David Hammond - Mercury Poisoning: The Undiagnosed Epidemic

The Undiagnosed epidemic

The science and case histories showing the role of mercury in diseases such as Alzheimers, autism, ADHD, allergies and chronic fatigue and how to eliminate mercury from your body.

David Hammond

Copyright 2013 David Hammond
Kindle Edition

I am not a medical doctor. The opinions expressed in this book reflect my personal experience of heavy metals and chelation. The information herein is provided for informational purposes and is not meant to substitute for medical advice. Because human beings differ, what is beneficial for one person may not benefit someone else. You should consult your health practitioner regarding medical diagnosis or treatment. Reliance on any information provided by the author is solely at your own risk.

For My Mother,

Betty Hammond

In the late 1970s, I was a laborer in a steel factory in the desert town of Whyalla, South Australia. I stood not far from a 100-ton ladle as molten steel was poured into ingots of about ten tons. A thick woolen jacket and a plastic face-shield protected me from the heat and any splashes of metal.

The ingots would crack with the heat, and it was my job to seal these cracks with clay to prevent the molten steel from escaping. One day, in the middle of my shift, I suddenly felt very tired, and sat down behind a girder. In the center of the chaos of the pouring floor, I went to sleep. When I woke up half an hour later, the foreman was livid, as I had held up production. But then he saw how ill I looked and sent me home.

The next morning, I woke with a dozen painful ulcers in my throat and mouth, inflamed lymph glands in my armpits and groin, burning in the soles of my feet, and a metallic taste in my mouth. I had diarrhea which resulted in 10 to 12 bowel movements a day.

These symptoms were constant for the next six months, before becoming intermittent. The onset of a bout was preceded by a metallic taste in my mouth: then I would develop painful mouth ulcers and inflamed lymph glands. I would feel listless and depressed for ten days to two weeks. I didnt sleep well, and woke frequently during the night. Often when I slept, I felt as if there was a wrestling match going on in my head as if something was moving around in my brain. This cycle would repeat itself every four to six weeks.

I consulted many doctors and alternative practitioners over the next thirty years, but no-one could give me a diagnosis, or provide a cure.

I also did my own research and considered the possibility of poisoning, and in particular mercury poisoning, as my symptoms were consistent with acute mercury poisoning. But I couldnt figure out how I could have got mercury poisoning from steel, which is basically iron ore and carbon.

About ten years after getting sick, I had all my amalgam fillings (what people call silver fillings, but which are actually 50 percent mercury) replaced with the more modern, white composite resin materials but I didnt notice any change in my symptoms. I didnt understand then that it wasnt enough to remove the source of the mercury, but that I also had to remove the mercury that was sequestered in my brain, kidneys, thyroid and other organs.

As I got older, the frequency and severity of the ulcers slowly lessened, but I began to experience chronic fatigue. By the afternoon, I just didnt have the energy to do anything. My insomnia worsened and later my sense of balance began to deteriorate: I often felt unsteady when walking. I developed chronic sinusitis and a permanent ache on one side of my face. I became more irritable and less sociable, preferring to spend time on my own: talking was too much effort.

My level of thirst increased, and I usually drank more than four liters of liquid a day. I woke two to three times a night to urinate and to drink some water six times on a bad night. I was exhausted nearly all the time and felt life was not worth living. Most of the people I interacted with at this time were not aware of my inner state, or my physical state, as I managed to keep it together on the outside while I was at work.

Eventually, while searching the Internet in 2010, I came across an article discussing the use of scrap metal from old cars in the production of steel. When steel is made, about 25 to 35 percent of the raw steel is provided by scrap metal, which is mainly crushed automobiles. The US government had now decreed that the mercury-containing switches used in cars had to be removed before the cars were added to the molten steel mixture, in order to reduce the amount of mercury released into the atmosphere.

Apparently, there can be quite high levels of mercury in the air around steel mills, and particularly in the area where the steel is being poured.

Now I knew. I had most likely inhaled mercury vapor from the scrap metal in the molten steel. This was the cause of my illness.

So I had to find a way to detoxify myself to remove the mercury and recover my health. I found an Internet forum comprised of people who suffered similar symptoms to my own though their mercury source was usually dental amalgam or in some cases vaccinations, most of which, until the early 2000s, contained a mercury preservative.

For most of us, a major difficulty had been identifying the cause of our illnesses. Not only were doctors unaware of the toxic effects of chronic exposure to low doses of mercury, they also did not know that symptoms of mercury poisoning may not manifest until years or even decades after poisoning began.

In the chapters that follow, I will show:

Humans are exposed to levels of heavy metals far in excess of our preindustrial ancestors.

Mercury from amalgams is gradually deposited throughout the body and in particular in the brain.

Over time, very low levels of mercury can result in severe health problems.

We are not exposed to mercury in isolation; other metals are also ubiquitous in our environment and they can increase the toxic effect of mercury synergistically. Health officials seem to be unaware of this phenomenon.

Case histories from medical journals which show mercury poisoning can result in a number of diseases.

How to remove mercury from the body and restore good health.

A case history which demonstrates the delayed effects of mercury

One difficulty in diagnosing mercury poisoning is there is frequently (though not always) a long period of latency before symptoms appear.

Take, for example, this Italian man who was treated for syphilis in 1964 with a mercury-containing compound. It was not until ten years later he experienced his first two-week bout of shivering, weakness and pallor, which then reappeared approximately every two years.

His doctor examined him and found an enlarged liver and high levels of nitrogen-containing substances in his blood, largely due to poor kidney function. In 1984, he suffered three episodes of convulsions.

A further 17 years later, he complained of headaches, tremors, vertigo, memory loss, anxiety, depression, insomnia, muscle cramps and tachycardia (rapid heartbeat). The patient also often had vertigo, which resulted in him falling out of bed. Few doctors would have attributed this multitude of symptoms to a single cause. Most doctors probably would have prescribed an antidepressant for his anxiety and depression, propranolol for his tremors, some sleeping tablets for the insomnia, and beta-blockers or ablation for his tachycardia.

In September 2004, 40 years after his exposure to mercury, the patient saw a doctor who suspected mercury poisoning. First he was given blood and urine tests for mercury. The results were within normal limits, as they often are in cases where exposure was long ago. However, hair testing revealed a mercury level which was three times the top reading of the normal range.