![]() ![]() ![]() Chelators increase mercury excretion and thus lower body burden, but they also inevitably cause redistribution of toxic mercury to the brain. Incidentally, alternative health practitioners often use the word “chelation” inaccurately, which is unfortunate since chelation is not a risk-free undertaking and requires extreme care. (Note: See interview with the late Andrew Cutler and article on the Cutler protocol in this issue). Hammond recommends the chelation protocol known as low frequent-dose oral chelation (or rational chelation, or the Cutler protocol), which involves taking specific chelators every few hours around the clock to keep blood levels stable. This disruption of mineral transport, along with mercury’s ability to block excretion pathways, means that levels of toxic elements in hair will not reflect the actual body burden. When levels of toxic elements (toxic metals) are low but levels of essential elements (essential minerals) appear “deranged” (either abnormally high or low), this is a hallmark of mercury toxicity. (Note: See discussion of mercury-induced changes in brain connectivity by Kern and others in this issue.)Ī particularly useful chapter explains why one cannot simply interpret hair test results at face value. The Internet is crowded with dental amalgam sufferers who describe feelings of alienation, irritability and social withdrawal. Hammond mentions his own increasing introversion and quotes German chemist Alfred Stock (1876-1946), who wrote of his mercury-related withdrawal from social activity. Some of the book’s most poignant sections relate to mercury’s subtle but reproducible effects on emotion and personality. Although the quality of research on mercury varies somewhat, its very existence is remarkable, considering how difficult this broad-spectrum, chronic toxicant is to study in humans-and how little attention mercury gets from mainstream medicine. For example, a 1999 study of a type of heart failure that sometimes kills young athletes revealed that the thirteen patients had, on average, levels of mercury in their hearts that were twenty-two thousand times higher than those in the control group. In the twenty short but compelling chapters that form the bulk of the book, Hammond reviews the science documenting mercury’s role in chronic illnesses (such as Alzheimer’s disease, autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, allergies and chronic fatigue), doing a heroic job of finding and describing many of the most fascinating studies. ![]() Hammond cites many case studies of odd illnesses eventually attributable to these types of exposures. Some exposures may be hidden, including broken fluorescent light bulbs, industrial emissions and casual spills. He also discusses mercury’s many commercial uses (either currently or until recently) and how these have led to widespread exposures from dental amalgam, vaccines and numerous products (e.g., skin creams, contact lens solutions, latex paints and pesticides). ![]() Hammond describes mercury’s power to cause acute and chronic toxicity that manifests in an astonishing variety of symptoms. However, Hammond’s treatise-published a mere three years after he learned of his likely occupational exposure to mercury-walks carefully through this minefield, presenting “science and case histories showing the role of mercury in diseases…and how to eliminate mercury from body.” In fact, Mercury Poisoning may be the simplest and most accurate guide to mercury toxicity available, offering a go-to resource for practitioners and patients who seek to understand complex illnesses that may have a mercury component. Both are complicated, controversial and fraught with potential missteps. Guided by books by Andrew Cutler and a related Internet forum, Hammond got tested for mercury and undertook low, frequent-dose oral chelation. The mercury deposited in his body and brain following this thirty-year-old workplace exposure could explain his ongoing illness. In 2010, Hammond learned that the scrap metal used to produce molten steel at the time of his industry involvement contained mercury and that he undoubtedly had inhaled mercury vapor on the job. Even after he left the job, his symptoms continued to come and go, but the many doctors he consulted had no answers. There he developed a mysterious illness involving fatigue, diarrhea, sinusitis, insomnia, thirst, irritability and loss of interest in socializing. Mercury Poisoning-The Undiagnosed Epidemic: Sources of Mercury and How to DetoxĬreateSpace Independent Publishing PlatformĪs a young man in the 1970s, David Hammond labored in an Australian steel factory.
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