How a Mercury Filling Almost Took Our Son’s Life
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A Mercury Filling almost took my son's life.
Here's what happened with the filling and how my advocating for our son likely saved his life.
There are some stories about our family's health that I tell on occasion to share about what we've been learning.
Recently I thought that I should share some of these “stories” with all of you so that you can learn more about what we've been through.
Before I start, keep in mind that I used to be someone who never thought twice about
- drinking non-filtered water
- eating lots of sugar
- using a microwave
- getting immunizations
Like all those things I mentioned above, I never thought twice about getting mercury fillings either. I mean, why would I have thought that my friendly family dentist put something into my body that would actually hurt me?
Ahem. Think again.
Our Mercury Fillings
Since I completely trusted our dentists, and since the mercury fillings were a lot cheaper than the alternative (and we were not raking in the dough at the time when our oldest needed fillings, and he needed a lot of them), we always got the silver ones.
One particular time, after he got not just one mercury filling, but two mercury fillings, he kept complaining that one hurt. I kept reassuring him that nothing was wrong, but he kept complaining and complaining.
After a while, I started worrying.
I then remembered stepping into the room when he was getting the fillings put in and seeing quite a bit of blood. I wasn't sure, but I didn't recall ever seeing a whole lot of blood from fillings before, but then my fillings were always quite superficial and I only had two in my whole life until after I got Lyme disease. But the blood thing continued to bother me.
So I took him in to have the dentist look at it, but the dentist found nothing wrong. I think we even went in twice for reassurance.
The Nightmare Begins
A few weeks later, our son woke up saying that his tooth hurt a lot and his cheek was swollen. That afternoon he laid down for a nap around 2 pm and slept 'til 5, which was very odd for him.
When I woke him up (so he'd actually sleep that night), the nightmare began.
Half of his face was swollen down to his jawbone and up around his eye. His eye was almost swollen shut.
I called the doctor and they sent me right over to the hospital.
Now I knew something was wrong.
Our son was admitted immediately. His swelling was cellulitis, a potentially life-threatening infection of the soft tissues. Since it was around his eye it was dangerously close to his brain.
Not words a mama wants to hear.
The doctor started IV antibiotics, but our son got worse. When I saw my son the next day (Dad stayed in the hospital with him because his younger brother was just a baby and I was home with him), half of his face looked like the Elephant Man's.
24 hours after being admitted there was talk about him being sent to Infectious Disease because the infection wasn't responding.
“No!” I screamed silently.
I drove back and forth from the hospital, getting whole foods and clothing for my son. Crying, praying, and singing Psalm 23 from the Psalter…
“Yea, though I walk through death's dark vale…yet will I fear no ill….”
Finally, just before they were ready to send him on to the next set of specialists, things started turning around a lot. And we went home with a lot of antibiotics and my son finished them.
Nightmare Round 2
Then, about a week later, my son told me that his mouth felt funny.
I looked in his mouth, and there it was. A small swollen spot just above the filling.
I was VERY scared and made an appointment with our doctor.
The Doctor Who Wouldn't Listen to Me
Doctor thinks mom is crazy and that the swelling will go away on its own.
MD: “It's not just above the filling” he said.
Me: “Yes, it is.”
MD: “No, it isn't.”
Me: “Yes, it is.” At this point, I was getting angry and frustrated that he wasn't listening to my mother's instincts. Couldn't he see it? Didn't he know what we'd just been through?
MD: “What's it going to take to make you happy, Adrienne?”
Me: “A referral to an oral surgeon.”
And finally, I got the referral and went to see not one, but THREE oral surgeons.
Their recommendations were each different, including:
- Outpatient surgery
- Biopsy
- The third, most experienced doctor said, “I'm just going to pull the tooth.”
I went with the third, since it was the least invasive and least expensive.
The tooth was pulled and the most well-respected oral surgeon in our city said,
“Yes, it (the problem) was just above the filling and I've never seen anything like it in my life.”
