pressure above ears...feeling of head swelling
• Sinus problems...tenderness of cheekbones or forehead
• Tendency to bruise easy
• Eczema, itching eyes
• Psoriasis
• Chronic hives (urticaria) (Food allergies?)
  
• Indigestion or heartburn
• Sensitivity to milk, wheat, corn or other common foods
• Mucous in stools
• Rectal itching
• Dry mouth or throat (diabetes insipidus or regular sugar diabetes)
  
• Mouth rashes including white tongue
• Bad breath
  
• Foot, hair, or body odor not relieved by washing
• Nasal congestion or post nasal drip
• Nasal itching
• Sore throat
• Laryngitis, loss of voice
• Cough or recurrent bronchitis
• Pain or tightness in chest
• Wheezing or shortness of breath
• Urinary frequency or urgency (possible diabetes insipidus)
  
• Burning on urination
• Spots in front of eyes or erratic vision (mercury?)
  
• Burning or tearing eyes
• Recurrent infections or fluid in ears
• Ear pain or deafness
• Inability to concentrate (mercury?)
  
• Skin problems-hives, athlete's foot, fungus infection of the nails, jock itch, psoriasis-including of the scalp or other chronic skin rashes
• Gastrointestinal symptoms-constipation, abdominal pain, diarrhea, gas, or bloating
• Symptoms involving the reproductive organs (mercury?)
  
• Muscular and nervous system symptoms-including aching or swelling in your muscles and joints, numbness, burning or tingling, muscle weakness or paralysis.
  
• Recurrent ear problems resulting in antibiotic therapy
• Respiratory symptoms
• Lupus (possible mercury toxicity link)
  
• Hyperactivity/Attention Deficit Disorder (fake disorder used to get children on meds)
  
• Recurrent vaginal yeast infections in women
• High sugar foods drastically increase symptoms
• Inflammation of the hair follicles (candidiasis folliculitis) of various parts of the body (feet, legs, arms)
• Extreme lethargy
• Diarrhea, chronic gas, abdominal cramps alleviated by bowel movements. Perhaps labeled with the term "irritable bowel syndrome"
• Lactose intolerance
• Anxiety
• Allergies and allergy symptoms, chemical sensitivities
• Panic attacks
• Sinus problems
• Eye fatigue
• Muscle weakness and bone pain
• White tongue coating
• Psoriasis/seborrheic dermatitis/dandruff, dry, itchy skin
• Rectal itching
• Swollen lips/face
• Symptoms worse after waking
• Facial rash
• Avoiding food helps to alleviate symptoms
• Hives
• Chronic inflammation and irritation of the eye and conjunctiva
• Feeling of being intoxicated which leads to a "hangover feeling" (due to fermentation and alcohol production by yeast)
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Do I have yeast/candida overgrowth? I don't know, but I surely won't use one of these websites to tell me. Everything under the sun is caused by candida...Give me a break!

New Picture Of My Hair Growth

I put a new picture in my hair loss gallery. You can find the link to it on the left side column.

Here is the new picture I added today. I think it has even gotten better since this was taken. The other spot, which I need to get a picture of is even covered over now!

Round 8, Day 4 Mercury Detox

The good news is I haven't had much to blog about recently. Round 7 went great. Now I am on Round 8 and there is nothing out of the ordinary. I am still on 25mg of DMSA every 3 hours, which has kept my mercury redistribution symptoms down to a minimum.

The one thing that I STILL cannot figure out is why I am so darn itchy. Typically it starts later in the day and it is an itch all over my body. Sometimes there is a reddish rash, but other times there is nothing at all. I've seen it can be your kidney, liver, or even specific type of cancers. I just hope it's the mercury coming out of my body! It is a symptom of mercury toxicity. As I write this I am developing a rash on my chest and a sunburn like rash on my back. They are both extremely itchy and usually only show up at the end of the day...Yesterday the rash was near my belly button. The other day on the back of my thigh near my butt. I might have to take some benedryl tonight and sleep on the couch.

I'll probably call the doctor tomorrow to get some blood work and possible urine tests for my liver, kidney and a CBC. Just to make sure everything is okay. DMSA can cause neutropenia in very rare cases that goes away when it is discontinued. I don't have any of the symptoms, but I don't want to take any chances right now.

My muscles have still be a little twitchy and jerky, but not as bad as it had been a few weeks ago. Thank goodness!

One last thing I wanted to touch upon are cysts. I know this is a very very interesting topic..lol, but I seem to have a cyst problem. A few years ago when things finally fell apart for me, I went to the ER. I had this hard lump on my collar bone next to the sternum and it was sort of concerning me. I asked the ER doctor what he thought it might be and he gave me this long explanation on how people who use heroine tend to get gauze or lint stuck in their joints from filtering it in cloth or cheesecloth. (I have no idea how to even make heroine nor do I care)

Basically he was telling me that I was a heroine addict and those pieces of fiber collected in my joint. That guy was an asshole and made me cry in the exam room. Looking back I think I had severe dehydration, so I was a little out of my mind. I lost like 10 pounds in 4 days, but he didn't care... Fast forward a few years and now I have a similar extremely hard lump on the back collar bone. Here's a picture of a skeleton, so I can show you what I mean. I edited this up in SnagIt, so you can see what I am talking about. I realized that I pointed to the wrong side of my collar bone. Oh well, you get the point though.


Now the one on my front collar bone can be pushed back into the joint area, but it is getting harder to do this. The one on my shoulder blade won't move at all. It feels like it is part of the bone and I am a little concerned about it. It does hurt sometimes which is a bad sign, but with what mercury can do to a body, I am just wondering if it is mercury related.

