Symptoms Of Mercury Toxicity

Your Dental Amalgams and Mercury Toxicity Symptoms

Dental amalgams are 50% mercury. The mercury contained in the amalgam leaches out as a vapour into your body for the lifetime of the filling. Mercury is a highly toxic heavy metal and the mental, physical and emotional effects of mercury on the body have been well documented and known for centuries.

Sources of Mercury

Although you are exposed to mercury through many sources including environmental exposure, eating fish etc, the majority of mercury exposure comes from dental amalgam, the silver fillings in your teeth.

Amalgam was developed over 180 years ago and has never been exposed to any meaningful safety testing. It is a mixture of 50% liquid mercury and 50% powdered metals and it never truly sets, it is, in fact, a stiff paste of alloys in a liquid mercury base.

What Does Mercury Do To Your Health?

Mercury disrupts the biological functions of the body on a number of different levels, which means it can cause a myriad of disturbances, imbalances, illnesses and symptoms in your body.

The following list provides the most recognised symptoms of mercury toxicity. For ease, I have broken them down into regions of the body. This list is extensive but not exhaustive and just because you have or may have some of these symptoms it is not a diagnosis for mercury toxicity.

The Respiratory System

Up to 80% of inhaled mercury vapour is absorbed through the lungs. From here it travels to all the other tissues and organs of the body in the circulation but particularly concentrates within the kidney, liver and brain.

The presence of mercury in the lungs causes chronic breathing disorders including:

• Asthma
• Bronchitis
• Breathlessness
• A persistent cough and
• Bad breath

Brain Function

Mercury binds tightly to nerves and fats, so it is readily absorbed into the brain and nerve endings that regulate all the functions of the body. It prevents nerves regenerating and disrupts nerve function.

Mercury from amalgam crosses the blood-brain barrier and can damage any part of the central nervous system including the master endocrine glands at the base of the brain which control both the nervous and hormone systems.

Mercury can produce a host of mental, emotional, and behavioural changes and what are considered ‘psychiatric’ disorders by disrupting neurotransmitters, interfering with endocrine gland function and hormones and causing the destruction of nervous pathways.

The effects of mercury on brain function include:

• Poor memory
• Difficulty multitasking
• Difficulty finding words
• A lack of initiative
• An inability to concentrate
• Brain fog
• An inability to make decisions and
• Lack of motivation
• Changes in mood

Mercury is also known to have profound effects upon mood including:

• Fears
• Anxieties
• Irritability
• Fits of anger
• Panic attacks
• Mood swings
• Loss of self-confidence
• Withdrawal
• Being easily embarrassed
• Feeling overwhelmed
• Feeling easily discouraged
• A loss of sense of humour
• Life seems an endless, joyless struggle
• ‘Psychiatric’ symptoms

The ability of mercury to induce ‘mercury madness’ is well recognised and symptoms include:

• Hallucinations
• Depression
• A persistent death wish
• Suicide attempts
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders
• Manic-Depressive Disorder
• Panic disorders an
• Schizophrenia spectrum disorders
• Peripheral nervous system symptoms
• The profound disruption of nerve structure and function leads to difficulty with motor nerve function including:
• Difficulty articulating words
• Numbness and tingling
• Clumsiness
• Difficulty doing fine tasks such as typing or adding numbers on a calculator
• Tremors
• Ticks and twitches (especially of the face and eyes)
• A loss of coordination and
• Restless legs

Reproductive and Sexual Function

Mercury collects in the reproductive organs where it can cause a variety of disorders including infertility.

It is known to directly cross the placental barrier in pregnant women and also to concentrate in breast milk and mercury levels in newborn babies have been shown to be directly related to the number of amalgam fillings in the mother’s mouth.

