I forget...what was I researching?

Today I started researching memory problems stemming from dental mercury, but as I kept checking out sites I noticed that they were discussing alzheimers almost as equally as memory problems. I have a family friend in his 80's suffering from alzheimers. He now lives in a nursing home and his wife visits him daily, even though he barely knows who she is. The last time I saw him several years ago, I do remember when he smiled one could notice his mouth was full of silver fillings. Do I believe that amalgam fillings can cause alzheimers and other memory problems? You bet. I personally suffer with memory problems daily, and I believe that it would have continued getting worse. I have noticed since I've had a lot of amalgam removed that my long-term memory has gotten better, but my short-term memory is still terrible, although of course I'm not done with dental revision yet.

Please look at the websites I've shared below, and decide for yourself what you think.

http://www.midnightcafe.com/alzh/diagnosis3.html
http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/hydro/amalgam.htm
http://www.whale.to/d/biblio.html
http://www.mercola.com/2001/apr/7/alzheimers_mercury.htm
http://curezone.com/dental/dental_alzheimer.asp
http://www.holisticmed.com/dental/amalgam/

UPDATE: The family friend I spoke of in this post passed away on Tuesday, October 30th.

Dr. C and Learning Disabilities

I got a phone call from Dr. C yesterday. I was a little surprised, although I shouldn't have been, since he's done it a couple of times previously. He called just to see how I was doing since I had the extraction done and if things are healing well. We talked for a good 20-30 minutes. I shared with him about how the laser treatments went and he had several questions regarding it (he's considering purchasing a laser for his own practice which I wholeheartedly encouraged), and then we also talked about our next plans for dental revision for me. We decided we'd wait a month to give me a little more time to heal since this root canal thing was a huge blow to my immune system, and then I would call and set up an appointment to get started on the crowns. After a couple of questions I had for him and another one he had for me, we felt good about where we are at with my dental situation. Much progress has been made, and we are both looking forward to finishing the job.

Today's symptom I researched is Learning Disabilities. During my college years, I was tested for and found to have LD in math and reading comprehension and retention, so connecting LD with mercury toxicity is big for me. It would explain a lot. I started having problems in school in about the 2nd and 3rd grade, which I'm guessing is about the time I would have received my first amalgam fillings. Kindergarten and 1st grade I remember being easy and fun, and my teachers were pleased with my work. By 2nd and 3rd grade things became extremely difficult, and by 4th grade there were big deficits in my learning curve. I struggled all the way through junior and senior high having to take algebra 1 three times. I loved to write, but would fail (or almost fail) anything else reading related. In college I noticed my friends barely having to study and breezing through tests I would barely pass after studying for hours. It really started bothering me, so I finally talked to a counselor (who I was doing workstudy for at the time) about my frustrations. Not long after, I was tested and found that I fit into the category of the Learning Disabled. Suprised? No. Here's some info regarding LD and mercury:

http://www.immunesupport.com/library/showarticle.cfm/ID/3318/t/CFIDS_FM
http://www.homeopathyhouston.com/homeopathy_articles/learning_disabilities.html
http://www.ghchealth.com/your-next-visit-to-the-dentist.html
http://www.talkinternational.com/news_vaccine_072407.htm
http://www.whale.to/a/grant.html
http://www.flcv.com/tmlbn.html
http://www.toxicteeth.org/compareTable.cfm
http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/amalgam.htm

Laser Therapy Update and Anemia

Yesterday was my last of 6 sessions of laser treatment therapy. I have noticed a profound difference. My headaches are pretty much gone, and my jaw is starting to feel normal again. I have to believe I am a success story for Dr. K, and that cold laser treatment works to speed up healing from extractions or heal over cavitations that have happened. Dr. K and his staff attended a dental conference over the weekend (Dr. C was also there), and Dori said they have learned so much more about what they can do with laser treatment as well as other dental procedures. I was encouraged to hear that.

Today I am struggling mostly with dizziness, chronic fatigue, and brain fog. Unfortunately the laser therapy didn't rid me of those problems, not that I was expecting it to, but I sure was hopeful. I am still in contact with Dr. S daily and he's aware of these symptoms, so I am hoping we'll find something to relieve it for the time being. According to research, both dizziness and brain fog can be caused by (you guessed it!) mercury toxicity. I am reminded every time I feel dizzy of the 5 crowns with amalgam under them I still have that could be causing the problem.

I'm going to say it: MERCURY IS POISON. Why would we want poison in our bodies?