Google didn't really bring up much information on hard lumps on the shoulder blade, so I have to wonder if it is rare. The lump on my shoulder blade is relatively new. I think it developed within the past year or so. The one on my collar bone developed 2-3 years ago without any noticeable difference in its size. I think the one on my shoulder blade got bigger. It just seems like no doctor wants to even look at it. I was denied an MRI at the ER, so I guess I'll have to beg for a chest x-ray at this point. Since my sister had a brain tumor, I do get concerned about this stuff. Obviously my family has some pretty shitty genes.

Dreams That Show You the Future

Today I need a little break from the mercury talk.

Have any of you had dreams that foreshadow events?...I have had them in various times in my life. One of the earliest I can remember was when I was 13 or 14. It was a dream where my Grandmother, Grandfather and Uncle were in a room together. Now my grandmother had already died, but my grandfather and Uncle were still alive. In my dream I was told that both of them would die soon. I could not talk to them, but I knew they were "ghostly" and not in the same world as me. The dream woke me up from sleep and was rather frightening.

About a year later my uncle died suddenly from a heart attack. Then a few years after that my grandfather. My grandfather wasn't in good health, so that wasn't a shocker, but my uncle died around the age of 54. It was very very sudden. We got that terrible phone call at 5:30 AM on a school morning. I'll never forget how traumatic that was to me.

I've been having these dreams again. This time they are about my neighbor. A few months ago, I had another dream that caused me concern. In my dream, I went over to their house, banged on the door and someone different answered the door. I asked, "Is Ken here" and the person said oh they sold their house. They no longer live here. I thought that was really strange because he built that house and it was on their family's old farmland. They loved that house and there would be no reason to sell it...unless he died.

Now last night I had TERRIBLE nightmares about my neighbor. In my nightmares they had carried him out on a gurney down a long flight of stairs (his house has no stairs). There were a few cars in the driveway that did not belong to anyone I knew. It looked like his house, but it wasn't. I am sure others have had this happen to their in dreams. There were cars lined up all along his yard. There's a few non-wooded acres that separates his yard from ours. I was there but not really there. I was watching from a distance, almost like my mind was there, but my body wasn't. In my dream I knew he was dead on this gurney. No one was in a hurry. His wife and daughter were shaking.

I had ANOTHER nightmare last night about him. This time I knew without a doubt he was dead. It was like all of the memories and conversations I had with him were flying by me. My mind told me to wake up, but I was still tired. No matter what, I had this nagging to wake up. So I finally did and ran over to the computer. Immediately clicked on the local newspaper's website and clicked obituaries. Much to my....dismay......he died Tuesday night. I started crying my eyes out, but I already knew it was true before I saw the name on the website. I am very saddened by this.

Supplements While Detoxing

YAY One of the big projects I was working on is completed, so I have some time to write up what I take while detoxing.

It is very very important to take supplements EVERY DAY while detoxing. When you are chelating, your body is burning through minerals like crazy and mercury causes a deranged mineral transport in the body. I'm not an expert how that happens, but in simple terms, it causes your body to throw out good minerals, hold onto bad ones and just causes a lot of problems. Your body needs minerals to function normally. Even the most basic minerals need to be supplied on a daily basis in mercury toxic people.

• Potassium helps to make the heart function properly. It also helps to keep the body's water balance. Potassium even helps with nerve functioning.
• Calcium helps with normal blood clotting and keeps the bones strong.
• Vitamin D goes hand and hand with calcium. It helps to absorb calcium. If you live in a cloudy climate you are probably walking around chronically deficient.
  

I never did Dr. Cutler's hair analysis because I already knew I had mercury poisoning. There was NO reason to further prove it to myself. Perhaps I will have one done in a few months, just to see what is happening.

There are a ton of supplements you CAN take if you want. You could spend $500 a month on supplements if you were really into it, but obviously it gets a little ridiculous.

Here is what I take on a daily basis. I'll even list brand names, in case you are interested in them. Only some things I really feel brand makes a difference in. For instance a good, non-contaminated fish oil is important. But with Vitamin D3 brand doesn't matter usually.

1. Vitamin C 4-6 Grams daily (Sodium Ascorbate powder)
2. Vitamin E 2 Gel caps Carlson's E-gem
3. Vitamin D3 5,000-10,000IU Under a doctor's supervision
4. CoQ10 Enzyme 200-300mg NSI
5. Milk Thistle 600mg
6. 5mg Hydrocortisone (Rx) in morning
7. Multi-Vitamin 6 capsules Thorne Research Basic Nutrients I No copper/iron
8. Zinc I try to take some zinc every day, but it usually makes me vomit. I'd recommend 100mg
9. Trispartate 2-3 capsules Thorne Research (potassium/magnesium/calcium)
10. Fish Oil- 1 tablespoon Carlson's Cod liver/fish oil

I feel that Thorne Research is a good brand. I have always been happy with them. However they do not sell direct to public. So you'd have to find a health food store that sells them or a doctor's office. There may be somewhere online, but I haven't looked around.

If you have any questions on the supplements or why I take something just leave a comment.

Update Soon

Sorry I have been very very busy. The post about supplements will be here by the end of this week.

Round 6, Day 4 Mercury Detox

Upping my dosage to 25mg every 3 hours has been going very well. Nothing out of the ordinary has popped up and I am not in severe pain or discomfort. I have been waking up with a headache in the back of my head, but it quickly goes away about an hour after waking. I'm not sure what is causing that one. Perhaps just the interruption of sleep while on round. Ugh..I hate that.

