Mercury Detoxification

Detoxification of mercury from within the body’s cells is probably one of the most controversial areas of alternative medicine today. There are both natural addendums to use as well as abundant information on the use of pharmacological agents. Again, as in any issue, the truth has to lie within the realm of biochemical and physiological function of the body. To assume that a particular herb or supplement will bind or chelate out mercury just because it does in the environment, for example, has absolutely no scientific or biochemical merit. We must look at the processes involved in detoxification and support or augment them.

In order to cure someone, to restore health, a practitioner has to affect the mechanisms responsible for clearing the body of toxins and then reconstitute health.

In particular, with Hg poisoning, to leave your detox in the hands of a non-licensed person is in my opinion one heck of a risk.. In order to properly understand the mechanisms of toxicity with respect to anatomy, physiology and particularly the biochemistry of what is actually happening with the patient and how to properly rid them of this problem one must be a professional whose license has mandated them to study these disciplines.

There is a lot of pretty crazy, eclectic misinformation out there being done in the name of "Detox". I have been accused of being "10 years behind the times" because I refuse to opt into using the favourite "flavour of the month" with respect to protocols. There is NO one approach for every person; we are all different, came to our illnesses through different routes, stresses, genetics, etc. I am saying there are no magic bullets, or panacea to health. Anyone who claims to have the perfect programme for all that suffer the same ailment is by definition fraudulent and irresponsible.

Taking all kinds of cleansing/detox products at the same time does very little to improve the patient. All you do is create confusion within the body as to what path it should follow and the patient just gets sicker because of the various die-offs. Things like parasites; Candida, CFS, Fibromyalgia etc are sequelae of Hg poisoning in a lot of people. And as long as Hg is a problem you can try as hard as you can to get rid of the symptoms, but within a very short time the patient will be dealing with the same problem until the metal is removed from their bodies and a path of permanent correction can begin. Again, for this reason it is wise to have the help of a licensed practitioner and one who understands the need to treat this issue in "layers" and at the patient’s tolerance. Many do not understand the mechanism of mercury toxicity and the careful, gentle therapy needed to return to health.

Two favourite issues of the general "healers" or uninformed practitioners are Candida and parasites associated with mercury patients. Yes, of course, these syndromes co-exist and are often found in the same patients. It has been claimed that the prevalence of Candida in mercury patients is the body’s reaction to the metal and it over produces yeast and abnormal flora in the intestinal tract to "chelate" the metal and protect the body. There are varying opinions on this and I remain not totally convinced this is actually the case. What IS known is that mercury causes the production of abnormal flora, particularly anti-biotic resistant flora, which I believe, allows Candida to set up shop and go nuts. Therefore, what is the point of going through strict Candida cleanses when the amalgams are still present...allowing it to regrow.

The same type of principle applies to parasites. We know that mercury severely hampers protein synthesis. Our bodies rely on proteases; protein based enzymes, which break down foreign protein such as parasites, to eliminate parasites. When the production of these enzymes is compromised, what is the advantage of doing parasite flushes until the mercury-releasing amalgams are removed?

However, having said all that, there are some basic biochemical processes which must function relatively well, before the process of detox can begin. First and foremost is the ability of the liver to detoxify effectively.

Approximately 25% of detox occurs in the intestines - the rest for the most part happens in the liver. The liver clears more than 2 litres of blood every minute.

When working well the Kupffer cells of the liver rid the blood of 99% of bacteria and many toxins. This is done by macrophages, white blood cells that engulf and destroy the offending agent. This whole macrophagal cascade of reactions and the cells themselves are augmented by a wonderful complex called 1,3-D Beta Glucan.(See information on this site) These cells do not normally create antibodies which would cause over reaction to antigens and hence allergies.

When the liver is damaged however, filtration breaks down and more antibodies are created especially to E. coli, other bacteria and dietary proteins such as gluten from wheat and casein or albumin from dairy.

