Mercury
poisoning fibromyalgia chronic fatigue chemical sensitivity autism
hyperactivity
Amalgam Illness
Diagnosis and Treatment
A book on
how to cure mercury poisoning
by Andrew Hall Cutler, PhD, PE
A wide variety
of debilitating and supposedly incurable conditions may actually be due to
chronic mercury poisoning. Mercury poisoning can be easily cured if it is
recognized. These conditions are seldom cured because mercury poisoning is
believed to be rare. It is not. It is quite common. Thus, many people suffer
needlessly.
Many of today's "mystery syndromes" that physicians don't know how to
treat at all - fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, anorexia, recurrent depression -
aren't mystery syndromes. They are just mercury poisoning. Treating them as
mercury poisoning cures them, while the usual treatments are seldom effective
in the long term.
This book gives practical guidance on how to tell if you really have chronic
mercury poisoning or some other problem. If mercury poisoning is your problem,
the book tells you how to get the mercury out of your body, and how to feel
good while you do that.
Sections also explain how the scientific literature shows many people must be
getting poisoned by their amalgam fillings, why such a regulatory blunder
occurred, and how the debate between "mainstream" and
"alternative" medicine makes it more difficult for you to get the
medical help you need.
Most of the book is devoted to what you can do to treat the symptoms of amalgam
illness while you get rid of your mercury. The treatment section gives step by
step directions to figure out exactly what mercury is doing to you and how to fix
it. You can feel better soon. This book tells you how.
Amalgam
Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment was written by a research chemist who himself got mercury
poisoning from his amalgam dental fillings. He found that there was no suitable
educational material for either the patient or the physician. Knowing how much
people can suffer from this condition, he wrote this book to help them get well
fast.
Click here to buy Amalgam
Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment using Pay
Pal
Amalgam
Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment costs $35. Washington State
residents please add $3.60 sales tax. Shipping and Handling is $5.
You may
make a credit card order by phone or fax. Call 425-557-8299. Leave the
information with the operator or on the answering machine. Fax credit
card charges to 425-557-2104. Provide name, shipping address, billing
address for the credit card if different, credit card number, expiration date
and your phone number in case there are questions. If faxed, sign the
request. Visa, M/C, Discover and AmEx accepted.
Amalgam Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment can be purchased by check.
Mail a check negotiable in the US (no eurocheques, please) to:
Andrew
Cutler
3006
230th Lane SE, #X103
Sammamish,
WA 98075 USA
To also buy Hair Test Interpretation:
Finding Hidden Toxicites add $35 (include $3.60 sales tax for delivery to Washington
state addresses).
To also buy Biological Treatments
for Autism and PDD
add $25 (include $2.70 sales tax for Washington State delivery
addresses).
To also buy What Your
Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations add $14.95 (include $1.35 sales tax
for Washington State delivery addresses).
Shipping
is by priority mail (global priority mail for international shipments).
This typically results in delivery within 2-5 days domestically or 3-7 days for
international shipments. Shipping times are not guaranteed. International
shipping is an additional $5.
Overnight shipping is
available for an additional $20 (Express Mail) or $30 (Federal Express).
Additional surcharges may apply for Saturday FedEx or foreign express
delivery. For overnight shipping, order by phone or fax. If you
wish to pay by PayPal, call the operator and notify him that an overnight order
has been placed so that it can be prepared for immediate shipment. There
is no guarantee of "next day" delivery as this may be influenced by
shipping service limitations or shipment cut off times. Every effort will
be made to ensure next day delivery.
Don't waste any more time wondering whether you have a mercury problem, or what
to do about it. Get Amalgam Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment, find out, and get
well!
Amalgam Illness: Diagnosis
and Treatment
What you can do to get better
How your doctor can help
by Andrew Hall Cutler, PhD, PE
ISBN 0-9676168-0-8
|
|
|
Amalgam Illness:
Diagnosis and Treatment starts
with a detailed explanation of why to consider amalgam illness to be something
that some people must have by comparing the well known statistics for how much
mercury people absorb from their fillings to the well known statistics of how
sensitive different members of a population are to a given toxin. This is for
people who really don't know if they believe in amalgam illness or not (the
other material available is rather sensational and I can't blame anyone reading
it for having questions) before going any further.
Amalgam
Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment discusses how to deal with physicians if you think you have
a controversial disease - especially if you have the great "luck" to
be covered by a managed care plan.
A
key section is devoted to diagnosis - how to tell if you actually have amalgam
illness instead of something else. It is also possible to be mercury poisoned
from something other than amalgam, and the testing and examination described
here is diagnostic regardless of the source.
How to get the dental work done safely if you have decided amalgam fillings are
the problem is briefly described - there is a robust industry of amalgam free dentists
if you know how to look for them. The use of drugs and nutritional supplements
to get the mercury out of your system is carefully presented- there are some
important factors here that are not well described in the previous books on the
subject and not all physicians who claim they know what to do actually give
good advice.
Then comes what turns out to be the major section of the book - how to treat
all the related health conditions amalgam illness can cause so as to relieve
them while mercury detoxification proceeds. Since amalgam illness is not widely
recognized in the medical community, most people with it get pretty sick before
they get motivated to bounce around between doctors and eventually end up in
front of one who tells them about it. So most victims have pretty serious,
unpleasant health problems (like fibromyalgia or severe allergies) and they
really need to make these STOP for the year or two it can take to get fully
detoxed and let your body heal.
There are extensive tables of what to use for different conditions, a
description of all the drugs and nutritional supplements suggested in the book,
and appendices covering things like what the assorted clinical laboratory tests
you might get actually mean, what other helpful books are that you might use,
and supporting information like what the chelating agents are and how they
work.
|
|
|
This book explains how the
modern epidemic of disabling, incurable chronic diseases is due to unrecognized
mercury poisoning. Many conditions, from Parkinson's disease and autism -
widely recognized as terrible afflictions - to those like chronic fatigue and
fibromyalgia which, though equally serious, are disparaged as "Yuppie
flu" can be undiagnosed mercury poisoning. The book explains WHY mercury
poisoning is so widespread, yet seldom diagnosed. Proper diagnostic procedures
are given so that sick people can decide what is wrong rather than trying
random treatments. This book explains how to cure chronic mercury poisoning,
what to do to control the problems it causes, and provides the real technical
information needed for diagnosis and treatment in a straightforward manner.