My husband started chelating 2 days ago. He had 5 amalgams. We are going to be doing it together now! He actually got very sick the first night of chelating, but thankfully after some vitamin C and supplements it went away. I think he is doing well, but he doesn't really complain much...hehe

My next post on here is going to discuss the supplements I take while detoxing. I feel I have neglected that aspect of the detox, which is vitally important! Stay tuned for that post.

Next Round Is Here! Round 6

I wanted to briefly say that I am doing okay. Looking at the comments in the last post I made, appears that I've scared some people. That wasn't my intent. When I am feeling sick and it is affecting my work, I get really pissed off. There were 2 days last break where I just sat around the house and wished I could get work done. I am getting close to a deadline and I get antsy. I'm sure other people feel this too. When things get bad, you shouldn't just stop forever. Those words were out of frustration. That would actually make things worse long term because you only partially got the mercury out. There is no other protocol out there that makes sense and even with all of my bitching, I am feeling better overall. My hair is growing back! There are up's and down's. I knew this wasn't going to be all happy. There is sufficient warning in Dr. Cutler's book.

Other detoxes I have done in the past (parasite, colon, liver, iodine) always have up's and down's as it comes in contact with toxins or parasites. This is very common. I took Vitalzym a few years ago and got extremely ill from it. That wasn't even a true "detox".

There aren't many doctors out there who want to help mercury toxic people because they don't want to deal with you. Since they don't understand it they usually just say "that can't be what's wrong with you". Meanwhile they are simply covering their ass and don't give a crap about you.

I can't stress this enough. You can't go to a doctor for mercury poisoning! They won't help you and they don't even know what to do for you. Chronic mercury poisoning is not recognized by the medical community. Why? Because then they'd have to start looking into what causes it and that would lead to the dental and vaccine industries. Both of these are billion dollar industries. You can't let the money go dry! Aside from the money aspect, can you imagine the lawsuits that would occur! The ADA and FDA KNEW mercury in the amalgams and vaccinations were bad, but has continued to cover it up to save face. Just recently the FDA is now warning dentists not to place amalgams in the mouths of children and pregnant women. *Raises hand* Um....what about me! I was a child 20 years ago that had multiple amalgams in my mouth! But I don't count now I guess.

Now onto the Alopecia Areata. I have no family history of this. Both grandfathers and grandmothers (on both sides of the family) had their hair when they died. My one grandmother is still alive, but she has all of her hair.

AA is not normal. Your hair does not fall out without a reason. The only words they say is, autoimmunity disorder!!!! Okay, but the human body does not attack itself without damage to the DNA or toxins invading cells. "It's not curable, but we can help!" That is the lie that the conventional medicine uses to sell you drugs and steroid injections. Don't buy into it.

Here is an excerpt from Dr. Cutler's book, Amalgam Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment page 108. He says it better than I can.

Mercury poisoning can cause autoimmunity. If you have autoimmunity from mercury poisoning it will probably go away when you get detoxed. Some physicians will think you have autoimmunity INSTEAD of being mercury poisoned, but they don't think autoimmunity is curable. It is up to you to decide whether you have autoimmune disease as a symptom of mercury poisoning.

I used to post at a hair loss forum, but they didn't want to hear about my success. That's fine most of those women were miserable anyway. I went to a dermatologist who flat out told me there was NO WAY mercury poisoning could cause this. They don't care about you. There job is to sell drugs and that is it. Doctors do not go into this profession to help people. It is to make money. Period.

If you made it through all that, today I am starting my 6th round! I am increasing my dose to 25mg every 8 hours 3 hours --typo! If it doesn't sit right with me, then I will stop, wait 4 days and begin again with the 15mg. I am only doing 4 days this round. With 4 days off at the end.

I Feel Like Quitting

Today I feel like just stopping everything forever. It is really getting bad now and I can't mentally handle it.

I feel like I have MS. Getting around the house has been very difficult because my knees hurt and I feel like my legs could give out at any moment. My body has been trembling for a few days now, but it just seems to be getting worse. The aspirin finally took care of the massive headache I had for 2 days.

Last night was terrible. I woke up with a night sweat again and I had to use the bathroom twice. I can't take it anymore dammit. My goodness I just want to sleep the whole night.

I feel helpless. /sigh

Breaks Are Terrible

If I could take DMSA indefinitely I would. It is not advised though because you could hurt yourself (possible liver damage) and you'd be extremely tired from interrupting your sleep cycle every night.

Here's another break in the detox and I feel like hell. I don't have hives, thank goodness, , but those same places are itchy and have been for a few days. Early this morning I felt good. We went to the mall and walked around at a few new stores that opened last week. But on our way home I began to feel terrible. A severe headache set in and I took a very long "nap". If you want to call it that.

Recently the night sweats have kicked back in too. I had them MANY months ago for a few weeks, but they went away. It seems they are back and it is frustrating. The past two nights I have been waking up with sweat pouring off my back. Now this symptom is likely from the diabetes insipidus, but that is probably caused from mercury toxicity.

It just seems like the sky is falling when I'm off the DMSA. I feel depressed and feel terrible. Then as soon as I get back on it, things look so good. I feel more optimistic and happy. I still have a few more days until I can start back up again...

Mineral Deficiencies Exaggerated While Detoxing

My mineral deficiencies are coming back full force. I guess it must be because the mercury is pulling good minerals out with it.