Now these antigens have slipped past the liver filtration to the circulation and precipitated the immune response. This in turn causes an increase production of anti-bodies and a constant alarm is set off resulting in perpetual inflammation - metabolism upset and eventually disease occurs.

To truly understand detoxification and what will be effective, one must comprehend the steps, which occur within the liver and supplement the needed co-factors. The liver essentially detoxifies in two phases, each one preparing the offending agent for expulsion by the liver into the feces.

Phase I - The toxin is made more water-soluble and more biochemically reactive. This is accomplished by a group of enzymes (about 150 of them) collectively called "cytochrome P450’s. In fact, at this stage the toxin is "opened" up by these enzymes so it will bind or conjugate with an acceptable substrate in Phase II, forming a complex the liver now recognizes as foreign and will excrete via the bowels. There are a lot of free radicals produced in this process and we must have enough anti-oxidant present to offset it or else other implications to health will result.

One of the roles of bile is to help excretion of these toxins…but fibre in the gut is needed to bind the bile, so a low fiber diet hinders this process.

In phase II, the now very reactive toxin is bound to another molecule, in the case of mercury-glutathione- to form an excretable complex. There are a total of six compounds that toxins bind to at this point, but glutathione is of most importance in this discussion on mercury.

Glutathione

Glutathione is a very powerful anti-oxidant, functional in both phases of liver detoxification. If it is used up in Phase I in the free radical process as an antioxidant, then not enough is left for Phase II.

Increasing levels has a renal protective effect, mitigating the effects of Hg. In the brain, it works with selenium to form glutathione peroxidase, which is the substance that removes mercury from the brain.

One of the major problems with glutathione is its availability for absorption. Studies have shown that using Vitamin C and N-Acetyl-cysteine can greatly assist in its uptake from the intestines.

Alpha-lipoic acid - incredible liver anti-oxidant. In Phase I, it acts in this capacity to scavenge and neutralize free radicals. Because of the sulfur groups in the molecule, it also has the ability to bind with mercury in the cells and help move it out of the body.

Research has also shown lipoic acid to be very effective for other clinical problems such as:

1. Converting Vitamin C and Vitamin E from their "used" oxidized form to their "useful" reduced form.
2. Stops the formation of kidney stones in research animals.
3. Has a beneficial effect on carbohydrate metabolism in diabetics.
4. Together with glutathione, it protects liver cells from heavy metal toxicity.
5. Increases liver ATP (energy molecule)
6. An activation of liver detoxifying function and energy production in patients with liver disease associated with viral and alcohol causal factors.
7. Intracellular levels of glutathione increased as much as 50% with administration of lipoic acid.

N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC)

Another naturally occurring substance, it is liver friendly and augments the work of glutathione. It also enhances the absorption of glutathione. It is an ultimate component of bodily made glutathione, supplying cysteine, one of the three amino acids, which make up glutathione. The other two being glycine and glutamic acid.

A very well done study, done in Italy showed that with the ingestion of NAC, even virally infected people did even become symptomatic. This would lead us to believe, appropriately, I think, that regular consumption of NAC is immuno-stimulating and a good practice for all, even if mercury toxicity is not an issue.

Selenium and Vitamin E

Selenium is needed to properly produce the enzyme glutathione peroxidase, (GSH-Px), essential to eliminating mercury from the brain. Studies have shown that the normal high level of unsaturated fatty acids in brain tissue can only be protected by GSH-Px. Depletion of this enzyme and resultant damage may be significant in the developments of senility. There are various forms of GSH-Px. The main three are selenium dependant and found in the mitochondria (energy producing entities in the cell) of lipid (fat) cells (i.e. the wrappings of nerve fibres), plasma cells and liver cells. Mercury, cadmium and mercury salts all inhibit every GSH-Px that exists. These not only inhibit the reactive sites for selenium to do its job, but also actually change the structure of the enzyme making it ineffective at its function.

