Public Service Announcement #1: "Mercury: Dangerously Fishy"

March 22, 2023

The following is a personal Public Service Announcement - my first.

Mercury: Dangerously Fishy

Thinking about ordering that lovely swordfish or sea bass, steaming and covered in capers? Or, how about that sushi? About to pop open a can of “sustainable, thoughtfully harvested” Albacore tuna to eat on a salad or for a delicious tuna fish sandwich? Think again; hard.

I’ve just been diagnosed with mercury toxicity. For the last two months, I’ve worked with an integrative, functional medicine doctor while she supervised and interpreted over 10 tests, ranging from blood to hair and lots in between.

What kind of harm is done by an excess of mercury? Without getting overly scientific, the overall scope is that it’s prevented my body from functioning properly for a long time. Mercury toxicity can be a root cause of a host of maladies that are otherwise attributed to things like aging or chronic disease.

I have stepped out of traditional medicine because it failed me once again. My general practitioner refused to do annual blood tests for me since 2020 - even though I asked him to repeatedly, telling me: “You’re doing just fine, you don’t need them.” Funny, he had no problem doing them for my husband. I found a traditionally trained physician whose specialty, functional integrative medicine, isn’t recognized by Medicare, yet who is one of the most intelligent, thorough and life-changing people I’ve met.

The mercury toxicity diagnosis has been pretty exhausting and frightening. Sure, I’d heard about fish and mercury - but it really can’t be that bad, otherwise I would have heard more about it, right? Wrong. I can no longer eat any fish or shellfish except a limited amount of salmon. As a small species fish with lower mercury, salmon is loaded with antioxidants; a good thing. At this point in the earth’s environmental destruction, every species of fish or shellfish has mercury in it. It’s just a question of which species does the most harm.

What’s being dumped into the oceans is much worse than it was just a couple of decades ago. I had been experiencing subtle, weird symptoms of various things and at least now have an explanation for them. My body is slowly healing and balancing, and I’m going to have what’s called chelation therapy to “liquify” what mercury is in my body with hopes of a full recovery. It’s going to take thousands of dollars and up to seven months.

Our medical system is broken; this story is just one tiny example. When I tell doctors about my mercury toxicity, their typical first response is: “that’s rare.” I suspect the opposite is true. How can you know if something is rare if it’s not even tested for routinely? Unfortunately, most physicians have had little nutritional education and we’re paying a steep price for that deficiency.

The amount of mercury and other industrial waste being freely released into the oceans has increased by about 30% just in the last 20 years - ah, those pesky environmental regulations - and is increasing exponentially. Yet there are no standard tests done to measure changing nutritional needs or toxic exposure. The tests are affordable, do-able remotely and could significantly alter the grossly mismanaged, unregulated supplement industry profoundly - and please, don’t even get me started on the pharmaceutical industry. Illnesses could be re-diagnosed, correctly; lives saved, improved and millions of dollars redirected towards better health outcomes rather than chronic diseases.

I loved to eat fish. I’d read, been told and thought I was doing the “right” thing and following a great diet full of everything you’re supposed to eat with very little of the bad stuff. Not anymore. At least for the foreseeable future, I’m all plant based. I’m actually learning to cook because at least I know what’s going into and can control each meal. I want to keep outdoor mountain painting, thinking clearly, horseback riding and being disease free as long as possible.

Lately I’ve mused on how ironic it is that, as an emeritus medical illustrator and fine art painter, I’ve focused on the complexity and beauty of nature and fragility of the earth’s environment. My brain calling out for help? Maybe. Or maybe the earth’s problems are now hitting home and I can no longer be in denial. It’s not fun being the canary in a coal mine.

“Accelerating”, mixed media, 30 X 30”, canvas over honeycomb aluminum.

Many people have asked me about symptoms of mercury toxicity/poisoning, since I was recently diagnosed. Symptoms can show up anywhere, from mild to severe, but here are some common ones. Note: I had about 8 symptoms on this list; since mercury poisoning is systemic, it can show up in many systems of the body.

Note! This is just a partial list! If you experience any of these symptoms, ask your doctor to do a blood test for mercury toxicity and or heavy metals. They may well look at you like you’re crazy because they don’t have training in heavy metal toxicity, but please, insist. Now that I’m in treatment, I’m feeling fantastic, the best I have in ages. It was so worth persisting and advocating for my own health and sanity.