My muscles are trembling. If I sit my leg up, it beings to shake erratically. It looks like Parkinson's...So I am betting it is my potassium levels. They are ALWAYS low. When I was 18, I went to the ER for lower back pain. Well I found out I had a possible kidney stone and kidney infection. While I was there they did a bunch of blood work and my potassium was very low. I'll never forget what the nurse told me, "Your potassium levels are about as low as we'd expect a 90 year olds to be." I was shocked and asked her what type of symptoms this would cause and she said weakness in the muscles and tremors. I thought to myself...wow I do have that sometimes! I was a young PUNK though with a terrible diet and sleeping schedule. Working 40 hours a week and school for 20 hours a week. I was an insanely busy person.

My potassium has been low forever. As long as I can remember when I've had blood work done. The last time I had a BMP (basic metabolic panel) drawn was 2 months ago and once again, low potassium serum of 3.4 This week I've been doing more research and it keeps coming back to my pituitary. Maybe I can nudge Dr. Goldstein to do a CMP (complete metabolic panel) to see what else is going on with my blood cell count. My white blood cells have been chronically low for about 3 years. I think if I mention the fact I'm using DMSA, he'll agree to it.

Anyway back to the potassium. Low potassium can be a sign of secondary-adrenal insufficiency. I actually read this on page 119 of Dr. Cutler's book, Amalgam Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment. Well I started this blog with the notion that I had primary adrenal insufficiency. This week I'm starting to wonder if it is secondary caused by my under performing pituitary. If my pituitary is not telling my adrenals to make cortisol what other organs and glands are suffering?

We know it isn't making ADH (antidiuretic hormone), which is why I was diagnosed with Diabetes Insipidus. Your pituitary is one of the powerhouses of your body's hormone.

The Anterior side of the pituitary controls ACTH (adrenals), TSH(thyroid), PRL(lactation while pregnant), GH (growth hormone, endoriphins, FSH(reproductive system), and LH(triggers ovulation in women).
The Posterior side of the pituitary controls, ADH(tells your body to conserver water) and Oxytocin(allows for body to begin labor in childbirth).

I am definitely oversimpling but it gives you an idea how important it is. Mine is FULL of mercury, which is what's screwing it up. I wonder how many other people with weird idiopathic pituitary problems are just mercury poisoned...

Hives Are Gone!

YAY The hives are gone now! I have no idea what they were from, but since this reaction occurred, I am going to stick with the 15mg for now. I ordered the 25 mg from VRP, but I will do at least another round with the 15 just to make sure everything is okay.

I feel really bad for people who get hives on a regularly basis. I had no idea how irritating they are! haha Those of you who get them a lot, you have my sympathy.

I am 33 minutes away from my next pill and I am definitely feeling antsy, a little hyper and have a cold sweat. The hearing out of my right ear is a little clogged. I think I may just go ahead and take my next pill. These are definitely mercury redistribution symptoms... My left hand and arm is feeling numb too. That is probably the vitamin b-12 deficiency making another appearance. I'll have to get a shot to alleviate the numbness because the pills do NOTHING for me. It's quite difficult and painful to type when it feels like this, so I'll have to keep this short.

Just to keep this documented. It is Day 1 of Round 5 of my frequent oral DMSA detox. Things are certainly starting to pick up now...I can feel it inside.

More Hives Developing

This small allergic reaction I thought I was having has turned into a major ordeal. I don't know what to do at the moment. I feel terrible. My head hurts. I am very shaky. The lymph node on the back of my neck is really hurting. I noticed today I couldn't look straight up in the air at a plane because it hurt so bad. Oh man, I just feel like everything is falling apart.

I HATE THE DMSA BREAKS!

Now that I got that out of my system, I need to get the hives under control. However I really can't stand taking Benadryl. It knocks me out and makes me feel like I'm drugged. At this point though, I don't think I have a choice. As I was writing this, no joke I went into the bathroom and there is a hive developing above my eyelid...*immediately pops a Benadryl* What was I saying? LOL I love Benadryl.

This is why I am blogging about my detoxing experience...It's unbelievable what the mercury is doing to me on its way out.

AHHHHH I'M SO ITCHY

Oh my goodness. I am so damn itchy. It appears that I have hives of some sort, but I have no idea what from. My one bald spot is extremely itchy. I feel like I need to jump up and down just to keep myself from scratching at it. I have no idea what is happening to me, but this is terrible. Itchiness is one of those things that you can't just forget about. The longer you try to forget about it the more intense it becomes.

When I go to lay down in a few hours, I will be taking Benadryl. There is no way I can sleep like this. I hate using medications like that to artificially calm my body down, but this is insanity.

I have a dentist visit tomorrow to get my nightguard. I will be happy to have it (as long as it fits okay) because I've been grinding at night. I hate that feeling.

Survived Another Round

Well I completed another round of DMSA. This time I decided to go 5 days rather than 4. Other than the interruption of sleep, everything went well. I had no kidney pain, no headaches and no dizziness! Now that I have been off of them, let's hope that my other symptoms don't come back.

The breaks are always much worse than the actual detox. I cannot stress that enough.

I am having some sort of allergic reaction today. I have no idea why or what from, but it's strange. Of all places it is on my jawline and on the back of my right leg near my butt. It's so itchy, but have been trying to focus on something else so I don't scratch it. I'm not a very "allergic person", so this is unusual for me.