This down to earth book lets patients take care of themselves. It also lets
doctors who are not familiar with chronic mercury intoxication treat it. The
book is a practical guide to getting well.
Mercury can cause a bewildering variety of problems. In fact,
one of the major criticisms of amalgam illness is that it is cited as the cause
of so many things. But, like the parable of the blind men and the elephant,
mercury can indeed cause many diseases. Modern physicians are not trained to
find the root cause of a sick person's problems. They are trained to translate
what they see into latin, look it up in their textbook, and apply a cookbook
treatment. With a toxin that poisons fundamental metabolic processes different
people will experience different symptoms to start off, depending on their own
individual biochemistry. As the poisoning becomes more and more serious,
further symptoms surface and the modern doctor adds more diagnoses - a patient
who starts with depression might later be considered to have hypothyroidism,
allergies and asthma in addition. But no thought is given to why one person
should develop more and more "diseases," when a single diagnosis -
chronic mercury poisoning - could account for them all.
Some
of the "diseases" a modern physician might mistakenly misdiagnose
chronic mercury poisoning as are:
|
Addison's disease |
Gastritis |
|
Allergies |
Hypogonadism |
|
Alzheimer's' disease |
Hypothyroidism |
|
Amylotrophic lateral sclerosis |
Infertility |
|
Ankylosing spondylitis |
Insomnia |
|
Anorexia nervosa |
Irritable bowel syndrome |
|
Anxiety |
Juvenile arthritis |
|
Asthma |
Learning disabilities |
|
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder |
Lupus erythromatosus |
|
Autoimmune disease |
Manic depression |
|
Bipolar disorder |
Multiple chemical sensitivities |
|
Borderline personality disorder |
Multiple sclerosis |
|
Bulimia |
Myasthenia gravis |
|
Candidiasis |
Obsessive-compulsive disorder |
|
Chronic fatigue |
Panic attacks |
|
Colitis |
Parkinson's disease |
|
Crohn's disease |
Pervasive developmental disorder |
|
Depression |
Psychosis |
|
Endocrine disorders |
Rheumatoid arthritis |
|
Environmental illness |
Schizophrenia |
|
Fibromyalgia |
Sciatica |
|
Food allergies |
Sleep disorders |
|
|
Yeast syndrome |
Amalgam
Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment is a practical guide to getting well. It does not stop at
saying you MIGHT have mercury poisoning if you have one or more of these. It
tells you how to find out. Quantitative diagnostic procedures are included so
that you can decide whether your problems are due to mercury poisoning or not.
|
|
|
Introduction
Where to start if you think you have amalgam illness
How to use this book
What is in this book
Using other books
Using the internet
Medicine,
controversy, and mercury
The mercury controversy and me
Scientific or dogmatic medicine?
Mainstream and alternative
medicine
Physical versus mental illness
How can a doctor help you?
Why doctors should read this book
Discussion for physicians
The pressures of managed care
A warning to physicians and patients alike
Why worry about
mercury poisoning?
Chronic mercury poisoning is widespread
Clinical Studies highlight a dichotomy
Flawed clinical trials fail to resolve the mercury issue.
Current levels of mercury exposure are known to poison people
Only people who are immune to mercury work with it
Sources of mercury exposure
Fish mercury is a small concern
Mercury exposure levels
Mercury poisoning doesn't get diagnosed properly
People at risk for mercury poisoning - but not from amalgam
What not to worry about
What mercury poisoning does to you
Description of chronic mercury poisoning
Complication by other toxins
How mercury hurts you
How your body handles mercury
Mercury shows up in sick people
Physiology in outline
The physiological effects of mercury intoxication
Copper metabolism
Do you have it? How
to diagnose mercury poisoning
What to do if you can't get medical help
First, do no harm.
How to diagnose chronic mercury poisoning
Diagnostic checklist for mercury intoxication
Counting procedure
Further discussion of diagnosis
Old (possibly unrecognized) exposure
Arsenic, cadmium, lead and copper
Copper versus mercury poisoning
What to do about mercury
poisoning
Diet
Day to day practicality
How to keep your life together during treatment
Short instructions to the doctor when amalgam illness is suspected
Outline: treatment for mercury tox
What to do in case of an adverse reaction to improper chelation protocol
The doctor's approach to the patient with chronic mercury poisoning
Dental treatment
Dental work details
Medical Treatment
Introduction
Children
Chelation
Intravenous vitamin C
Testing table and suggestions
Fibromyalgia
Fatigue
Amino acid analysis
Magnesium, potassium, copper and iron
Fatty acids
Oxidative stress
Heart pain (angina)
Kidneys
Digestive tract
Skin
Allergy
Autoimmunity
Susceptibility to infection
Immune function
Liver metabolism
Sulfur metabolism
Hypoglycemia
Hormone profile
Pituitary
Hormone interactions
Thyroid
Wilson's disease
Adrenal insufficiency
Sex hormones
Growth hormone
Sleep
Brain function
Side effects and adverse reactions
Hospitals and avoiding harmful care
Psychiatric emergencies
What will happen - Prognosis
What to take for
mercury poisoning
Chelating agents
Pain relief (analgesics)
Antioxidants
Anti-anxiety agents (anxiolytics)
Liver support
Digestive tract support
Anti-yeast (candida)
Anti-parasites
Antidepressants
Manic depression (bipolar disorder)
Brain support
Immune support
Asthma/allergy suppression
Adrenal issues
Hypoglycemia
Blood pressure
Hormones (endocrine system)
Insomnia
Achiness or fibromyalgia
Energy improvement
Anti-mercury supplements
Heart
Summary table of therapeutic agents
Descriptions of stuff you can take (Materia medica)
Appendix
Useful books
Other references cited
Diagnostic tests - when to perform them and what they mean
Therapy with Prescription Medications
Prednisolone taper
Magnesium and vitamin C injections
Food
How to get your medical records
Sources
Chelation Considerations
DMPS, DMSA, LA, BAL, PA and Cysteine structural formulae
Chelating agent pharmacokinetics
Mathematical background for diagnosis
Symptomatic diagnosis - accurate numeric procedure derived
The toxic threshold for mercury
Dental amalgam - major source of mercury exposure
Cutaneous absorption of mercury
Iatrogenic exposure to mercury
Iatrogenic self exposure to mercury