Today I researched anemia and mercury. Here are some sites I found:

http://www.drkaslow.com/html/mercury_s_influence.html
http://www.amalgam.org/
http://www.icnr.com/uam/DAMSIntro.html
http://www.natural-lifestyle-made-easy.com/natural_dental_health.html

Have Trouble Sleeping?

Today's research is the effects of mercury on lack of sleep, better known as insomnia. Here's what I found:

http://www.healthy.net/scr/article.asp?ID=1852
http://www.mercurypolicy.org/exposure/documents/ModelDentalBill.pdf
http://www.mercurypoisoned.com/symptoms.html

This last one had a questionnaire in it that I'll copy and paste below:

A checklist of other symptoms that could be related to mercury toxicity.
A Mercury Test by Dr. Hal Huggins:

1. Heart problems
_heart/chest pains
_angina
_tachcardia (heart racing)
_heart murmur
_low blood pressure
_abnormal EKG
_endocarditis
_partial heart block
_high blood pressure
_heart attack

2. Skin Problems
_unexplained rashes
_excessive itching
_red flushes of color
_rough skin
_acne (pimples)

3. Nervous Disorders
_Belle's Palsy
_Multiple Sclerosis
_shingles
_epilepsy/convulsions
_Dr. told you "It's your nerves"
_the shakes of hands, feet, head, etc
_twitching of face or other muscles

4. Digestion
_diverticulitis
_ulcers
_Crohn's disease
_Graves Disease
_indigestion
_diarrhea
_bloated feeling after eating
_heartburn
_poor appetite

5. Blood Disease
_mononucleosis
_false positve for venereal disease

6. Cancer
_leukemia
_Hodgkins disease
_any other name

7. Endocrine Problems
_diabetes
_ovaries
_hysterectomy-complete
_tipped uterus
_overweight
_thyroid overactive
_testes
_pancreas
_cervical erosion
_underweight
_prostate
_mensturation-painful, too often or too seldom/ stopping without reason

8. Emotional
_sudden anger
_depression
_wish you were dead
_irritability
_suicidal tendencies
_been divorced

9. Annoying Symptoms
_frequent headaches
_noises in your ears
_ringing in your ears
_hissing in your ears
_chronic eye inflammation
_chronic fatigue
_do you tire easily?
_swollen lymph nodes
_do you sweat excessively or not at all?
_hearing problems
_cold hands and feet
_motion sickness
_slow healing
_leg cramps
_dizziness
_get up at night to urinate
_urinate frequently during the day
_have insomnia
_tired when awaken in the morning
_have trouble making decisions

10. Allergies
_metal
_fabrics
_soaps and detergents
_food
_other__________

11. Diseases
_rheumatoid arthritis
_bursitis
_tennis elbow
_painful joints
_Friedreich's ataxia
_asthma
_osteomyelitis
_psoriasis
_sickle cell anemia
_kidney stones

12. Miscellaneous
_Infections take a long time to heal
_Do you work around mercury?
what capacity?_______________
_what medications are you taking that have mercury in them?

13. Dental History
_had silver amalgams
_had gold fillings
_have gold fillings now
_removable metal bridge
_gold bridge
_porcelain caps (crowns)
_non-precious crowns
_root canal
_root canal now
_metallic taste in mouth
_burning sensation in mouth
_increased flow of saliva
_have more than half your teeth

There of course are more websites with more info on insomnia. Please check them out for yourself if you suffer from it! Just type "insomnia dental mercury" in google.

Nervousness and dental mercury

I thought I'd start going down the list of symptoms I previously posted back in July one by one and start doing research on each of them. Today I looked up nervousness. Here are some things I found:

http://www.talkinternational.com/health/hg_signs_symptoms_poisoning.htm
http://www.toxicteeth.org/merctoxprofile.cfm
http://www.pacifichealthcenter.com/updates/4.asp
http://www.quicksilverpress.com/contents.html

These of course are just a few of what's out there. I'm also sure we'll see nervousness pop up again when I research other maladies.

The effects of mercury: ADD, ADHD, and Autism

Today I decided to do a little research on Attention Deficit Disorder and mercury. What I found was more than I could bear to think about!! I of course have read some about it, but not to the extent these websites have shared. And this is just the surface of them, folks!

http://www.mercuryexposure.org/index.php?article_id=339
http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article18965.html
http://www.wholebodyhealth.us/autism_adhd.htm
http://www.webdeb.com/add.htm
http://adventuresinautism.blogspot.com/2006/04/fda-public-hearing-on-dental-mercury.html

Another article mentioned selenium as being a great natural chelator (or detoxifier), and works great with cilantro. Hmmmm.....I think I'll check out some new recipes that include both for my kids. They both were immunized as children as well as had to deal with my mercury overload in utero. I've done epsom salt baths for them and other things, but I still see a lot of hyperactivity in Doshi. I bet he would benefit from a little bit of extra help.