Here we go:

* Slow reflexes

* Damaged motor skills

* Paralysis

* Numbness

* Auditory disturbances. In my case, I had severe tinnitus and some hearing loss. Now that the mercury is leaving my body, it's finally lessening - and what a relief!

* Tingling in the hands, feet and face

* Lower energy levels

* Gut issues such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome

* Candida overgrowth

* Depression and anxiety

* Feeling abnormally reclusive, uncomfortable, shy or insecure in public

* Osteoporosis/osteopenia

* High cholesterol

* Irritable with emotional ups and downs

* Feeling that your mind’s thoughts are busier than usual

* Feeling agitated and uncomfortable in your body for no apparent reason

* More chronically fearful or worried than usual

* Allergies or minor food sensitivities

* Nutritional deficiencies

* Headaches and brain fog

* Fearful and racing thoughts

* Hypo-thyroid condition

* Likely to seek help from medical professionals for many of the symptoms above without improvement from conventional treatment

* Frequent urination

* Bladder irritation / Interstitial Cystitis

* Dizziness or vertigo

* Very high or low B12 levels (due to poor assimilation/methylation)

Any questions, just DM me. Be well.

PSA No. 2: “Incomplete Medical Education: Doing No Harm? Patients At Serious Risk While The Status Quo Continues”

May 1, 2023

Catherine Twomey, Emeritus, FAMI

The dawning realization was painful. I’d just started with a new group of traditional, internal medicine doctors, some of them in training from elite universities along the east coast, and was looking forward to some thorough, caring, state-of-the-art care. I’d brought along written test results from another doctor and a summary of current medical issues. I’d always strived to be The Exemplary Patient. Current issues: cholesterol is up; oh, and mercury toxicity. 

They didn’t believe me. I could see it in their eyes; hear it in their tone and questions: “This could be a false positive”; “We’ll get you off these supplements”; “You changed your diet? You haven’t had enough improvement in your cholesterol (after I dropped 9 points in 1.5 months - seriously?). How about a statin?” “Hmmm….these results are….interesting….”

After a battery of tests done by my new integrative, functional medicine doctor (ifm.org) in January, 2023, I had gotten the shocking news that I had high mercury toxicity. Beginning in early February, my diet and supplement regime was upended. I had begun a long-awaited two month vacation in Palm Springs, CA, but that did not deter me from remote zoom calls with my IFM doc as she guided, consoled, tested and recommended supplements that would heal me. 

Now for the good news. Actually, wonderful great terrific news. After getting home from vacation, my new traditional internal medicine doctors did a blood test as part of their initial screening. The tests showed my mercury levels - which they don’t normally test for - had dropped by half, from 22 ug/L to 11 ug/L, which is high normal. What I realized is that to the traditional doctors, this was proof I had never had mercury poisoning to begin with. The tests I’d shared from the integrative, functional medicine (ifm.org) didn’t matter; they had to be wrong.

I then questioned my IFM doc. She confirmed I indeed had been tested by multiple, independent labs, multiple times. The tests were accurate. Most important of all - half of the offending mercury had left my body because I had followed the treatment protocol she recommended. 

Most ironic of all? My IFM, a Board Certified physician, had graduated from the same program as the traditionally trained doctors - she’d just become disillusioned with the way medicine was taught and then specialized in integrative, functional medicine. The traditional medicine doctor facility actually used her as a physician training resource. Yes, I’m shaking my head.

The new, traditional docs didn’t know about mercury toxicity, or using supplements to heal, or how to measure a body’s nutrients to understand from the get go what was going on with their patient. Call me dumbfounded. My husband calls it our own personal “WTF” moment. 

Therein lies the incredible, awful truth. Traditionally trained doctors practice by gathering symptoms and then guessing what’s wrong. They primarily work from the outside in, without enough information. 

Integrative, functional medicine doctors do the opposite. They work from the inside out. They gather information about a patient’s lifestyle, family history, biogenetics and so on. Then they run extensive blood, urine, hair, etc. tests that then provide an incredibly in-depth analysis of how a patient’s body is functioning at that moment. With the right training, the IFM doc can then recommend supplements based on what the tests have told them about a patient’s health. To sum: “Comprehensive lab evaluation is done including blood work that is much more in-depth than in traditional medicine.  Specialized functional medicine tests are often performed to look at the state of your digestion, hormones, adrenal glands and nutrition to gain a deeper understanding of imbalances within body systems and target our approach.”

