Could You Have Heavy Metal Poisoning and Not Know It?

With all of the toxins in our world today, heavy metal toxicity seems to be an epidemic. This post is our story about how we learned that we seemed to have heavy metal poisoning and what we did about it.

One thing I never really thought I would deal with is Heavy Metal Poisoning.

We've dealt with a bunch of health issues in our family from autism to candida to thyroid disease to adrenal fatigue.

Just the concept of heavy metal toxicity sounds alarmist, doesn't it?

I almost can't believe myself that I am writing that title.

But then--life has a way of teaching us lessons that we really didn't want to learn.

Metal poisoning is one of them for me.

I Was Wrong

In my younger, more naive days, I used to think things like:

• life threatening food allergies were all in someone's head
• autism and Asperger's were just being over-diagnosed
• heavy metal poisoning  or chronic fatigue was an excuse for someone who just was feeling tired and didn't eat well or something and really had something else wrong with them

It's hard for me to admit that, but it's true.

There's something about those younger, full of energy years that makes one think that these things just aren't real.

But they are.

I found out the hard way when they hit our home.

But heavy metal toxicity?  That's just a little too weird to be true, right?

Well, I'm going to share with you just a little bit today about our path with heavy metals, with more to come.

When my oldest son was born, we knew he was very sensitive.  His poor little body was covered (literally) with horrible eczema at 3 months.

I went to great lengths to continue to breastfeed, including doing trials to figure out what he was allergic to and adjusting my diet accordingly.

But when his health took another big downturn at age 6, we knew our work with him needed to go beyond food elimination.

Heavy Metal Toxicity in Our Family--the Beginning

My son was super anxious and had obsessive behaviors that were almost impossible to handle.

Basically, we were trapped in our home for a year.  And mom went into overdrive trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

Finally, we arrived at a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome (a form of autism) for my son, and I ended up with candida and adrenal burnout (see my post on a test for adrenal fatigue).

That's when the visits with alternative practitioners and the heavy metal questions began.

There's a lot of info about heavy metals and health issues on the internet.

Some of them are fascinating.

Did you know, for example, that:

• Babies with autism have less mercury in their hair than neuro-typical babies.  This seems to be due to the fact that the babies with autism don't detox the mercury so it is staying in their bodies. Source
• Aluminum is used in medicine in many ways, typically as a preservative 

Anyway, we worked with a number of practitioners and over and over, the issue of mercury and metal toxicity came up.

Possible Results of Heavy Metal Toxicity

According to the CDC and WHO, there are many reasons to be concerned about exposure to heavy metals. Following are some possible health concerns that can result:

• reproductive issues like miscarriage, still birth, etc. (source)
• learning disabilities (source)
• decreased birth height and weight (source and source)
• and more

Honestly, I really didn't want to talk about metals, mostly because I didn't know what to do about it and I wasn't too keen on the chelation protocols that I'd read about and the risk factors involved with them.  I never felt good about using an IV or suppositories to yank the metals out of mine or my son's bodies.

Well, something really bizarre happened to me that changed my mind completely about metal toxicity and made me realize that I really needed to do something about it.

Our Heavy Metal Poisoning Evidence

When I was starting my health path, I started talking with a man who had overcome mercury poisoning.  I considered doing chelation therapy, but was concerned about the health problems that I had heard can be connected to this.

He recommended several immune-boosting supplements as well as liquid zeolite (a supplement that makes a small cage to trap toxins and heavy metals and releases them in your urine) to remove toxins and metals from my body.

So, on his recommendation, I tried some of these things in addition to purified liquid zeolite drops in my water as a detox supplement.

What happened to me was, well -- very interesting.

This might qualify as the current expression "TMI" for "too much information", but in the interest of sharing what I think is important health information with my readers, here goes.

I first tried a normal dose of zeolite in each glass of water, but it was too much for me, apparently. I had fatigue that was like a cloud in my brain.

So, assuming I was having a herxheimer reaction (detox symptoms such as flu-like symptoms, fatigue, headache, or uneasiness, that occur when toxins are flooding your body faster than you can deal with them), I cut back to 1 drop per glass of water. If you'd like more information on what a herxheimer reaction is, or how to manage one, you can see this post on candida die off.

