What can cause mercury levels to rise?

[wootah88]

Hi,

I'm about 95% sure I don't have mercury fillings but will be finding out for sure in a few weeks. I have raised levels of mercury in my system and find that I get terrible mood swings, mania, and anxiety after I eat fish or foods with HFCS. I also have very low glutathione, selenium, methionine and glycine (amongst other things). I got very sick from traveling to a third world country a few years ago and am wondering if this could have triggered the accumulation of mercury in my system. I also sustained an bad injury for a few years until I finally found a doctor who knew what was wrong, all while living at home with my parents who were working to sell the house and get divorced AKA my stress levels were VERY high for a few years. I'm trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together and I'm just curious how else one can accumulate mercury in their body other than dental amalgams. Could stress deplete glutathione enough to allow mercury levels to rise? Could a disturbance in the gut biome like getting sick abroad allow it to rise?

Thanks all,

AP

 

[Martial]

certain bacteria can bind with metals, also methylation mutations can make de tox harder, there is mercury in certain types of lights, thermostats, and other environmental things as well. What kind of fish were you eating?

 

[August59]

How are the presence of amalgams going to be verified? Amalgams under crowns can be tough to verify, since most crowns are made of porcelain over high noble metal. Just curious!

 

[wootah88]

@Martial i don't have the normally talked about MTHFR mutation but there were a few from my 23&me results that were -/+ in the methylation portion. I had salmon and A LOT of it. Probably three days in a row of dinners of filets the size of your palm. I hadnt been eating much fish so that's why I put two and two together with the way I reacted to it.

@August59 i was just going to have my dentist check next time I go in. I don't think I have any crowns. Those are just with root canals right? I also called my dentist where I went when I was little, which has since changed ownership but they said they were able to look up my history and found no use of amalgams.

 

[David Hammond]

Hi,

I'm about 95% sure I don't have mercury fillings but will be finding out for sure in a few weeks. I have raised levels of mercury in my system and find that I get terrible mood swings, mania, and anxiety after I eat fish or foods with HFCS. I also have very low glutathione, selenium, methionine and glycine (amongst other things). I got very sick from traveling to a third world country a few years ago and am wondering if this could have triggered the accumulation of mercury in my system. I also sustained an bad injury for a few years until I finally found a doctor who knew what was wrong, all while living at home with my parents who were working to sell the house and get divorced AKA my stress levels were VERY high for a few years. I'm trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together and I'm just curious how else one can accumulate mercury in their body other than dental amalgams. Could stress deplete glutathione enough to allow mercury levels to rise? Could a disturbance in the gut biome like getting sick abroad allow it to rise?

Thanks all,

AP

Many fish, especially tuna and larger fish contain significant amounts of methylmercury. HFCS may also be contaminated with mercury as it is made using caustic soda which is sometimes made via a process which uses mercury as a cathode. Newer plants use membrane technology which does not contaminate the caustic soda.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1476-069X/8/2

Close proximity to coal-fired power plants can also increase exposure to mercury as coal contains small amounts of mercury. Singrauli in India is the site of a massive coal-fired power plant which uses coal with a mercury content ranging from 0.09 ppm to 0.487 ppm, so every ton of coal burned releases between 0.09 g to 0.487 g of mercury into the atmosphere. In one year, it is estimated that this plant alone emits at least 500 kg of mercury. In addition to mercury, the combustion of coal releases even greater amounts of arsenic, which is also toxic.

When animals are exposed to two toxic metals at the same time the toxicity is often greater than the sum of the individual toxicities; that is, there is a multiplier effect.

The residents of Singrauli are victims of this effect. One ex-miner, 60 year-old Saraju Nisha, has suffered from stomach ache, joint pain, numbness and excessive salivation for several years. Health problems such as these are common in the district. Locals claim that there are also high rates of stillbirths, menstrual irregularities, sterility, hyper-pigmentation, anemia and high blood pressure. They have complained to the police and district magistrate since 2008, but no action has been taken.

The blood levels of 12 women and seven men aged between eight and 63 years were tested. The average level of mercury was 34.3 parts per billion (ppb), six times the EPA’s safe limit of 5.8 ppb. In another village close to the power plant the highest blood concentration found was 113.48 ppb, almost 20 times the limit. This man complained of a burning sensation in the limbs, a strange “electrifying” feeling in the body, joint pain and muscular spasms. He ate fish three times a week. Local fish were found to have methylmercury concentrations of up to 0.505 ppm. Frequent consumption of this fish alone would be sufficient to induce mercury poisoning, let alone the atmospheric contamination, which ranged from 0.03 mg/m3 to 0.05 mg/m3.

Mercury itself depletes glutathione which is necessary for its detoxification. Antibiotics reduce the excretion of mercury and mercury induces antibiotic resistant bacteria which affects the gut biome.

Ref: Mercury Poisoning: The Undiagnosed Epidemic

 

[Ian]

Sometimes dentists use mercury at the end of root canals. So it's literally in your bone.