Since the DMSA is so expensive going through the pharmacy, I think I'll be bumping myself up a bit to save some cash. The company, Vitamin Research Products (Vrp) sells a lower dose DMSA with 25 mg for $29 for 120 capsules! Going with this company I get more capsules and more DMSA for WAY less than what I'm paying (currently $74) WITHOUT a prescription! From everything I've read from Dr. Cutler, if you want to begin upping your dose, you should go through 4 rounds. Then increase it by half of what you are taking. Half of 15 is 7.5+15=23.5mg I think taking a 25mg capsule is well within the "OK" allowance.

If I go ahead with the larger dose, I will certainly blog about it here. =)

Round 4, Day 3 Mercury Detox

Well I started up again on the DMSA and I feel great. It is like night and day. When I am on the DMSA I feel really good, but as soon as I take my breaks I feel like crap.

I added a new picture to the hair timeline, so feel free to check it out. My hair is doing really well. There might be a new spot, but I still feel very optimistic. I know I'm going to have ups and downs with the detox.

My mind has been more clear. I've been more productive with work too. You know sometimes I'd just have a hard time thinking what words to write. Now I'm not having that trouble as much as I used too. Some may call it writer's block, then I guess that means I had permanent writer's block most of my life. It would take so much energy, nail biting and time to write 1 sentence...

My speaking has been better too. Quite often while speaking I would switch words up too. For example, rather than saying "hit the nail on the head" I'd say hit the head on the nail . This was a common occurrence for me, but it's happening less and less.

Since I am having such positive effects with the DMSA, I can't wait to see how well the ALA will work!

The Dizziness Takes Over

Today I am having periods of dizziness so bad that I am afraid to stand up. It is really really bad. I had my husband help me up the stairs so I didn't fall down.

Hopefully my next prescription of DMSA will be ready in a few days because I need it NOW. When I am on the pills I feel great, but when I go off of them, my body begins to get worse and worse. I guess this is what mercury redistribution is like and from what I've been experiencing it is HELL. No wonder not many people get better with the other mercury detoxes such as chlorella and cilantro. My goodness. If I had to deal with this every day for the rest of the detox I'd go insane.

I don't think I've ever been this dizzy in my life. Maybe once after riding a roller coaster 10 times in a row...but that's to be expected! Somehow I am not nauseated, but definitely not complaining!

The Good And The Bad

Sigh...I have been feeling really terrible these past few days. Just weird aches, dizziness, sudden nausea and headaches. I'm not sure why.

I decided to start up again on the DMSA since I accidentally missed a dose the other night. Hopefully I can get rid of some of the mercury that got stuck in my body since I didn't do the full 4 days.

I finally had my hair cut and it looks great! I just got the ends trimmed and a few layers put in, so it adds more volume. It was even cut parted to the side, so I can hide the hair loss even easier now!

The bad news is that I lost more hair in these past few days. There is a tiny spot near my ear that is bald again. UGH...I just hope it doesn't spread to other areas.

I even took my desmopressin today. It's just a bad day all around.

No I Missed A Dose!!!

NOO!!! I missed a dose in the middle of the night, so that means I have to stop completely. I was so exhausted that I must have turned the timer off and went back to bed. I don't even remember doing this.

I will start up again in 2 days.

Pictures of Alopecia Areata Hair Loss (What Supplemental Iodine Did to Me)

Here is a timeline of the hair loss I experienced in late 2007-2009. I had almost no hair on the left side of my head for a good year.  I thought it would be a good idea to document this in case someone else with alopecia areata finds their way to this site.

How Did It Start?
Supplemental iodine (Iodoral) is what triggered this autoimmune attack. I have no idea why, but that's the only thing I had changed during this time. I don't think natural doctors take iodine seriously enough at all. It's also important to note, I do NOT have Hashimoto's and there is NO family history.

None of these pictures are to be reposted on any other websites without my express permission.

I woke up one morning and had this spot. This is from Nov 21, 2007

Then it started to get a lot worse. This is from December 28, 2007

Continues to progress. It wasn't growing back. This is from February 3, 2008.

It got so bad in these next few months, I was afraid to take a picture. This next picture is from July 11, 2008. This is my hair at its worst. My doctor told me that I may never have hair here again or if I did it would be white. I was devastated. 

I started to get my amalgams out and things were looking better. In this picture I was amalgam free for 7 days and was on day 3 of my detox. This picture is from Sept 16, 2008.

 
Round 4, Day 3 of detoxing. This is from October 19, 2008. There was a new small spot of hair loss just above my ear, but also some more fuzzy hair growth. Approx. Round 7 of detoxing. 

This is from November 15, 2008. Look at all the growth!!

This is from January 14, 2009. Look at the growth. All of the loss that used to extend much higher up and back behind my ear has filled in. The only spot that remains is what I originally lost at the end of '07. I haven't been chelating due to severe reactions, but it is nice to see the other spots growing in.

This is from June 29, 2009! My hair is almost completely grown back. The new growth was about 4-5 inches long and was close to blending in with the rest of my hair.

By 2010, all of my hair had grown back and my hair is extremely full and there are no signs of alopecia areata. This post is a nice warning that even "natural" supplements may give one severe side effects. Just because you can buy it online or at a store doesn't mean it comes without potential consequences.

Round 3, Day 1 Mercury Detox

Well I am on my last round for my trial of DMSA. The doctor only gave me 84 pills and I noticed the pill bottle is getting low.

I am not sure what I'm going to do. I know I will be continuing with the DMSA, but perhaps I should have the dose increased slightly? Or maybe I should just keep going with what I have been?