I tolerated that dose.  And my urine smelled.  

Like metal.  For over 2 months.

Now I had to rethink what I originally thought about heavy metal poisoning.

My husband started taking the liquid zeolite as well.

As for his urine--well--he now describes it as "glow-in-the-dark Mountain Dew" (not that we ever drink that stuff, mind you :-)).

At that point, I was introduced to a Nutritional Balancing practitioner whom I mentioned in my post on Adrenal Fatigue.

We didn't get much progress with this method or this practitioner, but this particular situation was very interesting.

I mentioned my husband's urine color to her and she replied that cadmium is bright yellow, but she said that it was uncommon for cadmium to be released this easily.

However, months later when we had my whole family's hair tested, guess what came up on my husband's hair test?

That's right----CADMIUM!

I was a believer.  The metals were there and they needed to come out. We literally had heavy metal toxicity.  I was shocked!

I'll share more later about zeolite, what it is and how I use it now.  Also, I'll share about other metals that have impacted our family.

Metal toxicity, along with many other toxic concerns, is a huge problem in today's world.

Detoxing from Heavy Metals

The CDC discusses the chelation of heavy metals if there is a toxicity issue. (source) However, this should be done with caution as there can be a removal of minerals as well that can lead to health complications. (source)

There are many things that have been used to support the body to excrete heavy metals includes:

• antioxidants
• taurine
• NAC
• lipoic acid
• liposomal glutathione
• EDTA
• DMSA
• sweating (source)

Current Thoughts on Heavy Metal Detox

There are so many different thoughts on how to detox from Heavy Metals--and some sources think that it's not important to do so--that your liver, etc just naturally do this for you.

Some natural practitioners do IV chelation (I have a lot of concerns about that) and others use prescription means.

Most mainstream sources would say that one doesn't need to do this unless facing a very serious situation.

Personally, I have tried a variety of zeolites on and off--kind of as an ongoing basis as an "insurance plan" to continue to keep toxins out of my body.  Some say that Diatomaceous Earth can be used for this.

There are other ways that one might consider addressing heavy metals in the body including some food sources. (source)

Natural vs Synthetic Zeolite

I get questions now and then about what brand of zeolite to use. Please do your own research about safety, etc.

I personally prefer to use natural zeolite.  Think about it--in what situation would you prefer to use something synthetic rather than natural in your body?

From my limited research into zeolite, there are some companies marketing synthetic zeolites and saying that they are superior, but I have a concern about that. There is a study using synthetic zeolite on chickens and the results were not encouraging–reduced chicken weight and reduced bone ash, egg weight, egg production and more. We aren’t chickens, but natural is typically better. (source)

What I'm Doing Now / Where to Get Zeolite

Since publishing this post I have continued to work on my health.

I didn't do a follow-up post to this since things changed and I didn't feel my practitioner at the time could handle other issues that showed up and I needed other answers.

The road has been a very long one. I have looked at many zeolite companies and products--literally spent HOURS and hours on the phone w/ CEOs, owners, and VPs. It's been exhausting but also very eye-opening.

I've even encountered massive lies and a lack of ethics about products, concentrations, educational background and more.

Omica

I'm thankful however that I found a fantastic source of pure zeolite powder that is very reasonable.

AND it's very reasonable. Much more than those overpriced MLM sprays and drops.

The powder is a great way to go. If you really want a liquid, then that's fine too, and they have one, but the powder is much more affordable.

Their liquid zeolite is great, however, and much higher quality than the others on the market since they have ingredients in it that work synergistically and there is a lot of zeolite in there, as you can see by the color of the product. Think about it--if a liquid zeolite is clear, how much zeolite can there really be in there?

Coupon Code

I have a coupon code as well for this and for other products on their site--reach out here or via email at adrienne@wholenewmom.com for that.

Synergistic Detox Products

This product has clinoptilolite zeolite along with other ingredients that work synergistically with the zeolite. A lot of people have great results with it.

I will have more out about zeolite in the near future.

And this Superfood Drink has loads of ingredients, most of which help remove toxins from the body and/or are supportive of the liver. I have $25 coupon codes for this company. Just comment below or reach out at adrienne@wholenewmom.com for help.

So--have you thought about heavy metal toxicity before?
What are your thoughts?

Sources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3654245/