For reference, I’ve attached just one detailed page out of many, with test results showing the state of my body in February 2023. Take note of the small black diamonds in any of the red areas. Those are not good to have. My body has been in significant oxidative and mitochondrial dysfunction because of chronic toxic mercury exposure. From results like this, my IFM doc can determine what nutrients I need to bring things back to a normal state. Before I can begin chelation therapy to remove the mercury, I’m taking extensive supplements and binders to prepare for the chelation.

At this point, I have to ask: is your doctor doing these kinds of tests for you? If not, then consider that you may think your healthy diet is all you need to live well for a long time, just like I did - but you’d have only part of the story right. Your typical annual blood test results are just not enough.

I had to pay for the evaluation by my IFM doc myself, as well as for the tests. If integrative, functional medicine was practiced by traditional medicine doctors, this kind of testing would lay the foundation for every patient's future. Now that I understand this, I can’t imagine moving forward with whatever is to come without knowing exactly how my physiology is functioning.

What I’ve noticed personally since I began to heal is that lifelong depression and anxiety is lessening. I am weaning off my antidepressants and am down to 2.5 mg with 0 mg in sight - a miraculous thing. My energy levels are gradually increasing and I find I can concentrate where I couldn’t before. Cholesterol is down and slowly, ever so slowly I can sleep through the night again. It makes all the difference in the world. And I haven’t even had my two amalgams removed or the chelation therapy yet. 

What haunts me is how the disconnect in traditional medical education ever happened. Who decided it wasn’t important for future physicians to understand nutrition? Why? Why aren’t medical schools more receptive to new concepts, new ways of healing patients? This paper was not written to deep dive bad decisions from long ago - it’s to change the way things are now.

At the moment, the practices of traditional medicine get the answers right only part of the time. Consequently, many conditions are misdiagnosed, ignored, minimized or attributed to something else - when that doesn’t need to happen. If only I had known long ago that my mercury levels were rising, that my depression and anxiety could have been relieved, then my bones would be in better shape, that so many things personally could have changed for me - and for so many others if they had had the right protocol from the start.

For our bodies, the failure of traditional medicine means that unbalanced nutrition, toxicities and undiagnosed disease states are often caught by chance, too little then too late. I’ve also realized, in the specific case of mercury toxicity, a bellwether of the dire state of our environment is also being missed by traditional methods. If blood, urine or hair had been tested using the IFM methods, doctors would have long ago reported on the rapid rise of mercury as a harbinger of environmental destruction. Imagine how apparent high mercury levels would have been all along the coasts, in seafood restaurants, in schoolchildren affected by copious amounts of tuna fish sandwiches. I envision a large map of the U.S., lit up from Maine to Florida, heavy with toxicity.

The practice of integrative functional medicine should be at the root of all medical education; otherwise, it’s a lot of guesswork and not the complete picture. The knowledge of how to practice good medicine like this is out there; it’s just dismissed, ignored, shuffled under the paperwork. How can medical schools NOT have integrative, functional medicine at their core? How can Medicare NOT recognize the legitimacy of it? How can very bright people be so wrong and so resistant to change at the expense of the nation’s health?

It’s not up to me to stop the competition, undermining and tribalism in medicine. I can’t even get my own doctors to believe me, despite written evidence. What I don’t understand is why they can’t all get along, for the good of the patient? Where is that hippocratic oath now? 

Next up: dental amalgams and mercury. Hint: two amalgams have to be removed before I can have chelation/mercury removal therapy. There are good reasons for that.

Final PSA (let's hope)! Public Service Announcement 3.0: "Dental Denials and Mercury Amalgams"

June 7, 2023

by Catherine Twomey, FAMI, Emeritus

There are many incredibly thoughtful, dedicated, and remarkably honest healthcare professionals. Their love of science, humanity and their patients' well being is what medicine is supposed to be all about. They are skilled at listening, looking you in the eye and to the best of their ability figuring out what you need. It has taken a lot of due diligence and the most precious commodity, time, to advocate for myself and locate those kinds of healthcare professionals. It has been so worth it.

And now, on to teeth. Teeth with mercury, to be specific. You know, the ones everyone calls "silver fillings." Except they aren't just silver, not by a long shot.