Index
List of figures
Figure 1. Mercury comparison of poisoned dentists and students as
measured
Figure 2. Mercury comparison of poisoned dentists and the general
population
Figure 3. Mercury is metabolized differently by assorted types of people
Figure 4. How different parts of your brain control your hormones
Figure 5. Simplified figure of the important steroid hormones
Figure 6. Complete figure of steroid hormones made by your gonads and
adrenal glands
Figure 7. Figure showing the metabolism of sulfur amino acids and related
compounds
Figure 8. Simplified figure showing the metabolism and effects of
essential fatty acids
Figure 9. Complete figure showing the metabolism and effects of essential
fatty acids
Figure 10. Schematic illustration of cell membrane function
Figure 11. Phase 1 liver metabolism
Figure 12. Phase 2 liver metabolism
Figure 13. Blood sugar and brain energy after a meal
Figure 14. Blood sugar and brain energy when you haven't eaten for a
while
Figure 15. Brain mercury and how you feel after amalgam removal
Figure 16. T3 and T4 levels on various forms of thyroid hormone
Figure 17. Normal relationship between ACTH and cortisol in healthy
resting people
Figure 18. Normal relationship between T3 and T4 in healthy people
Figure 19. Normal relationship between free T4 and TSH in healthy people
Figure 20. Schematic illustration of how different anti-mercury drugs work
in the body
Figure 21. Blood concentration of chelating agent for various
administration schedules
Figure 22. Structure of various chelating agents and anti-mercury drugs
List of tables
Table 1. Average nonoccupational exposure to mercury
Table 2. The effect of the various hormones on the body
Table 3. Phase 2 metabolic pathways and how to affect them
Table 4. Effects of medicines and supplements on diagnostic tests
Table 5. Statistical tables for diagnosis based on standard assumptions
Table 6. Statistical tables for diagnosis based on conservative
assumptions
Table 7. Common problems and possible treatments in mercury poisoning
Table 8. Summary table of therapeutic agents
Table 9. 24 hour urinary creatinine versus height and sex
Table 10. Correction factor table for testosterone measurements
Table 11. "One size fits all" short prednisolone taper
Table 12. Prednisolone tapers by body weight and initial mg/kg desired
Table 13. Mercury excretion on various chelation regimes
Table 14. Conversion table for comparison of different challenge test
results
Table 15. Diagnostic probability table based on low population incidence
Table 16. Diagnostic probability table based on high population incidence
Table 17. Factors for exact diagnostic calculation from symptoms
|
|
|
Excerpt
from the Book:
Medicine, Controversy and Mercury
This is not the first time
in the history of modern medicine that a very obvious disease was belittled and
ignored. Until recently it was believed that ulcers were entirely
psychosomatic. Ulcer sufferers underwent prolonged treatment, were
seldom cured, and often ended up under the surgeon's knife. After
years of intense criticism and ridicule - about 20 years after the research was
published - it has finally been accepted that most ulcers are due to
helicobacter pylorii infection which can be easily cured with appropriate
antibiotic therapy. At least by the medical schools and licensing boards.
Yet it is still common to find physicians who still treat ulcers by prescribing
acid suppressors - as if they resulted from too much stomach acid.
Cholesterol was held
out as the root cause of atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease for about
30 years during which the correct evidence that elevated homocysteine played a
major role was ridiculed and ignored.
Older physicians
still remember when "there was no such thing as Epstein Barr Virus
(mononucleosis)."
And who can forget
Lyme disease? A housewife fell ill. Her arthritis and other
symptoms were diagnosed as psychosomatic. When her husband and children came
down with similar symptoms, this was regarded as some kind of projection of her
psychosomatic complaint. She was eventually able to convince physicians
that the only crazy thing was assuming that something psychosomatic could be
contagious!
Chronic Fatigue
Immune Deficiency Syndrome is still routinely considered a psychiatric disorder
despite the repeated publication of physical and laboratory abnormalities
always found in victims of it. When it can no longer be ignored, it
is dismissed with a bit of namecalling - "Yuppie flu."
And in less recent
times, another form of mercury poisoning - acrodynia - was endemic for
150 years until physicians recognized mercury as the causal agent. The disease
was promptly eliminated by changing the formulation of certain infant care
products.
|
|
|
Excerpt from the Book:
Mainstream versus Alternative Medicine
It is common for two
conflicting but legitimate segments of the medical community to be at odds as
to the methods for diagnosing and treating certain conditions. Where
there is more than one recommended method of diagnosis or therapy and none of
them are used exclusively and uniformly by all physicians, a physician is
acting ethically and in accordance with the law if he uses one of these
approved methods, even if it later turns out to be the wrong one.
Thus, in
controversial areas, the burden really is on the patient to decide
whether to accept the physician's diagnosis and proposed treatment plan,
or to seek another. This is why patients' rights exist and are strongly
protected by law. So if you are getting diagnoses like "there is
nothing wrong," or "it's all in your head" and proposed
treatment plans like "try ignoring it and seeing if it goes
away," you have no obligation to accept these. If you want
another diagnosis or treatment plan, you have to find another physician
who follows different methods of diagnosis and treatment for this kind of
condition.
|
|
|
Excerpt
from the Book:
What Mercury Poisoning Does to You
In an overall lifestyle sense,
the fact that symptoms come and go leads to the victim having periods of weeks
to years of being highly functional and productive, interspersed with
periods of being nonproductive and having a hard time getting anything
done. Life seems to progress in fits and starts. Great progress is made
on projects which later get shelved for long periods. As the disease
continues, the productive periods become shorter, fewer, and
farther between.