The symptoms of mercury toxicity in both sexes include:

• A low or non-existent libido
• Precocious or late puberty
• Infertility
• In women
• Heavy, missed or irregular periods
• Severe period pains
• Pre-menstrual tension (PMT)
• Miscarriages
• Stillbirths
• In men
• Impotence
• Premature ejaculation
• Low sperm count, defective sperm and sperm with poor motility

The Urinary System

Mercury from dental amalgam fillings is also recognised to severely impact kidney function such that animal studies have shown a 50% reduction within a month of placement of the first amalgam filling.

Effects of mercury on the urinary system include:

• Kidney damage
• Frequent urination
• Frequent nocturnal urination (2-3 times a night or more)
• Incontinence (especially in women)
• Difficulty urinating (especially in men)
• An urgent need to urinate
• A variety of kidney and bladder diseases.

The Musculoskeletal System

Mercury accumulates in muscles and joints causing muscle tenderness and joint pain.

• Tender, sore muscles
• Rapid muscle fatigue
• Joint pain
• Joint swelling
• Joint stiffness
• Muscle cramps
• Low-back pain
• Muscle weakness
• Jaw joint dysfunction (TMJD)

The Cardiovascular System And Heart

Mercury collects in the heart muscle and valves and has been found at 22,000 times the levels found in the blood.

Mercury is strongly associated with elevated levels of homocysteine and cholesterol and heart attacks.

It also causes red blood cells to rupture and replaces the iron in haemoglobin so that the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood can be reduced by half. Mercury also causes a weakening in the walls of the small blood vessels leading to the reduced blood supply to the organs and tissues.

The cardiovascular symptoms of mercury poisoning include:

• Heart palpitations
• An irregular heartbeat
• Angina or chest pain
• A racing heartbeat
• Either an abnormally slow or rapid heart rate
• Low or high blood pressure
• Frequently feeling faint
• Elevated blood cholesterol and homocysteine levels and
• Easy bleeding and bruising.

The Endocrine Hormone System

Mercury disrupts hormone production and release from the endocrine glands, and also blocks the receptors which allow the hormones to send messages to cells and organs.

The endocrine system has a high requirement for specific trace minerals and accumulation of mercury within the glands may occur because of the chemical similarity to the essential mineral, zinc.

Symptoms of mercury poisoning in the endocrine system include:

• Low and poorly controlled blood sugar respectively
• Hypothyroidism – under-active thyroid gland
• Hypoadrenalism – under-functioning adrenal glands
• Constant fatigue -adrenal and thyroid gland exhaustion
• A poor physiological response to stress.

The Oral Cavity / Mouth

Mercury also collects in very high concentrations in the jaw bones and the soft tissues of the mouth.

Mixing gold and amalgam restorations in the mouth increases the amount of mercury vapour given off several folds and placing gold crowns over amalgam cores particularly drives mercury into the surrounding bone.

Symptoms of mercury toxicity in the mouth include:

• Bleeding gums
• Periodontal (gum) disease
• Mouth ulcers
• A metallic taste
• Excessive salivation
• A loss of the sense of taste
• A burning, red, inflamed mouth
• ‘Bald’ patches on the tongue or cheeks (includes geographical tongue)
• Dark spots on gums (‘amalgam tattoos’)

The Ears: Hearing and Balance

Mercury accumulates in the many sensory nerves of the ear that serve hearing and balance.

Symptoms include:

• Dizziness
• Vertigo
• Poor balance
• Tinnitus (ringing or whining noises in the ears)
• Pain in the ear canals
• Poor hearing and deafness
• Difficulty interpreting what you hear.

Skin, Hair and Nails

• For the body, the skin is a major route of excretion and so it will try to expel mercury via the skin.
• Cold, clammy skin
• Dry skin
• Peeling or flaking skin on the hands, feet and face
• A puffy face
• Red, flaky skin around the eyes
• Thick, red skin on hands & feet
• Pricking, stabbing, fizzing or crawling sensations in the skin
• Very itchy rashes
• Eczema and psoriasis.
• Excessive perspiration
• An inability to sweat
• Night Sweats.