About 15 years ago, when I lived in Charlottesville, VA, my dentist advised me to have all my ancient mercury amalgam fillings removed. I did, or so I thought. After the work was finished, I was thrilled when he announced: "You'll never have to worry about that again!" and went on my merry way.

After my February, 2023 unpleasant and surprising diagnosis of high levels of mercury, my Board Certified, Integrative, Functional medicine doctor (ifm.org) explored my health history in depth about what could have caused it. I immediately assumed it was only the large species, mercury laden fish that I naively consumed as a part of a healthy diet. Then she asked if I'd had all my amalgams removed. Proudly, I said yes - years ago. Well, not so fast.

Two or so weeks later, just on a hunch, I called my current dentist and asked them to check my X-rays for "silver" amalgams, just in case. They confirmed it: two remained, large adjacent molars; one had been a root canal and the other a filling.

Thinking back, I racked my brain over why the old dentist would have lied. Was it too complex of a removal for their skills? Had they somehow just missed them on the X Rays? At this point, I gave up trying to second guess their potential duplicity and moved on to starting mercury removal treatments while arranging for amalgam removals by a mercury amalgam removal specialist. The fillings were leaking mercury, and badly. Combined with a diet with tainted seafood, my doctor guessed the dental mercury toxicity significantly contributed to the systemic mercury overdose.

When I was a kid, silver fillings for cavities were a right of passage for millions of children around the world. This means, of course, that there are millions of adults walking around with mercury in their mouths. Mercury, you ask? Why yes, and quite a bit of it - 50% or more.

From David Kennedy, DDS (Past President of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology. His BA is in Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology from the University of Kansas (1967) and his Doctorate of Dental Surgery is from the University of Missouri (1971). Kennedy is a world lecturer to the dental profession on the safety of dental materials in the human body. His lectures include (among others) addresses to the World Health Organization, the American Dental Society of Europe, the German BGD, and Brazil Rio Eco-Odont).:

"(Amalgams) are not silver. That is a major consumer deception by dentistry. They are 50% or more mercury and the only safe way to have them removed is by standard containment procedures that are OSHA approved, which include airway protections, nitrile dam, coolant and lots of suctions."

What? How could this possibly have happened?

From Barry Keate, who has published 150+ research articles on numerous aspects of tinnitus (a known side effect of mercury poisoning) and is an expert on the condition and a well-known advocate for those with tinnitus:

"In 1843, the American Society of Dental Surgeons (ASDS), the only US dental association at the time, declared the use of dental amalgam to be malpractice and forced all of its members to sign a pledge to abstain from using it….this was the beginning of what are known in dentistry as the Amalgam Wars.

However, the ease of use, the low cost and low pain of dental amalgams led to its continued increase….As the use of amalgam grew, the ASDS fell apart and in 1859 the pro-amalgam faction formed the American Dental Association (ADA), the same organization that leads the dental profession in the US today, and remains steadfast in its defense of amalgam.

The second amalgam war was provoked in the 1920's by Professor Alfred E. Stock, a leading chemist at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Germany. Adverse effects on his own health from mercury in the lab led him to question the supposed safety of mercury from dental amalgam. His research, concluding there were adverse health effects, was published in leading scholarly journals of the day. It touched off a debate that raged through the 1930's without a clear resolution, only to fade away in the storm of World War II.

We are currently in the advanced stages of the third amalgam war. The argument was opened in the late 1970's, as modern methods of detecting the presence of trace amounts of mercury in the body were introduced, including mass spectrophotometry and the Jerome mercury vapor detector.

The ADA maintains that dental amalgam is safe and inert. On its website, it states, "Dental amalgam contains elemental mercury combined with other metals such as silver, copper, tin and zinc to form a safe, stable alloy. Dental amalgam has been used for generations to fill decayed teeth that might otherwise have been lost to decay."

It is not looking like mercury amalgam fillings are as harmless as the ADA would like us to believe. However, the most shocking evidence I found is yet to come and, with it, a graphic video of exactly what happens to amalgam fillings in our mouths as they age.

In following links and different search queries, I came upon the website for the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT). This group was founded by a small number of dentists in 1984 that were concerned about amalgam fillings and decided to research the scientific literature. The IAOMT has since grown to 500 members in North America and affiliated chapters in 14 other countries. Its Scientific Advisory Committee includes a former Chairman of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Kentucky, a Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington, a Professor of Pathology at the University of Arkansas, and so on. Their aim is to promote biocompatible approaches to dentistry, endodontics, periodontics and disease prevention.