There are emotional
changes in mercury poisoning. Depression slowly sets in. Victims
feel fatigued and listless. They lack motivation - even for crucial
tasks. They lose interest in their surroundings and in their own
life. They do not enjoy life, or experience happiness or joy.
They experience constant fear e. g. of losing their job. They may be very
tense. They feel hopeless. They have a sense of impending
doom. Every small problem is discouraging. Minor difficulties seem
overwhelming and insurmountable.
The altered emotional
state of a mercury intoxicated person leads to impaired interpersonal
relationships. They become increasingly irritable and sensitive,
reacting strongly to relatively innocent remarks. They may not be able to
take orders, instructions, or suggestions without losing their temper.
They resent criticism and may interpret innocent remarks critically. They
may have an exaggerated response to stimulation and become fearful or anxious
and nervous. They may project their fears and anxieties onto
others, making inappropriate criticisms or attacks. They become shy
and avoid dealing with strangers. While timid, they may
unexpectedly lose self control with strangers. They may wish to visit
with friends and family extensively, often wishing to engage in long,
repetitive conversations, then withdraw for prolonged periods of
time. They withdraw more and more from social contacts.
Intelligence
gradually deteriorates. Previously bright persons become dull and slow in
thinking. They suffer from a progressive decline specifically affecting
short term memory as well as the faculties for logical reasoning. Thus
their ability to do things like balance the checkbook, do math, or
play chess suffers. They lose the ability to concentrate. Memory problems
may be more from distractability and inability to concentrate and pay enough
attention to get things INTO their memory than an actual failure to remember
things (thus they may complain of memory problems but do well on memory
tests). They cease being motivated towards their work or other
tasks. Thoughts become heavy, repetitive and pedantic. Creative thinking
becomes progressively more difficult, eventually becoming
impossible. They become unable to select the right words to convey their
meaning, and make stylistic and grammatical errors. Their ability
to express themselves declines progressively.
There is a
distinctive cognitive symptom of being unable to think clearly without great
effort. The best description for people who have not experienced it is of
a hangover without pain. People who have experienced it will recognize
the term "brain fog" as entirely descriptive.
As the victim's level
of intoxication waxes and wanes they go through periods of life when they do or
do not dream. Dreaming may be in black and white.
Early physical
symptoms include dizziness, tinnitus (ringing in the ears),
insomnia, daytime drowsiness, loss of appetite, a tendency
towards diarrhea - often alternating with constipation, cold hands and
feet, a tendency towards sweating (some people have the opposite symptom
and do not sweat at all), flushing or reddening of the skin - particularly on
the face and neck. Some people blush frequently, but others do not blush at
all. Asthma is a symptom of chronic mercury poisoning. Digestive
disturbances are also common.
The skin becomes
dry, athlete's foot and toenail fungus progress, and the insides of
the ankles, particularly behind the ankle bone and a bit above it become
dry, itchy, flaky and peel. This often becomes painful and annoying
enough to keep the victim up at night. Even after fungus and yeast
infection has been eliminated hyperkeratosis, often with papular erythema
and itching are common.
The hair becomes
thinner, dryer, duller, less strongly colored, slower
growing, and more brittle.
The biological clock
is disturbed. Waking up late and staying up late is more common than
being an "early bird." Try as they might, the mercury poisoned
person simply cannot control their circadian rhythm.
Victims may become
photophobic and find bright light uncomfortable and unpleasant. There may
be visual disturbances, including alterations in color perception leading
to reduced sensitivity to the color red, or color blindness. The
ability to focus on distant objects may be sporadically impaired. Peripheral
vision may be reduced in the most severe cases.
The hands and feet
often become distinctly cold. This can occur suddenly and is most
distinctive when combined with sweating. Later in more severe poisoning
they may also tingle or lose feeling.
The effects of
mercury on the mouth are receding, sometimes spongy gums that bleed
easily and teeth that are 'loose' in their sockets and can be wiggled very
slightly. It also causes excessive salivation and unusually bad breath.
Mercury interferes
with the sense of smell which becomes less acute, and later with
hearing, in which perception of sounds does not diminish as notably as
the patient's ability to understand and interpret them - e. g. to understand
speech directed at them even though they hear it clearly.
Victims often
experience discomfort that feels like a "tight band around their
head." They may also experience sharp points of discomfort in their
ear canals at bedtime.
Mercury also
interferes with the body's ability to regulate temperature. Victims may
alternate between being hot and cold when the temperature isn't changing,
or have to wear more clothes than other people, or have more difficulty
than other people in staying comfortable while the temperature changes.
Temperature disregulation also leads to 'night sweats.'
|
|
|
Excerpt
from the Book:
Overview of Treatment
Amalgam illness is
analogous to a war. Your enemy, mercury, captured a beachhead
in your teeth and fortified it with amalgam. Then it launched an
attack. House to house. Organ to organ. Cell to cell.
Slowly capturing your body. You win the war with a surgical strike.
Dental surgery. Drill out those fillings. Removing your amalgam
declares an armistice. Fighting stops, but the mercury atoms are
still dug in wherever they reached. Chelation sends clean up squads off
to round up the enemy and escort them out. Meanwhile the surviving cells
in your body get to work and to repair the war damage. Supplementation is
like disaster relief - it makes the process go a lot faster.
There are two goals
to treatment. First, get rid of the mercury. Second, control
symptoms so you can be comfortable and productive during the prolonged period
when mercury is removed and healing takes place. In order to control your
symptoms it is necessary to identify the metabolic defects mercury is causing
for you.
In your ongoing
battle to control symptoms while the mercury comes out and your body repairs
all the damage, you need to take a straightforward, common sense
approach.
