3. More about Mercury and Me

As I was reading through the history of dentistry and the problems with mercury throughout the last two centuries (in the book by Dr. Myron Wentz), I began to make connections with my own dental history. I was very surprised to be relating to some of the symptoms of mercury poisoning and I mentally started to correlate my dental visits with the MS symptoms I'd been experiencing over the years. Here's my line of thinking:

I was diagnosed with MS around 1978/9 after a long period of strange symptoms. After I'd seen a neurologist, gone to Hamilton for an EEG scan and Toronto for a brain scan - in the large tube, ctually, my family doctor told me that I "probably" had MS. She told me there was nothing she could really do and gave me some sort of medication which gave me a killer headache, I thought I was dying, so I flushed them.

In 1976 I had graduated from highschool and during my last year there, I visited the dentist regularly, gradually getting somewhere between 15 and 20 mercury amalgam fillings (grr). Dr. Wentz mentioned in his book that sometimes mercury poisoning doesn't show up for a year or two or even more. The older your fillings are, the more dangerous they can be.

Since I still needed help and the doctors confessed they could do nothing, I turned to God - he made me, I supposed he could fix me. And this is how I managed to live a fairly normal life. I didn't have many bouts with symptoms over the next 10 or so years (we had no dental plan - turned out to be a blessing in disguise, eh?).

But in 1990 we moved to Nova Scotia because my husband got a job at NSCAD. NOW we had a dental plan! To make a long story short, around 1996 I had the whole bottom left side of my teeth refilled. The dentist ground out the old mercury amalgams and refilled with white plastic. Dr. Wentz writes that there is a constant release of mercury from all mercury amalgams during the best of times, but during amalgam removal a person is exposed to 1000 times the poisonous mercury vapour - yikes!

THE BIG CONNECTION

It was ALSO in 1996 that I began to have very serious bouts with MS symptoms. Some stayed, some only lasted a couple weeks. I'll list some of them here:

• numbness (creeping into my body seemingly from the toes up over a period of months and years)
• extreme skin sensitivity (to the point of pain) when in the shower
• inability to walk properly - loss of balance
• inability to talk properly because the right side of my face had gone numb (short term)
• inability to write by hand - even typing and moving the mouse on my computer were a challenge (short term)
• recurring headaches, and one major one that brought me to my knees groping for non existent medicine in my bathroom (short term)
• almost complete blindness in one eye (short term)
• severe hearing loss in one ear (short term)
• loss of bladder control (varying in degrees over the years)
• an extreme case of vertigo, where every micro movement made me want to throw up - and I did (short term)

And then there are the some of the minor symptoms that I learned to live with: (these were all mentioned as a result of mercury poisoning)

• ringing in the ears
• muscle tremors and weakness
• cramping
• joint pain
• digestive problems
• recurring headaches (though less severe since proper nutritional supplements)
• low energy levels (though less severe since proper nutritional supplements)
• bleeding gums when I floss
• itchy nose
• blurred vision (though less severe since proper nutritional supplements)
• skin problems (though less severe since proper nutritional supplements)
• occasional mental confusion (gradually getting worse over the years)
• genital discharge (every day of the month, year in year out)
• lack of concentration (gradually getting worse over the years)
• insomnia
• depression (for a few days monthly)
• dizziness (getting out of bed especially)

My! that list is a little embarrassing, but I write this is for purposes of being able to notice the improvements which I expect to see in the future.

Next time I'm going to quote a bit directly from the book, "A Mouthful of Poison".

By the way, I have a link on the left side bar under the heading "BOOKS TO READ" that will link you to a site where you can order this book. It was published in 2004 and I haven't seen it anywhere else - but I have purchased many of them through that site to give away.

Remember there's hope for a healthier and happier life!

2. An interesting discovery

Today is March 27, 2006 and the improvement of my health (in major areas) seems to have leveled off. I am feeling great and am more confident of my health, but am still dealing with some "lesser" symptoms that over the last 25 or more years, I have just learned to lived with. They had become so much a part of my life that I began to think they were normal - UNTIL I started doing some research on mercury amalgams. Besides websites and life examples, I got a lot of information about mercury poisoning from this book; "A Mouth Full of Poison" written by Dr. Myron Wentz (if you have mercury amalgams in your teeth, this book is a must read). Dr. Myron Wentz is the developer of the nutritional supplements that helped me to get out from under my body and needless to say, he already had my respect.

One of the most interesting facts I learned is that around 1848, the American Dental Association did NOT allow mercury to be put into people's teeth because of the dangerous nature of the substance. However, barbers also did dental work in those days and had no qualms about using mercury in fillings since it was so cheap and so easy to work with. Well, you guessed it; because the barber shops were taking business away from dentists and the dentists were losing money, the dental Association at that time disbanded and another was established that allowed mercury to be put into people's teeth.
So, they looked the other way and ignored their previous moral stand - to do no harm.

Most dental amalgams are close to 50% mercury and your dentist will tell you that mercury becomes stable when it's mixed with other metals. THEY BELIEVE IT BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THEY'VE BEEN TOLD. It's not true. It is now a proven, documented fact that mercury is constantly being released from dental fillings and it's more poisonous than arsenic, lead or cadmium. Actually, a number of European countries banned mercury over ten years ago and have seen positive results - for one, fewer children with certain medical problems. Yes, some people are more prone to the dangers of the poison because their immune system is weak; they're particularly sensitive to mercury - but it's still a POISON. If you're pregnant, please don't have any mercury fillings put in or removed from your teeth (do it later).