The amino acid methionine is necessary for the absorption, transportation and bioavailability of selenium. Seleno-methionine is more readily incorporated into the than are other forms of selenium. This is particularly evident in the kidney. In workers who are occupationally exposed to mercury, their mean urinary selenium was lowered. By increasing their selenium, through the diet, urinary mercury excretion increased and blood levels of mercury reduced. In the animal kingdom, those chronically exposed to mercury have inherently higher levels of selenium. Unfortunately, we humans are not very efficient at doing this.

An interesting study illustrated the effect mercury and low methionine had on the body’s inflammatory processes. Prostaglandin E1 and thromboxane B2 are indicators of the state of inflammation. The first being "anti-inflammatory" and the second being produced when inflammatory processes are active within the body. In cases of mercury exposure with low methionine, the thromboxane B2 was directly elevated. In time, the Prostaglandin E1 increased slightly in response to the higher thromboxane B2. All symptoms to date attributed to the mercury toxicity syndrome are effect of inflammatory processes.

Selenium also assists in reducing the amount of zinc and copper excreted through the urine in the presence of mercury. It has an immune enhancing effect. We know low levels of Selenium in the diet correlates with increases in cancers such as lymphocytic leukemia, breast, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, colonic, genitourinary, skin and Hodgkin’s disease.

Pharmacological Chelators - DMPS, DMSA, etc.

Lets, start with what I firmly believe does NOT work:

EDTA

EDTA or ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid is a chemical chelator often used by medical people to treat mercury toxicity. In particular the American College for the Advancement in Medicine, a group of physicians who profess IV chelation is told to use EDTA.

Drs. Boyd Hayley, James Pendergrass, Edward Duhr and John Slevin have done extensive research at the University of Kentucky on the effects of mercury on the basic structure of neurons, or brain cells. They have found that mercury prevents proper synthesis of beta tubulin, a critical protein in the skeleton of the neuron. In fact with this protein hampered the nerves cells become entangled, looking just like the lesions we see in Alzheimer’s Disease. They have also seen a direct correlation with the number of amalgams in cadavers and the number of these lesions.

In a scientific paper published in Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology (1993) they further exposed the fact that mercury-EDTA and mercury-EGTA (another derivative) actually "enhanced" mercury’s ability to cause this damage!

Foulkes and Bergman (1993) showed that EDTA could disassociate cadmium from cell membranes but could not do the same for membrane bound mercury. Therefore, if the mercury is stored in your cell’s membrane (and much is) and not right in the cells, then according to these researchers’ work, EDTA cannot remove it.

Needless to say, this is NOT a chelator of choice!

BAL and D-Penicillamine

BAL (Unithiol) is British Anti-Lewisite an old chemical chelator used years and years ago. I has even more side effects associated with it and mercury redistribution than DMPS and DMSA (to follow). D-Penicillamine has the same nasty track record and is less effective than the more current chelators.

DMPS and DMSA

DMPS and DMSA are the most commonly used pharmacological chelators used today. Some people have reported doing well with these, particularly when used very carefully and gently. Others, and there are a large group of these, have been medically devastated by these drugs. I also believe not all adverse reactions are being reported so the truth still remains to be seen as far as ratio of risk to health benefits is concerned.

DMPS These chelators work based on the content of sulfur and hydrogen molecules (thiols) which bind readily to the mercury. The problem seems to be that the man-made arrangement of molecules seems to be very hard for the human system to tolerate. DMPS is a combination of propane, sulfonic acid (therefore acts like a sulfa drug) and thiols. Both propane and sulfonic acid are difficult for us to metabolize. Therefore allergic reactions, autoimmune responses and mercury redistribution are of great concern.

Mercury redistribution throughout the body is probably the most serious part of this and responsible for organ damage we have seen.