These are some things I will need to decide upon this week. The insurance company may or may not be covering the DMSA, which was supposed to be covered. Let's just hope it all works out because it is NOT CHEAP. I'd still rather support a local apothecary than some big company that makes preformulated DMSA. This guy was kind enough to create these personally for me.

Aside from the annoying technicalities of detoxing, the incredible thing is that my hair is growing back! YES I KNEW IT! I knew it would even when the dermatologist said it was not possible for mercury poisoning to cause Alopecia Areata. She was full of ...crap and I am glad that I can say that. It's not really worth my money, but I'd love to go back and see her when my hair is completely filled in.

Mentally I've been a disaster, but it's not from the detox. I've been working on a large project that needs to be completed under a strict deadline that is out of my control. The amount of stress I am feeling at the moment is really not healthy, but I have to keep going.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. I just feel blah right now.

Round 2, Day 4 Mercury Detox

I have been doing really well on the detox so far.
Here's a list of the strange side effects I've had.

• Night Sweats
• Gas
• Giddy
• Anxious
• Kidney Pain
• Hot Flashes

These are off and on, so they haven't been bothering me much. However it is very interesting to see that something is happening! There is even some new hair growth too, so this is very promising.

Tonight I took my blood pressure and it is the highest I have seen it in over 3 years.

120/83 with a pulse of 67. This is absolutely amazing.

Looking for a Mercury Detox support group?

It can be really hard finding a message board or group. Then when you find one the people on there can be...blah. Sometimes these support groups don't like to partake in discussions on how to get better. What's the point of them then?

Well I found an excellent website that has an active forum. We don't have all of the answers, but we can talk to you about what's going on and give you some advice.

The website is called Herballure.com The reason why I really enjoy this place is because the people are open minded. I've never come across a website with such a large number of intelligent, caring and knowledgeable people! Seriously this forum has made my life so much happier. I now have a channel to vent and discuss complex issues.

To get directly to the mercury amalgam forum use this link. Feel free to join and say hello!

Round 2, Day 2 Mercury Detox

The timer came in the mail yesterday and it has been a life saver. I recommend this to anyone doing Dr. Cutler's mercury detox protocol. The reason why this timer is good is because it is simple. In the middle of the night you need something you won't be fussing around with or confused with how to reset it.

When you set the timer for the desired time of 4 hours, it will begin to count down. This way you never have to set a specific time on the timer. Alarm clocks are simply too unreliable and it requires you to reset it in the middle of the night. This fumbling caused me to miss out on the last 2 doses in the last round.

What sealed the deal for me with this timer is that you can choose what type of alert you want. If you are in a library or somewhere quiet, you can turn it on the vibrating and light mode. If you need it to wake you up at night, you can turn on the ring and turn off the vibrating. This way I can use it in multiple places.

Here's a picture of it.

I have been getting some kidney pain when I am close to my next pill. So I bumped it up to every 3:30 hours just to see if it would subside. Today I am not noticing any kidney pain, so maybe that helped. Waking up every 3 1/2 hours in the middle of the night was horrendous. I am only now "waking up". It has taken a few hours to get going.

My bald spots are very itchy today. That is a bad sign. Anytime they are itchy it means I will be losing hair in the next few days. I'll have to keep an eye on them and see what happens here. Ugh, I really don't want to lose anymore hair.

Here are the most recent hair pictures.

I'm Back Online

Well I am now back online. We got our power back on Thursday morning, which was a huge surprise. Definitely not complaining =) However now that we have power back, I am full time working on a large massive project that needs completed in the next few weeks. Ugh. Hopefully I can balance that with the mercury detox. I need to be thinking clearly and if it starts to affect that I will be putting the mercury detox on hold.

I am supposed to start tomorrow on my next dosing of DMSA, but I am waiting until Monday. I should be getting a timer in the mail Monday that will help keep better track of the 4 hour doses. My alarm didn't work one night, so I had to stop all together. That really irked me, so alarms and phones are out of the equation. They are too unreliable!

Ike Got the Best of Us

I live no where near the coast--I'm in Pennsylvania--yet we got slammed by Ike's winds on the 14th. We had no power for 2 days, which means no water since we have well water. We still don't have internet and it's not looking good. Our internet provider doesn't even have power and the power company is throwing their hands up in the air like they forgot how to fix lines or something. The power lines on our road look like someone came along and tied them in a knot. There are multiple lines literally lying on and next to the road. I feel bad for the handful of people still WITHOUT power. They are saying Saturday at the earliest.


For part of the night our road was impassable because this 100+ year old oak came crashing down. It's actually saddening that it fell. Only a small portion of it is still standing. It was a beautiful tree.


My entries will be very spotty until we get our internet back online. Currently, I am using my husband's Verizon USB wireless. He uses it for his business, so I don't like to take it away from him when he's working.

I made it through the first round of mercury detoxing with DMSA and it went well. I had some weird aches and pains, but nothing bothersome. Today is the first of my 4 day break. I will continue on 15mg every 4 hours then.

Day 1: DMSA Detox

Well I started my detox today at 12:38 PM! I got the prescription from the compounding pharmacist. It definitely isn't cheap, but hopefully insurance will cover it. That way I could support a local business owner rather than some gigantic corporation like Target or Giant Eagle.

I was a little nervous taking the first pill because I didn't know what to expect. In about an hour I will be taking my 3rd pill for the day. I got really hot just before taking my 2nd pill and I had this strange pain in my right ring finger that moved into my palm. My insides felt like they were being warmed from the inside out. It was strange.