As I read through Dr. Wentz's book, I began to realize there WAS a correlation between the times I had dental work done and the times I experienced serious MS symptoms - and I was not pleased! I'm going to be writing more on my discovery of mercury poisoning and it's affects on human bodies - particularly, my body. I have an appointment in St. John NB (at the closest Mercury-Free dentist to Halifax) on April 7th to have all my mercury amalgams removed - there are 12 or 13 large ones left in my teeth. It will take all day and it will be expensive, but I'm positive there will be additional significant improvement in my health.

Next time, I'm going to give you a list of symptoms that I experienced and how they came "sneekily" just months after my dental appointments. I'm also going to make a list of symptoms that I expect to change in the months following my mercury amalgam removal.

Again, I want everyone to know that sicknesses and diseases can be beaten - there is hope for a healthier and happier life!
Dorothea

1. With the help of optimal nutrition and proper exercise, I'm recovering from MS!

Since 1979, I have been fighting Multiple Sclerosis. In 1996, I started having more frequent lapses of health and I experienced many of the more serious symptoms: numbness over much of my body, blindness in one eye, serious vertigo, and the inability to walk, talk or write properly. But being stubborn, I refused to accept them. I was not going to let sickness run my life.

By 2004, I had daily problems with walking and balancing, always having to keep my eyes open while standing still (at church or in the shower, for example) and although I used to love taking long walks, I was unable to anymore. My energy levels were low and I slept for 2 hours every afternoon. I thought that vitamins could better my health so I had been taking 30 to 50 vitamin pills per day. It was a scatter shot at health, but a shot nonetheless.

(Turns out that hormonal constipation was going to be one of my biggest challenges ... but I mention the solutions I found later on in this blog.)

First Steps on the Road to Recovery

In March of 2005, I went to see a naturopathic doctor; I was entering the peri-menopausal stage and had been experiencing crazy-extreme emotional swings that just had to stop. While on the topic of MS, he mentioned the high correlation between the disease and gluten/dairy intolerance. I took his suggestion to try a gluten- and dairy-free diet; I also took home a jar of natural hormone cream, which helped to a degree.

By June I had noticed a difference in my balance and was able to walk one foot in front of the other for 5 or 6 steps, whereas before the diet change I could not take even one step in front of the other.

In July, I read two books by Dr. Ray D. Strand. One was called "What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Nutritional Medicine (May be Killing You!)", the part in brackets being left off of later editions. The second was called, "Healthy for Life".

I devoured Dr. Strands' books. In short, I read them, researched his information regarding MS (Dr. Strand's comments about MS were very encouraging: a body's damaged myelin sheath is reparable and recovery is possible, yay), investigated the nutritional recommendations, found out how to get them and ordered them. On August 19th I started taking them and saw pretty remarkable results. But that's only part of the story ... I actually don't take them religiously anymore, read on ... .

The Turning Point

After taking the nutritional supplements (fyi USANA) for less than a week I noticed changes in my body. At my Monday ball class at the gym, one of the exercises involves balancing the ball on your forearms and lifting your knees one inch off the floor while in a kneeling position. I could originally hold the pose for one second and over a 10 week period, worked up to six or seven seconds and was encouraged to see that change.

But only three days had passed when I went to the ball class and could hold the same pose for 25 to 30 seconds!!I was shocked; I had not expected any changes so soon. I had been told to wait 3 to 6 months before I noticed a difference. As the ball class went on, all of the exercises seemed so easy for me, involving such little effort, compared to the work I had been used to. So I did have muscles after all! It was a lack of communication between my brain and my muscles that was making exercise so difficult. I suspect actually that the additional COQ10 recommended by Dr. Strand's book was part of the reason.

The next day, at my yoga class, I noticed I was able to move my legs into new positions. Then the next day my husband Michael and I walked to the video store together, a 15 minute trip uphill. We normally walk arm in arm so he can help me walk straight but this time I didn't run into or pull away from him as I usually do; he remarked about the welcome difference in walking with me! And, I normally left the supper dishes until the morning when I was more energetic but that week I did the dishes directly after supper! Now, everyday things are not nearly so difficult – woohoo!

It's October and I have seen gradual improvements in my balance. I'm able to balance on one leg for 20 seconds; a task impossible to me for the past 9 years. This fall, I was able to take a temporary Statistics Canada job which involved a lot of walking door-to-door. I often worked 3 days a week for a three or four hour period and spent two-thirds of that time walking. I was both pleased with and amazed at what I had accomplished.

I have noticed other changes in my body over the past 4 weeks:

1. I no longer get rashes on my eyelids when I put makeup on them; I was not able to wear any makeup close to my eyes because of the rash and swelling reaction I would have the next day.


2. Restless leg syndrome has become far more infrequent: many nights, the feeling that I had to move my legs would often wake me just as I was about to fall asleep. It happened so much that I eventually hesitated to fall asleep at all -- it is a very annoying problem!


3. I experience much more subdued monthly emotional swings for which my whole family is thankful! I had been taking a natural hormone cream twice a day during that most difficult week of the month, and presently I've been using the cream just before bed to help me sleep, once a day only 3 days in the month.

An update as of October 21/05:
It's now been almost 9 weeks and I've noticed that my energy levels remain higher than normal, and I am definitely experiencing greater clarity of thought.

I am expecting more positive changes in the future as I continue to exercise regularly, eat healthy meals and take nutritional supplements.

I want everyone who has MS or any other chronic degenerative disease to know that THERE IS HOPE for a better and healthier life!