Know yourself. If you
react to everything, go slow, start with small doses of
things, be patient. Don't be any more aggressive than your body and
your psyche can tolerate.
Start with the problems
that are causing other problems.
If your digestion is not
working, get your guts fixed up since this will take a load off your
liver and let you get helpful supplements and medicines into you.
Make sure your hormones are
working right. Treat your body, not numbers on a lab report.
Solve the other troublesome
problems, and find solutions that work for you.
It is very common for
mercury poisoned people to have been treated for depression, and for most
MD's to diagnose them as "just depressed." While depression is
often present it is not the cause of the problem. It should be treated to
reduce suffering. The underlying problems causing it must be identified
and treated too - just treating depression is like continuing to give painkillers
day after day for a broken arm instead of setting it and putting it in a cast.
|
|
|
Excerpt
from the Book:
What to Expect - Prognosis
Both you and your doctor
need to know how long it takes before you get well, and what do you
expect along the way.
Using a proper
protocol, e. g. DMSA every 3-4 hours on alternate weeks: 2-6 months
to feel better. Then DMSA + LA every 3-4 hours 3 or 4 days every week or
two to clear the brain and internal organs, 2-6 months to feel
better. Continue supplements and diet control with continuing DMSA + LA
chelation while healing takes place, another 4-30 months to good physical
and mental health. Total time: 1 to 4 years if you stick with the
program.
The big determiner of
how long it takes is the DMSA+LA phase. That depends on how seriously
poisoned you got.
You feel depressed,
tired, icky. You are moderately poisoned. 6-11 months of
DMSA+LA treatment will be required. You will FEEL cured immediately if
you take the right supplements and medicines, but you have to chelate to
get rid of the mercury.
You are starting to get
stuff like chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, environmental
sensitivities, severe allergies or asthma, emotional disturbances.
14-25 months of DMSA-LA will be required. You will feel MUCH better with
the proper supplements and medicines and be able to get on with life pretty
quickly.
You have multiple chemical
sensitivities, chronic fatigue syndrome, serious emotional disturbances.
You really are not able to participate in life. You are very seriously
poisoned. You will need 20-36 months of DMSA+LA to get well. You
will need proper supplements and medications to be at all functional and will
need to pay careful attention to continuing them and adjusting them for 2-3
years until you are detoxed enough that your health isn't coming out of a pill
bottle.
If you continue to
chelate with DMSA+LA for 6 months to a year after you are sure you are well you
will remove more mercury from your brain and greatly reduce the chances of
future problems, neurological disease, or premature aging.
If you follow a
standard "alternative medicine" or "witch doctor"
protocol, e. g. DMSA every other day or DMPS injections monthly:
you will get worse for 6 months to one year, then slowly get better for
another several years - but behavioral and coordination problems are
exacerbated by this therapy and emotional symptoms are not alleviated.
There is also a substantial risk of psychiatric illness. Total time: a
year of misery, 5 years to feel better, but you never will be
completely well.
If
you drill out your fillings then do nothing: about the same thing will
happen as with the "witch doctor" protocol, but without the
side effects, expense, or risk of insanity.
What
people have to say about
Amalgam Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment
|
|
|
What
reviewers have to say
Amalgam Illness:
Diagnosis and Treatment
provides practical tools for use in trying to sort out a health problem.
Himself and amalgam victim, Cutler describes the weird world of an amalgam
patient in a very initiated way. Mercury and other heavy metals take up
residence in the active site of liver enzymes where some essential substance is
supposed to be sitting. The enzymes stop detoxifying pollutants and naturally
occurring toxins and the victim becomes more sensitive to air quality, foods
and chemicals. ... A chelating agent ... has two or more thiol groups in the
same molecule which hold onto the mercury more tightly and is more likely to be
able to move it out of the body safely. ... The objective of the suggested
treatment is to minimize the redistribution of mercury, and to get it out of
the system. (Heavy Metal Bulletin, volume 5 number 3 August 1999)
What
readers have to say
This
book will give you the ammunition you will need to successfully recover from
amalgam illness. It will also help you avoid making bad decisions about
treatment. Patient-friendly and detailed, it is a blueprint which points you in
the right direction for each symptom and area of suffering. Do not proceed
without this surprisingly thorough book.
L. M. S.
Chicago, Illinois
This is
the book you need! Andrew Cutler has written an exceptional and
enlightening book on the devastating health affects caused by amalgam fillings
in your teeth. No one ever speaks as knowingly as those with experience. The
author, himself a victim of mercury poisoning and a respected research
scientist offers a clear, concise description of the physical and neurological
destruction mercury causes in the human body. Clearly explained in language the
patient can understand, yet the book is medically and scientifically detailed
enough to belong in every physician's library.
Do you
know that dental amalgams - commonly referred to as silver fillings - are
composed of 50% mercury? Despite what you may have been told, the mercury is
not safely locked into the filling once it hardens. Mercury migrates from the
tooth into your body and brain via several pathways, which are thoroughly
explained in this book. If you have amalgam fillings in your teeth and find
yourself plagued with a host of illnesses or symptoms your physician cannot
resolve this book is a must read. Dr. Cutler has created a much needed and
valuable resource for the victims of mercury poisoning. Finding a doctor
knowledgeable on chronic mercury poisoning from amalgams is very difficult if
not next to impossible. This book will arm you with the knowledge and
information you need to make sure your doctor is following a protocol that will
help you recover, rather than one that might harm your health even further.
This
book will also enlighten the medical and dental professions; and of even more
importance to you personally, it will put you on the path to recovering your
health. As a recovering victim of mercury poisoning myself, I have read many
books on this subject. Not having a background in medicine or biology some
of them were next to impossible for me to wade through as I searched for a
cause of my illness; Dr. Cutler's book is straightforward and to the point.
Some books were easy to understand, but did not offer the depth of scientific
information presented by Dr. Cutler. I am deeply indebted to Dr. Cutler for
providing such a candid, well researched, enlightening, and thoroughly
comprehensive resource. I have had the pleasure of referring this book to many
other victims of this most preventable illness; all agree this book is the most
helpful resource available.
