Heavy metal testing (conflicting results)

[eve789]

I was looking over old tests as I have recently starting taking R-ALA to help modulate detox and had come across some disturbing things here re: lipoic acid & mercury.

Way back I had tested high (in the upper 20%) for arsenic and mercury on a Metametrix test, which tests urine levels.

However I was normal on a blood test less than a month later:

Arsenic: below detectable range
Mercury: 4 (0-9 ng/mL)

I have never had amalgam fillings and was never big into giant fish. I don't eat fish very much now. I did live in China for a number of years and so am sure was exposed to a lot of mercury from all that coal burning.

Should I be satisfied with the blood tests or do I need to dig further? e.g., hair analysis or a chelation challenge test?

 

[Mary]

@eve789 - I've read several places that the chelation challenge tests can be dangerous and just are not a good way to go. I've recently learned about the Mercury Tri Test from Quicksilver, which, as the name implies, tests 3 different things: hair, blood and urine. Check out this link: https://www.quicksilverscientific.com/mercury-testing/mercury-tri-test

It's supposed to provide a lot more information about mercury - your body burden, the source - whether organic or inorganic - and also how your body functions in getting rid of it. I'm going to be getting this done in the near future.

 

[Johnmac]

Intravenous challenge tests have damaged some people badly and longterm. See dmpsbackfire.com.

Blood tests for mercury will only ever reveal recent exposures. Some of the background exposure you likely experienced in China (i.e. the proportion that wasn't excreted) would by now have lodged in your organs & brain, where it lives for a long time, unless chelated out.