The quality of the hair and nails is also adversely affected causing:

• Loss of underarm, pubic, body or head hair
  
• Greying of hair
• Dry, thin, wiry, dull hair
• Weak, flaky nails that split and tear easily.

The Nose and Sinuses

Some of the mercury vapour from amalgam fillings adheres to the lining of the nose and sinuses from where it can be transported directly into the brain and cause the following symptoms:

• Chronic sinusitis
• Poor sense of smell
• Chronic or recurrent rhinitis
• Nasal congestion
• A persistently sore throat
• Chronic tonsillitis.

Eyesight

Mercury collects within the eyeballs themselves leading to the appearance of ‘floaters’ (dark cloudy areas), but also adversely affects the muscles controlling focusing of the eyes and lens and the sensory nerves of the retina itself leading to:

• Intermittent visual blurring
• Deteriorating peripheral vision or ‘tunnel’ vision
• Bulging eyes
• Sensitivity to light
• Difficulty focusing
• Poor colour vision
• Poor night vision
• Difficulty moving the eyes.

The Digestive System

Much of the mercury from dental amalgams is swallowed along with foods or in the saliva and the digestive system is usually one of the first areas of the body to be affected. Mercury binds with and blocks the actions of digestive enzymes leading to poor digestion and the development of food intolerances.

It also alters the normal gut bacteria, favouring the overgrowth of yeasts (most commonly Candida albicans) and suppressing the growth of ‘friendly’ bacteria which can lead to the development of intestinal permeability or a so-called ‘leaky gut’.

Digestive symptoms of mercury poisoning include:

• The development of food sensitivities and intolerances
• Abdominal cramps and pain
• Constipation and/or diarrhoea
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Malabsorption
• Leaky Gut
• Gastroenteritis
• Nausea
• Heartburn.

The Immune System

The immune system is one of the first casualties of mercury toxicity. It causes a reduction in the number of natural killer (NK) cells which are responsible for policing tumours and viruses leading to the development of chronic viral infections and cancer.

The effects of mercury toxicity upon the immune system include:

• Chronic, recurrent or frequent infections.
• Chronic or recurrent yeast infections. Mercury actively promotes the overgrowth of yeasts such as Candida albicans causing thrush, ‘jock’ itch and athlete’s foot.
• The development of allergies and sensitivities. Mercury alters the ratios of T-helper cells to T-suppressor cells so that the immune response is turned on more readily but not terminated, leading the immune system to over-react to a wide variety of foods and chemicals.
• Autoimmune diseases. Mercury binds to proteins on the surface of the cells of the body leading the immune system to identify them as being foreign and initiating one of the 100 or more autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, scleroderma or Hashimoto thyroiditis.
• Various Cancers. The undermining of the immune response and in particular the disabling of the natural killer cells leads to the development of one of the most prevalent immune deficiency disease of all: cancer.
• The lymphatic system works to drain and filter excess fluid from the tissues and to initiate an immune response is required. The effects of mercury toxicity on the lymphatic system include:
• Water retention (especially of the legs)
• Swollen lymph nodes (especially in the neck).

General Symptoms of Mercury Toxicity

Last, but not least, mercury particularly accumulates in the mitochondria (‘powerhouses’) of the cells where it poisons energy production. The presence of mercury in the circulation and the effects on energy production lead to:

• Profound exhaustion and fatigue (chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia)
• Low body temperature
• Cold hands and feet
• Unexplained changes in weight
• Changes in appetite
• Excessive thirst
• Headaches and migraines
• Anaemia
• Difficulty getting to sleep
• Early waking

Illnesses Linked With Mercury Toxicity

• Fibromyalgia
• Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)
• Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
• Multiple sclerosis (MS)
• Parkinson’s disease
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Colitis
• Crohn’s disease
• Autoimmune diseases
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Autism
• Cancer

If you have concerns about your dental amalgams seek out a qualified and well trained holistic dentist who understands about the impact of mercury on your health.

Click HERE for references