Stay tuned for further updates :p Hopefully if my hair starts growing back in the upcoming months, I can put some more pics on here.

Had A Rough Night

Last night was hellish for me. I hate to blame it on the dental work, but it may have been the cause. I try to refrain from becoming one of those people who blame EVERYTHING on 1 specific illness without any reasoning behind it. Those with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, epstein-barr virus are some of the worst! Their finger nail hurts one day and it suddenly become listed as a symptom of chronic fatigue. Or they have a headache because they had too much caffeine and it's a epstein-barr virus headache! You just have to be careful not to do this. At some point, you do start to look crazy. haha

On to my story. I woke up around 4:30am wide awake. I went to bed at 1:30, so I hadn't slept much yet. My heart my pounding, hurting really bad and I had shortness of breath. It felt like I was having a heart attack, but I know I wasn't having one. I'm not exactly sure why I knew I wasn't, but thank goodness.

After that I just couldn't sleep at all. I tossed and turned in bed practically all night. This morning I feel okay. Obviously a little sleepy, but completely normal aside from the lack of sleep.

Today I need to call the apothecary back to get the DMSA made properly. It was just too hectic yesterday to return his call.

I just called the apothecary and the person taking care of my order isn't in today! I can't win. /pout

Mercury Free

Today is the day!

I am now completely mercury amalgam free. This is the beginning of a new chapter in my life. Perhaps I can get my life back in order, grow some of my hair back and start a family in the next few years. I don't dare even attempt to have children with all of this mercury rolling around in my body. Having a high blood and/or body mercury level puts a fetus at high risk for developmental problems. Mercury goes right through the placenta and to the fetus. When the fetus is exposed to mercury in the womb it is unable to excrete this mercury. That is why babies are born with significantly higher blood mercury level than what the mother has. I believe this is why some babies are okay with vaccinations while others aren't. Perhaps their mercury levels were already elevated.

The FDA says to limit your fish intake during pregnancy to protect your child from the effects of methylmercury found in the fish. Doesn't it make you wonder though why they say to avoid fish, while they recommend you INJECT your newborn with thimerosal-containing vaccines.

For those of you who are NOT convinced that mercury may be causing problems, just look at the CDC's own information. Remember the CDC and FDA sometimes tells the half-truth when they least expect people to see it or take the time to READ IT. Mercury is toxic no matter its form. If they say eating fish is toxic, then thimerosal and dental amalgams carry the same toxicity. However, the government has burned into parent's minds that this double-think is normal.

My first example of this double-think hypocrisy is when you go to the CDC's vaccination homepage. It's all happy, fun-loving and bright looking. Telling you why you should get the vaccines and that there are no problems with them.

However, there is a much darker side. In July 2000, the CDC held a scientific review of vaccine safety on June 7-8, 2000 at the Simpsonwood Retreat Center in Norcross, Georgia. The transcript of this conference can be found at this website. This information wasn't given up freely by the government. A Freedom of Information Act request was made in order to obtain these documents.

There are MANY comments that are disturbing in this document, but let me just give you a couple to think about.

On page 113: Dr. Bernier "We have asked you to keep this information confidential . . . So we are asking people who have done a great job protecting this information up until now, to continue to do that until the time of the ACIP meeting . . . That would help all of us to use the machinery that we have in place for considering these data and for arriving at policy recommendations ."

On page 199-200: Dr. Johnston "Forgive this personal comment, but I got called out at eight o'clock for an emergency call and my daughter-in-law de livered a son by C-Section. Our first male in the line of the next generation, and I do not want that grandson to get a Thimerosal containing vaccine until we know better what is going on. It will probably take a long time. In the meantime, and I know there are probably implications for this internationally, but in the meantime I think I want that grandson to only be given Thimerosal-free vaccines."

The people in this conference were protecting their OWN children and grandchildren from the mercury in vaccines, but were not only refusing to tell the public. They were actively trying to cover it up because they feared for their careers. Sick.

Now some of you might say, well they took the thimerosol out of the vaccines. This was supposedly true, but at this point I don't trust them. Would you trust a spouse who has repeated lied to you about being out late at night? Well I look at the CDC and FDA the same way. They have lied to us so many times about their intentions, I cannot trust a single thing that comes out of their mouths.

Some vaccines still contain thimerosal, which can be seen here. Flu vaccines have mercury in them, which the government encourages EVERYONE to get. I guess they just want you to be "safe".

In this CDC study, it says that over 5% of white women in 16-49 have mercury blood levels higher than their "safe" level. They contribute this to eating fish, but let's not forget the other sources of mercury. You get mercury from dental amalgams, vaccinations, compact-fluorescent light bulbs and red tattoo dye etc. The CDC and FDA will tell the truth only when it comes to fish ingestion. They say how it can impair neurological development in children and cause kidney damage. Then when it comes to dental amalgams and vaccinations, everything is fine and dandy. You can't have it both ways. Either mercury is toxic or it's not. And it has been documented for many decades it's effects on neurological development.

According to this EPA study, it is said that over 600,000 children are born with a blood mercury level above the EPA safety threshold. Once again, they blame fish for the increase in mercury levels. Amalgam fillings and vaccinations are conveniently left out of the study as if the mercury in them is any less toxic. I personally feel that they use fish ingestion as a scapegoat. Rather than focusing on other ways of mercury exposure they blame it ALL on fish ingestion.