My
doctor was so impressed with this book she ordered it before I left her office.
Doctors are as much in the dark about this illness as are we, the victims of
chronic mercury poisoning. This book is a real eye opener and will save you
years of trudging from doctor to doctor as I did in search of the cause of my
failing health. When all the while the cause of my illness was truly just
beneath my nose. If you have amalgam fillings in your teeth and are plagued
with chronic health problems you will find the solution in the scientific
research and unriddling answers found in this book. Dr. Cutler has definitively
revealed the mystery behind a host of illnesses caused by amalgam, along with
invaluable knowledge on how you can recover.
In
gratitude for this inspiring book I'd like to quote, Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow:
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.
Andrew
Cutler left one giant footprint in his stride, offering help and hope to those
of us suffering the devastating effects of chronic mercury poisoning. Thank you
for this book, Andy.
Linda Godsey
Houston, Texas
This
book is an excellent resource for people who are having a health problem &
their doctor does not have a clue. The book empowers you, the patient to work
with your doctor and get the care you need. It gives you information on
effective medical treatments your "health plan doctor" might not be
aware of. It tells you how to use scientific fundamentals to interpret clinical
laboratory tests to find the problem(s) so you can guide your busy doctor to
fix it.
As an
introduction, Dr.Cutler guide you thorough the maze of the internal politics of
modern medicine in finding the physician willing to help you. Then he presents
compelling scientific evidence that a large number of people may have a mercury
poisoning and describes the current bureaucratic catch-22 preventing the proper
regulation of mercury in health care products.
Chronic
mercury poisoning is described and a rigorous diagnostic procedure is presented
so you can determine whether you DO have a problem with mercury, and if not
what might be affecting your health.
Straightforward practical advice is given on how to get rid of the mercury with
a minimum of side effect. Working through the details of the treatment section
allows you to identify the nutritional supplements and medications you will
need to start feeling better soon.
This
book is a roadmap for your return to health if you are among the millions of
people unknowingly exposed to more mercury than your body can handle.
Attila Hethely
Irvine, California
I had a
history of depression and other health problems. Then my mouth started to come
apart - bleeding gums and all kinds of problems that had an oral surgeon ready
cut. I was on my way to losing my teeth just like my sister had.
Luckily
I heard about amalgam (mercury) poisoning before the surgeon got to me.
In 1993 I replaced my fillings and crowns with mercury free materials. My
buccal pockets and gums healed immediately and the oral surgeon was forced to
remove me from his list.
Over the
next seven years despite having eliminated mercury exposure from my mouth, I
developed chronic fatigue syndrome (CFIDS), candida overgrowth, Hashimoto's
thyroiditis, and was even diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) by brain
MRI. Later, a spinal tap showed that I did not have multiple
sclerosis, but I continued to suffer from symptoms of the disease, like
numbness and tingling of the arms and legs, rapid heartbeat, and head tremors
and twitches. I didn't know that those disorders were related to the mercury in
my body that had leached from my teeth and into my body and brain.
In those
seven years following my amalgam removal, mercury levels in my urine and
blood dropped from "off the charts" to near zero. But the
symptoms were worsening. Constant pressure in the brain, numbness
and tingling in the extremities, rapid heart beat, complete constipation, high
cholesterol, high H-Pylori titers, low thyroid, low blood pressure,
chronic fatigue, brain fog, cognitive/memory problems documented by
neuropsychological testing, and on and on. I was so sick that I could no
longer work.
Then I
finally learned about the metabolism of mercury. Dr. Cutler's book
explains how once in my brain, the mercury just wasn't going to come out
by itself. And mercury in the brain doesn't only cause neurological
symptoms - but since the brain controls hormones and the immune system,
everything in the body can be effected from having mercury in the brain.
And everything WAS coming apart!
Dr.
Cutler's book doesn't stop after telling you how terribly poisoned you
could be by dental fillings; it actually tells you how to get the mercury
out of your brain and get well. Dr. Cutler not only studied American
medical journals to formulate this protocol, but overseas medical journals as
well. He shows you how to safely remove mercury from your body and brain
using alpha lipoic acid, an over-the-counter antioxidant.
The most
important things to remember about chelating with lipoic acid are to (1) go
slowly and (2) to take the doses (25 mg to 120 mg according to tolerance)
every 3 to 4 hours around the clock. Dr. Cutler explains how this method
keeps the blood levels of lipoic acid stable in order to move the Hg from the
brain and eliminate it, not merely redistribute it to other places.
Most of
the neurological symptoms I've suffered from are gone now. They don't
come and go; they are just gone. The rapid heart beat stopped, along with the
numbness and tingling of the extremities, and the tremor and twitches in my
head. My blood pressure has come up from 70/40 to 120/80 - perfectly
normal. My cholesterol has dropped from 305 to 240. My facial color is no
longer ghastly white, but rather a normal and natural color. H-Pylori
titers (a bacteria associated with peptic ulcers and cancer) have gone from 6
plus to 1.37 without medication.
I'm
thrilled I found a way to improve these stubborn health problems that refused
to budge with any other means. Believe me, I had tried everything. If you
want toget well from CFIDS, candida, MS, and other neurological problems please
don't overlook this book, Amalgam Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment. Then follow the directions for how
to get well safely!
Anne Marquez, Ph. D.
Rohnert Park, California
This
book contains a wealth of information for anyone who is or suspects they might
be suffering from mercury poisoning and for any health practitioners who are
trying to help patients who have mercury poisoning. It provides excellent
advice on how to start feeling better right away and how to recover from
mercury poisoning while carrying on with one's life. The information is
accessible to lay people but technical information is introduced as
necessary. If you are suffering from any of the conditions mentioned on
this webside, you would do well to start your search for a cure by reading this
book.
Rosemary Carter, Ph. D.
Crescent Valley, British Columbia
Dr.