Their main article about amalgam fillings is titled "The Scientific Case Against Amalgam" and lists fully 97 clinical studies that support their conclusions. It also includes a video of an extracted tooth containing an old amalgam filling. The tooth is held in the light of a miner's black light, a pure mercury vapor discharge lamp. The only vapor that can absorb the wavelength of a mercury emission light and cast a shadow is mercury vapor. The video clearly shows gaseous clouds of mercury vapor being released by the amalgam filling. It is shocking and convincing; everyone should see it.

The youtube video is entitled "Smoking Tooth" and can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ylnQ-T7oiA

It lasts about 8 minutes. It is literally jaw-dropping. Make sure the sound is on so you can hear the narrative."

If this doesn't convince you that it was a really bad idea to use mercury in fillings, I don't know what will. Finally, however, minds are opening and realizing that wrongs need to be righted.

From Richard M. Nadler, DMD:

"In 2008, the American Dental Association, (ADA), announced that the use of mercury-silver, or amalgam, dental fillings has been banned in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. There has been much discussion about the health and environmental risks of mercury fillings in the United States as well as Europe for some time. This new broader ban was instituted because mercury is considered in those countries to be a dangerous environmental toxin as well as a potential health risk.

However, in the USA the use of mercury in dental fillings is still approved by the government and the ADA. It is only in recent years that most American insurance companies have approved payment for alternatives to mercury amalgam fillings. It is considered unethical for a dentist to advise a patient to have mercury fillings removed for health reasons. However, any patient may choose to have their existing amalgams replaced with an alternative material if they so desire.

From a dental point of view, amalgam fillings are inferior to their alternatives for various reasons. Just like a mercury thermometer, as they are exposed to heat, amalgam fillings expand. And with cold, they contract. The problem is that they expand contract at a slightly greater rate than the tooth structure which surrounds them. After years of hot and cold cycling, small cracks develop in the teeth. Eventually, these cracks propagate and the teeth fracture. Then, a larger and more complicated restoration is required to repair the damage. In addition, unlike the alternative materials used to repair teeth which are bonded into place, amalgams do nothing to hold the remaining tooth together. And, from a cosmetic point of view, silver fillings cause the teeth to appear grayish. Such discoloration often increases over time. Although ethically, I am not permitted to recommend removal of amalgams for strictly health issues, I decided over fifteen years ago to stop using mercury-containing fillings. My patients' experience with the alternative materials has been excellent in terms of longevity of service, comfort, and appearance."

Two weeks ago, I was lying in the dentist's chair, covered from head to toe, with an oxygen tube helping me breathe. Essentially, I was mummified. The only opening was through a small piece of plastic embedded around my teeth. Everything else was covered or wrapped. A large white flexible tube nestled in my lap and pointed to my exposed mouth. Its job was to suck mercury vapors away as quickly as possible as the Haz-matted dentists worked. The only way I could communicate was by holding and using a clicker; I came very close to using it because it often felt like I was drowning. It was a very long two hours of wishing it was all over, until suddenly it was.

The after effects, however, are not.

What amazes me is how few people understand the dangers of mercury in fish (see previous PSAs) and amalgams. It is beyond frustrating that there is so much resistance from medical and dental professionals to actually find the root causes of disease and practice safely instead of just for profit. It doesn't need to be like this.

Apparently, mercury is still being used in the US. Sadly, Black, Latino, Native American, and low-income kids are much more likely to get mercury-based amalgam fillings (today) than their more affluent non-Hispanic White counterparts. Add in the millions of adults walking around with vaporizing mercury amalgams in their mouths, possibly wondering about mysterious side effects and having no idea that their problem is mercury.

In about two weeks I finally begin my official mercury removal protocol, which I fondly refer to as the big kahuna. This will be chelation therapy that will hopefully reach into my organs and cells to "liquidate" whatever mercury remains so my body can heal completely. My integrative, functional medicine doctor has been preparing my body for this for the last five months. I'm ready to go and can't wait to be finished.

Thank goodness for the good doctors, because they're out there, quietly and steadfastly putting their patients first.

Wish me well, as I do you.