Another thing that all of these studies focus on is blood mercury levels. Mercury does not stay long in the blood after exposure. In chronic mercury poisoning cases, most people will test negative for mercury in the blood. However this does not mean that the body is clear of mercury because it is found in the organs and brain. The fact that people are actually testing for mercury in the blood is extremely disturbing to me. Even with how bad I am doing, I doubt that there would be detectable levels of mercury in my blood. I never even bothered having this checked because it's usually worthless.

Another government study focusing on NYC adults. 1 in 4 NYC Adults have an elevated blood mercury level- Once again they use fish as their scapegoat as if that is the ONLY source of mercury in our environment.

Dentists and dental assistants are at higher risk for mercury exposure. Especially those who are working on amalgam fillings on a daily basis. Check out this slide that shows how neurological effects in dental nurses are significantly higher than in the control group. It lists the studies at the end for those who are skeptical.

I know I'm not going to convince the closed-minded folks, but perhaps some of this will enlighten a few people.

Naturopath Irked Me A Little

Well I had another appointment with my naturopath. When I first got there I was a little excited to hear what he had to say about my new lab results, but quickly realized this was a waste of my time. I've had so much blood work done at this place it isn't even funny. I give the doctor credit for figuring out that I have Diabetes Insipidus because it is a very rare condition that most doctors will NEVER see in their entire careers.

My problem comes from the fact, that I always go into these visits with high expectations. Typically when I go to a normal doctor I figure they will tell me to take some pill or hand me a cream and slap me with a $100 office visit. Well I have much higher expectations with Dr. Goldstein because he talks to you for 45 minutes at each follow up. It is nice to be able to chat with your doctor without feeling like you are rushed.

I know that I have mercury poisoning and the only thing on my mind is getting these darn amalgams out of my mouth so I can begin detoxing. I purposely bumped my appointment up, so that I could talk to him about taking oral DMSA. All of my amalgams will be out of my mouth on September 9th and I wanted to begin my detox on September 13. I figured this way I had time to plan everything out and be ready to start this wicked detoxing journey.

Well Dr. Cutler's mercury detox protocol didn't go over very well with him. He wanted me to do a detox program which says to take oral DMSA every other day. This type of mercury detox is specifically discussed in Dr. Cutler's book and it is dangerous. You can actually damage yourself more because mercury is redistributed in between doses. Taking DMSA less often is more dangerous than more often. He just has no idea what you are supposed to do with mercury and when he immediately discredited Dr. Cutler's protocol it really irked me.

He didn't discredit it because he thought it was dangerous or that it was ineffective. He simply discredited it because he didn't know what it was. Well I insisted on doing Dr. Cutler's protocol and that's my plan. Every other protocol is poorly thought out or planned. It doesn't even take into account what happens to the mercury that is stirred up when the DMSA begins to run out in 4 hours. I suspect that not many patients have become any better on an every other day DMSA protocol.

DMSA does not cross the blood brain barrier. There is no evidence to prove that it does, which is why you MUST add ALA about 3 months into the detox. Some people may need to wait longer if they are severely poisoned. Unfortunately my doctor thinks DMSA crosses the blood brain barrier, but it is not lipid soluable and does not have a special transport protein. Typically you need this for something to cross the blood brain barrier, so I can't understand where people are getting that it does. Dr. Cutler discusses this specific subject on the Yahoo Group. The website, Onibasu.com has archived the interesting and informative posts from Dr. Cutler concerning whether DMSA crosses the blood brain barrier.

This first link made me laugh. At least Dr. Cutler has a sense of humor.
http://onibasu.com/archives/am/84471.html

More info about DMSA, which does not cross the BBB.
http://onibasu.com/archives/am/2411.html

Info on why ALA crosses the BBB (lipid soluable)
http://onibasu.com/archives/am/50161.html

There just seems to be a lot of conflicting information about HOW to detox mercury. One doctor says one thing. Another doctor says another. Yet another doctor says those doctors are wrong. It is very hard to sort through all the information to find one that is good. Most natural doctors insist on taking cilantro, chlorella, IV DMPS and high sulfur diets. Meanwhile Dr. Cutler says these protocols will severely increase symptoms with no guarantee that you are excreting mercury. That doesn't really sound like a good detox protocol.

Well the only doctor that has science to back up his protocol is Dr. Cutler. At this point and time, that's what is important to me. Not what some doctor feels is best.

Oh My I Got Sunburned!

Wow...I managed to get one hell of a sunburn yesterday while I was staining the deck. This is the first sunburn I've had in years and I am regretting it. Usually I can tell when my skin has had too much, but yesterday I didn't get that feeling at all. I saw it was a little pink and went in. However, today I look like a lobster. It's like I have a permanent bathing suit on my body. haha!

These next few days are going to be miserable. Ugh...

Nothing I have applied has helped me whatsoever. I stay away from the store bought lotions because they all have diazolidinyl urea, which is a formaldehyde releasing preservative(FSP). Formaldehyde is a known human carcinogen according to the International Agency for Cancer Research, so I can't even understand why this stuff is allowed in lotions, cosmetics and hair conditioners (to name a few). I have linked the FSP's with my latest bout of contact dermatitis on my eyelids. Having that on your eyelids is horrific because they become all swollen and your eyes look as if you were in a fistfight. I figured if it affected my eyelids, I should NOT be applying it to a sunburn!

Basically this means I am left with using cucumbers, which are impossible to hold steady on the burn, aloe vera gels that are actually meant for consumption (the FSP isn't in this stuff) and Thayer's Witch Hazel Lavender toner.

I've never been so burned in my life.