Cutler is the most wonderful technical writer I have ever read. He takes a very
complicated chemical reaction and breaks it down to a level easy enough for
almost any layman to understand. A must read for anyone with a child that might
have any heavy metal poisoning or anyone that might be poisoned by heavy metal
themselves.
Dr.
Cutler gives detailed step by step directions to identify possible exposures,
diagnosis, and treatments of heavy metal poisoning unlike any other author I
have read. He not only details the causes and effects brilliantly, he inspires
the reader to get help if it is indicated.
He takes a wonderfully unique look at what could be an epidemic in the United
States. This book explains the what, wheres, and hows of Mercury and heavy
metal poisonings.
I highly
recommend this book to anyone and everyone that might be suffering from Mercury
or Lead poisoning.
Dr. Cutler is such an awesome writer on such a complicated subject. Thank you!
Lisa Wilson
College Park, Maryland
I wish
this book was available in 1996 when I first discovered that I had amalgam
illness. I could have avoided some mistakes with regards to "challenge
tests" and "intra-muscular DMPS chelation".
The book
has some highly detailed material on a wide range of health issues. For the
first time, I was able to understand the exact mechanics of my severe
hypoglycemia. "First low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) occors due to low
cortisol. Then adrenaline shoots up to mobolize glucose. Since adrenaline can't
do this very well without adequate cortisol, vast tidal waves of it wash over
you and the 'psychiatric' symptoms occur...If your body has too much insulin
floating around, it can't get rid of the stuff so there is insulin making your
cells suck up blood sugar and keeping it low." ...This book will play a
valuable role in my quest for health.
Anonymous reviwer
Michigan
Dr.
Cutler's book Amalgam Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment is really awesome. I was
a little leery of the...price but WOW, you DO get your money's worth. First, it
is 200 pages, 8" x 11" paper with very little white space. It's full
of information. And he has managed to pull off a very difficult trick of
putting in a ton of practical information, thoroughly covering the subject of
mercury toxicity and chelation and doing so in an easy to read format. It
covers what mercury does to all the different organs, how to diagnosis it, and
what your options are for treating it. If I had read this in the beginning I
wouldn't have been so confused and fumbling around for months trying to figure
out the mysterious world of chelation! Now it doesn't seem like this big scary
thing at all. He covers many medications and supplements as well.
Karen deFelice
Iowa
Dr.
Cutler tells it like it is. No cover-ups here like the one from the .... How do
I know? My wife is extremely ill from dental amalgam poisoning for more than 20
years. She is seriously chronically poisoned. After so much lying from dentists
and ignorance from medical doctors, here comes a good book that sheds light to
one of the most insidious forms of sickness, mercury poisoning! Even after all
mercury amalgams are replaced by safe composites, the next nightmare comes when
trying to figure out how to get rid of the mercury already inside your brain,
nervous system, kidneys, blood, etc from an already debilitated and compromised
body.
Dr.
Cutler says on page 54: "First, do no harm. Note: the DMPS challenge is
not a legitimate diagnostic test since over half the population will give a
positive result but most of them do not appear to have amalgam illness. In
addition there is a high incidence of adverse drug reactions during it,
including permanent disability and death. It should never be used. DMSA
challenge tests that involve the administration of 500 mg - 3g of DMSA as a
single dose are also dangerous and not diagnostic."
Dr.
Cutler says on page 89: "Therapeutic approaches currently offered by some
practitioners but which should NEVER be used include: DMPS by injection except
when oral administration is contraindicated and dosage is low, DMPS or DMSA on
any schedule not involving frequent administration of equal doses for at least
several days in a row, EDTA chelation, or penicillamine in any form.
Supplementary cysteine, glutathione, or a "high sulfur" diet, or
chlorella should NOT be used. All of these "therapies" will be VERY
HARMFUL to you."
Dr.
Cutler says in page 90: "For most people the proper chelation protocol
using DMSA and LA (Lipoic Acid) is: . Starting 4 days after the last filling is
replaced, 50-100 mg DMSA every 4 hours (including getting up at night to take a
dose) for 2-6 months, until urine mercury is reduced 80%. . Then DMSA 50-100 mg
+ LA (Lipoic Acid) 50-200 mg every 3-4 hours (including getting up at night to
take a dose) for about 3 days per week. When you feel all better, keep going
for a few months. You may need to do this anywhere from 6 to 36 months depending
on how sick you were to start and how hard your body holds on to the mercury. .
It is important to keep taking your supplements and medicines during the whole
time you are chelating."
Thanks Dr. Cutler. .....
Kenneth Southwell
Spring Hill, Florida
|
|
|
Andrew Cutler is a health
care consultant in the Seattle area. He has a PhD in chemistry from Princeton,
a BS in physics from the University of California, is a patent agent and a
registered professional chemical engineer. His research has led to a number of
publications in chemistry, chemical engineering and space related journals.
He
also has engaged in extensive self study in biochemistry and medicine due to
assorted health problems coalescing into a devastating "mystery
syndrome" his doctors were not able to cure - or even diagnose - for quite
some time. After being able to work with his doctor to get better he decided to
expand his professional activities to include writing about health topics.
|
|
|
I wrote this book because I became seriously ill while most
doctors told me there was nothing wrong. After an "environmental
medicine" doctor suggested I had amalgam illness I had to read lots of
medical literature to figure out what was going on and what to do about it. I
got better after having my fillings replaced and taking appropriate chelating
agents. I also know a lot of other people to whom this happened.
I
was very lucky when I got sick. Not lucky to get sick! That was a terrible
experience! But I was lucky to have received exactly the right education before
I needed it - close enough to medicine to be able to read physician's
textbooks, but not close enough to share all the myths and be sure of the
things "everyone knows." I was lucky to have had some business
experience so I viewed physicians as professional service providers and knew
how to get the services I needed from them. I had the right political
experience to realize I could get lots of valuable information by just talking
to enough people, but that certain things had to be learned by reading books.
