How do I test for mercury in the body?

Testing for mercury is difficult because the different forms of mercury will be found in different places, and the body does not want a toxic metal like mercury floating freely around the system. There are challenge tests that can be done (under supervision), where you can take a substance such as DMSA (Dimercaptosuccinic acid) or DMPS (2,3-Dimercapto-1-propanesulfonic acid), which goes into the body and grabs the mercury and passes it out through the kidneys in the urine.

You can then measure the before and after levels in the urine. However, the levels only tell you how much is excreted and not how much is in your body. The mercury you excrete will depend not only on the levels of mercury in the body, but also the ability of the cells to release the mercury, and the efficiency of the kidneys in removing the mercury.

So you could have a low mercury burden and a high urine level if you were able to excrete it easily. However, you could also have a high body mercury level, and a low urine level if you were not able to excrete it effectively.

Additionally the different chelating agents favour different types of mercury, and some are more powerful than others. So the challenge tests are not a true measure of your body mercury burden. Also, it is usually more of the mercury from amalgams that is found in urine, so is not a good test for other forms.

Huggins, in his 1970s book ‘All in Your Head’, identified something he called retention toxicity. He was looking at patients with dental amalgam and discovered that the sickest ones had lower amounts of mercury in the urine than the healthier ones as they couldn’t excrete it effectively.

Hair analysis will only show ethyl mercury from vaccine and methyl mercury from fish, but will not represent, to any degree, the inorganic mercury from amalgam fillings. Blood mercury levels are mainly a marker of methyl mercury from fish. A fish swimming will have a million to 10 million times more mercury in the fish than is in the water!

Using a combined analyses of blood, hair, and urine Dr Shade explains it is possible to get a measure of your body burden or of your circulating forms, where the mercury is coming from and how well your excretion of mercury is working.

Thyroid hormone tests T4 (Total thyroxine) and T3 (Triiodothyronine) can indicate mercury toxicity. A combination of excessive T4 and low T3 is a marker for metal toxins (mercury, cadmium and arsenic).

The effects of mercury and other metals can also be synergistic, meaning that the overall effect of 1 part mercury and 1 part of another metal is not 2, but maybe 4 or 5 or more. Lead and mercury are usually shown to be additive and sometimes said to be synergistic, but cadmium, copper and nickel are always synergistic, creating far greater problems together than on their own.

My own experience of mercury toxicity was explained by my consultant who used kinesiology to test for mercury and how to remove it. It was his knowledge and protocols that enabled me to detox and become well again, and that inspired me to train in kinesiology.

I often find that people have levels of toxic metals that are showing as weakening the body. Using kinesiology we can test which substances are best for you to use to start to reduce your toxic metal load.

In Part 4 you can find out how to start reducing your mercury load in the body

If you would like to learn more about Maria or to book in with her to explore your relationship with Mercury and how it could be effecting your health, contact her through her Centre Profile https://integralhealthshrewsbury.com/about-us/our-practitioners/maria-franklin/