The “it” was a granuloma.
What's a granuloma?
Well, I didn't know either, but here's what it is. According to Wikipedia:
Granuloma is a medical term for a tiny collection of immune cells known as macrophages. Granulomas form when the immune system attempts to wall off substances that it perceives as foreign but is unable to eliminate.
Initially, I thought that my son's body appeared to be attempting to wall off the mercury filling. However, after sharing this post, two readers commented that the dentist might have created the problem by perforating the root canal and exposing it to bacteria that then wasn't addressed.
Either way, this was a complete disaster and the dentist did nothing to alert me to anything that had gone wrong, and the doctor wasn't willing to listen to me.
Regardless, stay aware and vigilant about your and your family's health.
Tooth removed. Granuloma gone.
No more swelling.
Takeaways
1. Don't assume that others' stories of “invisible health issues” or sensitivities are invalid or “all in their head.” I used to think so. Now that a number of them have come to roost in my own household, I know otherwise.
2. Mercury is a poison. I recommend not putting mercury fillings in your mouth as a permanent structure. I'm not saying this is for sure what caused the cellulitis, but I don't want it in my body or in the body of those in my family.
3. You are the parent. You are in charge of your child's health. I knew something was wrong with my son and though I was ridiculed by his physician, I pressed on. He might have died otherwise. Guess who isn't our physician any longer? I sent the resulting medical results to him and didn't even get a reply. Not good.
4. Don't take the lives of your loved ones for granted. Things could have turned for us on a dime that day. For now, we are all still together. Thank God.
More “Natural Health” Posts
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– Natural Autism Healing – Monster Included
– Help! I Can't Get to Sleep – Natural Help for Children (& Adults)
– Do You Have Adrenal Fatigue? Take This Quick Test
– How we avoided antibiotics – the pink stuff
– Why I'm Thankful for – Autism
Do you or your children still get mercury fillings?
I am a dentist who has no particular affinity towards amalgam fillings. Granulomas happen when a spot where an infection was did not heal properly. In this case, it is clear there was an infection. Infections are entirely different from and unrelated to allergic reactions. An allergic reaction is what one could theoretically experience with an amalgam filling. Thus, the horrible experience suffered here cannot be blamed upon mercury, in my professional opinion.
Hello there and thanks for reading and commenting. I did read that granulomas are typically, but not always, caused by infections. Do you know differently? Thank you.
Thank you! I’m scheduled to have the remaining amalgams removed next Thursday September 22nd.
I now realize it will be a long process.
I’m going to begin a mercury detox immediately after maybe cutlets chelation process?
I don’t have thoughts on Cutler. Some say it’s good and others not – good thing to do research.
I am talking to my practitioner about doing oral chelation but have to get blood work done first.
Thank you! : )
From what I’ve researched blood tests reveal mercury that’s in your blood but doesn’t identify what’s attached to your brain.
Rather than me doing multiple tests I thought that I’d simply get the mercury out first and then ask questions later.
I’ll keep you posted. My appointment is Thursday and I plan on asking lots of of questions.
Thank you again for your posts and all that you do
I would think that is accurate. Thanks for the update!
Had my 1st set of amalgams removed using safe protocol.
Used new q top numbing agent. Went beautifully! No injection needed and he used the wand for anesthetic. Didn’t feel a thing thank goodness!
Wore off later and head is on fire but that’s because the old fillings were deep.
I immediately noticed a difference in how I felt. It’s too soon to tell but the amalgams may have been the culprit.
I Will keep you updated. Thank you again for the support, prayers and sharing your story about your son. You are getting me through a very difficult time.
So glad it went well. Please do update. You are so welcome. I will stop and pray again.
Just out of curiosity, did they give an injection to numb? I did not have fillings, still don’t, but had to have a tooth pulled and the injection site from the numbing medicine became infected.They said it was a granuloma as well. Not sure why it happened, didn’t end up in the hospital, but did end up on antibiotics (2 rounds) and with a swollen face for about a week. It was another one of those “fluke” “never had this happen before things”. Mine was caught fairly early, within maybe 3 days.