I
didn't only learn how to get better. I also learned how much people suffer from
this terrible condition. I learned how poorly understood mercury poisoning is.
I wrote this book so that other people don't have to do all their own detective
work when they get sick. So that people could start with the best information I
could find. So that future victims of mercury poisoning won't have to suffer
unnecessarily because nobody really knows what to do. I wrote this book to help
you get well.
Sometimes it takes the doctors a while to figure out what is causing a disease.
Until recently it was believed that ulcers were entirely psychosomatic. Ulcer
sufferers underwent prolonged treatment, were seldom cured, and often ended up
under the surgeon's knife. It is now known that most ulcers are due to
helicobacter pylorii infection, and ulcers easily cured.
Lyme disease is a fascinating story. A housewife fell ill. Her symptoms were
considered psychosomatic. When her husband and children came down with similar
problems, this was regarded as some kind of projection of her psychosomatic
complaint. She was eventually able to convince a physician that the only crazy
thing was assuming that something psychosomatic could be contagious! Once the
doctor gave the whole family medicine they all got better.
Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency Syndrome is still routinely considered a
psychiatric disorder despite the repeated publication of physical and
laboratory abnormalities always found in victims of it. People who realize it's
not "Yuppie flu" find treatments that help them get better. A lot of
these are covered in this book since CFIDS is often caused by unrecognized
mercury poisoning and I had a terrible time with it myself.
In
less recent times, another form of mercury poisoning - acrodynia, or pink
disease in babies - was endemic for 150 years until physicians recognized
mercury as the causal agent. The disease was eliminated and all the babies got
better by changing the formulation of infant care products that used to include
mercury.
This book is the kind of book you'd expect a chemist to write - one that is
mechanistic, interrelated, and views the body as a complex chemical factory to
be measured and controlled by adding a bit of the right reagent over here,
taking something out over there, and sprinkling on "magic pixie dust"
where needed. This isn't the only way to understand things. It is just the way
I knew how to explain them.
Progress in medicine is sometimes slow due to people's natural tendency to hold
on to the old theories they learned in school. Medical school professors can be
a bit dogmatic about the need to adhere to the theories they lecture on so
authoritatively. It takes a while for what ordinary doctors see day after day
in their clinics to get applied creatively to making people better, and even
longer for this information to make it back into medical school lectures. I
hope I have given you the best of both worlds in this book - a description of
what actually happens to real people when they encounter mercury, instead of
the theoretical response the average man is expected to have from what happens
to little mice and rats in medical school experiments. I wanted to help you get
well NOW. The professors can change their lectures later.
I've written this book according to a modern paradigm of medicine. This new
paradigm consists of viewing the human body as a system where biochemistry
leads to metabolism which in turn becomes physiology. The new paradigm is to
see illness as a slow progression from health to death rather than the sudden
onset of a "disease" once a certain number of symptoms occur. The new
paradigm lets you use the best of both mainstream and alternative medicine to
get well.
|
|
|
Amalgam Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment presents a wealth of information on
mercury poisoning such as you might have gotten from dental amalgam fillings,
laboratory accidents, occupational exposure to mercury, exposure to mercury
preservatives in health care products such as eye care products and
contraceptives, etc. The book discusses how to tell if you have mercury
poisoning, what to do about it, how to get help, and how to deal with
physicians. Much of this information is covered several times at different
levels so that you can find the amount of detail that best suits you. The book
is straightforward and factual. Amalgam Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment is a
tool for solving intractable health problems.
Amalgam
Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment need not be read cover to cover or in any particular order.
Figures and tables have been included to rapidly convey how the different
symptoms are interrelated and how different medicines and nutritional
supplements can be used.
Amalgam Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment is intentionally very broad. A large number of
supplements and medicines are discussed. Thus there will be SOMETHING that each
individual person's metabolism tolerates, and SOMETHING that each physician is
familiar and comfortable with. This book gives you the options you need - you
decide what to use.
Amalgam
Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment discusses methods to diagnose and treat some of the
physiological and metabolic dysfunctions which are a part of chronic fatigue,
fibromyalgia, and environmental illness. Some of the information will be
helpful even if mercury isn't the root of your problems.
Amalgam
Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment is written as a straightforward reference book for you, not
as super sophisticated research treatise for medical school professors.
Everyday terms have been used when possible. Thus "low thyroid"
instead of "hypothyroid," "poisoned" instead of
"intoxicated," etc. Where medical words need to be used, they are
explained.
Instead of a very long list of esoteric and obscure references, there is a
short list of helpful and interesting books and papers that explains what they
are so you can decide if they would help you.
This book covers:
how to find and work
with good doctors;
the effects of
chronic mercury poisoning, and how mercury causes these effects;
how to diagnose
chronic mercury poisoning;
how to treat chronic
mercury poisoning;
scientific evidence
that a lot of people are mercury poisoned.
Amalgam Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment is especially valuable because some physicians are not
yet familiar with the diagnosis and treatment of chronic mercury poisoning.
Their textbooks state that there is no suitable biological index for the amount
of mercury in the target organ, the brain, but do not explain what tests to use
in place of the old fashioned ones that miss 2 cases out of 3. Worse, the
textbooks offer no guidance on how to cure chronic mercury poisoning or control
symptoms during treatment. This book gives your physician the information they
need to help you.
Since the medical textbooks aren't up to date on chronic mercury poisoning yet,
the burden is on you, the patient, to decide whether to accept a physician's
diagnosis and proposed treatment plan, or to seek another. If you are getting
diagnoses like "there is nothing wrong," or "it's all in your
head" and proposed treatment plans like "try ignoring it and seeing
if it goes away," this is the right book for you. Don't suffer silently.
Read Amalgam Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment and get well.
Useful
mercury related web sites
Discussion of mercury poisoning
More discussion of
mercury poisoning
Medical consequences of
mercury poisoning
Dangers of DMPS injections
for mercury detox
Listserver for
people chelating themselves
Listserver for people
chelating autistic, ADHD children
or back to links in this
page
|
|
|