An Informative Newsletter

Below I have copied an email newsletter I received from the Huggins foundation. I am thankful for the timely information!

ADA Takes Bold Protective Step

Dentistry has rehashed the same argument about, should dentistry place mercury fillings because they are cheap, or ban them because they contain 50% of the most toxic poison known that is not radioactive?

Last year's Congressional hearing on "how safe mercury is in the mouth" as presented by the FDA – lost by a vote of 13 to 7. Nearly 2 to 1. A committee of scientists evaluated the presentation as well as those by several "witnesses". Dr. Boyd Haley and Dr. Hal Huggins presented scientific data refuting mercury safety.

After mulling the presentations over for a year, the FDA has stated in writing that they will present new standards for the use of mercury fillings by the end of the year 2007. Based on that, the ADA sent communications to all dentists telling them to immediately start informing their patients that mercury was in "silver" fillings. Especially discuss this with pregnant women and parents of children in order to reduce the number of law suits.

As stated in a letter from Charles G. Brown, National Counsel, Consumers for Dental Choice:

"In the July edition of Dental Practice Report, the long-time general counsel of the A.D.A., Peter Sfikas (who stepped down eight months ago) advised dentists that FDA would likely contraindicate amalgam to classes of patients, and dentists must begin immediately protect their legal position by (1) asking patients if have mercury hypersensitivity, and (2) giving precise warnings about mercury exposure to pregnant women and parents of young children."

The FDA could reclassify mercury from Class I (of no health significance, where it is now) to either Class II, which calls for record keeping of who had mercury placed in their mouth, or to Class III which would constitute a total ban in dentistry due to its toxicity. The ADA is hoping for Class II, the public pushing for Class III.

The ADA just paid for a study on "the economic impact of mercury-free dentistry". This may indicate their fear factor. Another item that may be related is that dentists have just been targeted as high income people with little litigation, so a ripe terrain for new lawyers. This as a result of the fact that there are more students in law schools now than lawyers in practice in all 50 states put together. Attorneys are just now finding out that almost all dentists have malpractice insurance, but that placement of amalgam may or may not qualify for insurance coverage. The dentists actually mix mercury with metallic powder to form amalgam. This constitutes manufacturing a "product". Do dentists have product liability insurance? No. That opens Pandora's box for litigation from both the malpractice aspect, since dentistry has been aware of its toxicity since 1840, and dentists are also wide open for personal loss from the product liability aspect.

The ADA held its national meeting in San Francisco September 28 through October 2, 2007. In addressing the issue of mercury toxicity, the ADA decided to mandate dentists using mercury scrubbers to remove mercury from their suction devices before dumping it into the sewage system.

Thus, the ADA is protecting the sewage, and ignoring human health that it is sworn to protect. How bold.

---

In an effort to inform the public of both sides of the issue, the Toxic Element Research Foundation (TERF) has just released a 45 minute DVD of the July 23, 2007 edition of the New Zealand 60 Minutes franchise examining the dental mercury issue. Both sides were presented in 60 Minutes fashion. A representative of the New Zealand dental association and Dr. Huggins were both interviewed recently in Auckland, New Zealand. After the program, Dr. Huggins then comments on some of the presentations from the Washington DC encounter between the FDA and the Congressionally appointed committee. He shows a few clips of the actual session in D.C. with comments to accompany. There are a few testimonials from previously mercury damaged patients. All in all, the DVD takes the place of trying to tell friends and family about the mercury issue in a 3rd party format. A tax deductible donation of $25 to the Toxic Element Research Foundation (TERF) will secure you a copy (including US postage). Call for your copy through Dr. Huggins' toll free number: 1-866-948-4638. The Toxic Element Research Foundation is currently paying for laboratory fees for testing that proves the toxicity of dental materials in humans. Any additional donations will be put to good use for the health of all of us.

Thank you for your interest in eliminating this unnecessary poison that provides more birth defects than all other known methods. As Huggins says in ending his talk, "Clean our DNA. Ban mercury fillings."

Hal A. Huggins DDS, MS