I think so for my son. It was a deep filling. I’m so sorry that happened to you. 🙁
I have amalgams and feel as if I’m dying. Doctors can’t figure out what is wrong with me but I have all of the symptoms of mercury poisoning and then some.
It’s been 3 months and am due to have my 1st quadrant removed in 2 days. I’ll keep you posted as to my recovery.
I’m so scared so I pray this is the answer .
Thanks for sharing your story. It gives me hope.
Stefan
I will pray for you right now. I hope you feel better. There are so many people with this issue. Please look at protocols for having those fillings removed safely and take care.
Thank you so much for the prayer. That means a great deal. I am having my amalgams removed by pearly whites in Redlands ca. The dentist is a biological dentist who uses safe protocol including the rubber dam, vacuum and separate air for the patient to breathe.
I checked him out thoroughly before my visit and already had a consultation with him.
I’m scheduled for tomorrow morning at 10 am (Tuesday the 13 th).
I hope this will be the end of the nightmare.
Wonderful. Praying again. It could be a long road but I hope it’s at least a good beginning.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for those scientific papers to turn up they were never done!!!!!!
I would like to challenge any amalgam dentist who thinks amalgam fillings are safe to produce a scientific paper commissioned by the ADA that shows the electrical capacity of dental amalgam was investigated prior to placing mercury in people’s mouths ,in fact I know you won’t be able to produce this paper as it was never done so I will go as far as allowing you to produce a paper that shows you investigated the electrical potential of amalgam after 1920 when Stock warned you about electrolysis ,you have been negligent in your duty of care to the public over this issue stop lying and stop using mercury fillings !!!!!
These fillings have thermoelectric properties they can generate electricity in the human mouth via electrolysis and also via the Seebeck effect if either of these chemical processes is underway the metals degrade as they lose electrons and electricity is created ,the result is the mercury is allowed to escape were it is inhaled into the brain and body , dont trust any of these (expletive deleted by blog owner) with a DDS after their name if they are telling you amalgam fillings are safe they are lying dentistry should have investigated the thermoelectric properties of dentistry prior to placing this toxic rubbish in peoples mouths they were warned by Alfred Stock in the 1920s about the potential for electrolysis to occur but ignored his wise advice.
Last year at one point, I was going through some financial difficulties and had to go through the county hospital/dental services for dental work. All they had were mercury filling and since I was badly in need of it, I gave the go-ahead. My tooth had a visible hole in it where a piece of my tooth had actually broken off a few weeks before. Well I had it done and in the immediate 3 days afterwards, my health began to deteriorate. I felt immense “brain fog”, so bad I couldn’t think, and felt my head floating in space, severe fatigue, and towards the end of that episode, I ended up in the ER 3 weeks later because I could not take a full breath and could not get oxygen into my lungs. I was literally, physically gasping for air like a dying fish. They couldn’t find anything wrong with the standard blood work or my EKG so I left since I had been there 12 hours already (big city wait times). Well I had just gotten paid so I made an exception, and said screw the light bill payment and paid a small low income dental center out of pocket the NEXT DAY to remove that fresh mercury filling and replace it with composite. I was exhausted coming out of that office and slept until the next day. When I woke up, all my symptoms drastically improved, I was no longer gasping for air to such a degree and completely improved in the following 2-3 days. Look it up, ALL OF MY SYMPTOMS ARE CLASSIC MERCURY POISONING. Even if people have silver fillings in their mouth for years and don’t seem as if they are going “mad”, that doesn’t mean this stuff is not poisoning them. It’ll get you sooner or later through all the different pathways of the body and you will end up sick as a dog. Get them out.
Thanks for sharing and so sorry you had this terrible problem!
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Flywheel – info on this page: https://wholenewmom.com/i-recommend/ Glad it’s loading well!