I'm not aware of any published, peer-reviewed studies of toxic metals in ME/CFS, but there is abundant anecdotal experience. When I wrote my 2004 poster paper on glutathione in CFS, here is what I wrote, and the secondary level of references that I had to use, in lieu of published studies:
SINCE GLUTATHIONE NORMALLY REMOVES MERCURY FROM THE BODY, ITS DEPLETION CAN BE EXPECTED TO ALLOW BUILDUP OF MERCURY IN CFS PATIENTS. IS THIS OBSERVED?
YES. While there are no published controlled studies of mercury level testing in CFS patients, several clinicians who specialize in treating CFS have reported that many of their patients have high mercury levels:
Ali [77]
Godfrey [78]
Conley [79]
Poesnecker [80]
Teitelbaum [81]
Corsello [82]
Goldberg [83]
In addition, immune testing has shown significantly elevated hypersensitivity to mercury in many CFS patients (Stejskal et al., [84]; Sterzl et al., [85]; and Marcusson, [86]). This suggests that the immune system has responded to elevated mercury levels.
(Note that there have been epidemiological studies that showed no evidence that dental amalgams are associated with CFS as a causal factor [87,88]. However, this does not constitute evidence that amalgams do not give rise to elevated mercury levels after CFS onset in people who have amalgams and who may have developed CFS as a result of other causes.)
77. Ali, M., The Canary and Chronic Fatigue (1995), Life Span Press, Denville, NJ, p. 305.
78. Godfrey, M.E., Dental amalgam, letter to the editor, New Zealand Medical Journal (28 Aug 1998) 111:326.
79. Conley, E.J., America Exhausted (1998), Vitality Press, Flint, MI, p. 196.
80. Poesnecker, G.E., Chronic Fatigue Unmasked 2000 (1999), Humanitarian Publishing Co., Quakerstown, PA, p. 210.
81. Teitelbaum, J., From Fatigued to Fantastic (2001), Penguin Putnam, New York, p. 189.
82. Corsello, S., Review of the multiple factors (loading theory) in the pathogenesis of chronic fatigue syndrome: theoretical review and treatment, conference syllabus, Latest 21st Century Medical Advances in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Related Illnesses, Sept. 19-21, 2002, Los Angeles, CA, Advanced Medical Conferences International, Chicago (
info@AdMedCon.com).
83. Goldberg, B., and Trivieri, L., Jr., eds., Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, and Lyme Disease, second edition (2004) Celestial Arts, Berkeley, CA, p. 175.
84. Stejskal, V.D., Danersund, A., Lindvall, A., Hudecek, R., Nordman, V., Yaqob, A., Mayer, W., Bieger, W, and Lindh, U., Metal-specific lymphocytes: biomarkers of sensitivity in man, Neuroendocrinol. Lett. (1999) 20(5):289-298.
85. Sterzl, I., Prochazkova, J., Hrda, P., Bartova, J., Matucha, P., and Stejskal, V.D., Mercury and nickel allergy: risk factors in fatigue and autoimmunity, Neuroendocrinol. Lett. (1999) 20(3-4):221-228.
86. Marcusson, J.A., The frequency of mercury intolerance in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and healthy controls, Contact Dermatitis (1999) 41(1):60-61.
87. Yip, H.K., Li, D.K., and Yau, D.C., Int. Dent. J. (2003) 53(6):464-8.
88. Bates, M.N., Fawcett, J., Garrett, N., Cutress, T., and Kjellstrom, T., Health effects of dental amalgam exposure: a retrospective cohort study, Int. J. Epidemiol. (2004) 33:1-9.