The reason it occurs, is that once a patient has ingested a chemical chelator, a large amount is pulled from the cells. This "blast" goes via the bloodstream to the liver; the chelator and proteins attached to the mercury are broken down and excreted with bile into the upper part of the small intestine. Freed methyl mercury is rapidly re-absorbed into the system via the intestines and then deposited all over the body, often in very dangerous places, i.e. the brain, nervous system, essential organs such as the thyroid, etc. This bile process is not 100% efficient, so some is excreted via the feces and urine, but not as much as we would like.

As I mentioned before, adverse reactions are not being reported. This drug does not necessarily come with a patient insert, explaining possible side effects. The only one I have seen is a half-baked effort by Heyltex, one of the producers in which it does list:

"DMPS should not be used in the presence of hypersensitivity to DMPS (when are patients ever tested or even asked????). Special care is required on injection of DMPS-HEYL in patients with allergic asthma symptoms. Side effects: occasionally shivering, fever or skin reaction, presumable of an allergic nature, such as itching and exanthema or rash may occur, which are generally reversible on withdrawing treatment. In isolated cases severe allergic skin reactions (e.g. erythema exudativa multiforme, Stevens-Johnson syndrome) have been reported. Long-term use of DMPS can influence the mineral balance, especially for elements zinc and copper. Administration of DMPS causes mobilization of mercury taken up in the body. In isolated cases therefore, clinical symptoms of mercury poisoning may be produced. (and many have fallen terribly ill because of this) In individual cases there may be raised levels of certain enzymes (transaminases). After ingestion of Dimaval (DMPS) nausea may occur. Cardiovascular reactions may occur, especially on too rapid injection of DMPS-HEYL and is apparent as a fall in blood pressure, nausea, dizziness and weakness generally a short time after the injection."

That just about skims the surface of what could happen.."symptoms of mercury toxicity" can cover a whole host of symptoms; not just the ones listed (see Mercury Fillings page).

Many physicians injecting this drug are simply not told of its dangers. It is incompletely regulated the FDA and Health and Welfare Canada and so many attend "chelation" seminars and run back to their offices, Monday morning and inject away. Some are very cavalier in that they will tell patients "you have to get worse to get better" or "its just that you are so toxic this is to be expected" when they become desperately ill.

One protection, or attempt at protection would be to test one’s reaction to DMPS. Take and oral dose of 50 - 100mg and see if any symptoms whatsoever occur. You would be looking for low back pain (kidney), numbness, aching, brain fog, nausea, headache or in my opinion anything that makes you feel less well than you are. If this happens, avoid the chelator.

DMSA is not sulfa drug like. The base is succinic acid. It is only taken orally and is the only chemical chelator that can cross the blood brain barrier to take mercury out of the brain.

Again, though, test it out with a small dose. Then if the patient decides they want to take it, I recommend starting very slowly (50 mg per day) one week on, one week off. Because normal, needed minerals are chelated out with the mercury (manganese, zinc, magnesium, etc) I have them do a week off, and replenish heavily the mineral. This seems to keep them from getting sick.

Homeopathic Remedies

I have often found that I can only use these at first with some people, as they are so sick. Commonly it is the emotional level I address first, the fear, depressions, anxiety, suicidal tendencies, then on to the physical symptoms.

Each person is individual, of course and his or her remedies are matched to their symptom picture, which requires a trained homeopath to do. It is hard to even list homeopathic suggestions here as what is good for one, maybe totally useless to another. I can say however, taking multiple homeopathic combinations is fruitless as far as I’m concerned. These are energetic remedies and basically you are instructing the body to shift in so many directions at the same time that the end result is nothing much happens or the patient gets sicker.

A good starting plan is to address the emotional component, then proceed to increase lymphatic drainage, then liver and kidney support over a period of time. This helps the body get ready to detox, when you start using the nutritional chelators to move the mercury out.

Remember that detoxification should be slow, careful, and individualized. Never rush, never do more than one flush at a time....you have to "nudge" the body back into line.

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I wish you all health.