Arsenic, Peripheral Neuropathy? Heavy Metal Test!
 

Okay guys,

I FINALLY got my heavy metals test back, it was a 24 hour pee in a jug test lol! I had to carry around the stupid jug and pee in it everytime for 24 hours!!!!!!!! It took 3 weeks for the results but here they are:

Lead UG/L 0
Lead UG/Day 0
Lead UG/G Creatinine 0

Mercury UG/L 0
Mercury UG/Day 0
Mercury UG/G Creatinine 0

Arsenic UG/L 21.2 (reference 0-35)
Arsenic UG/Day 62.5 (reference 0-50) HIGH
Arsenic UG/G Creatine 29.4 --- *no reference on paper?*

Creatinine-UR MG/DL 72
Creatinine-UR MG/Day 2,124 (reference 1,000-2,500)

What do you guys think? I know the arsenic is high, I don't understand why either?

Does anyone else have a comparable test?

Any ANY ideas would be great!
I have an apt. with my neuro Jan 12th

josh

if you drink water from a well, have it checked.

Here is an article explaining possible exposures to arsenic.

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/arseni..._pathways.html

and

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv...rsenic-eng.php

If you are using MJ bought from unknown sources, the arsenic may be from smoking that. (arsenical pesticides)
I have seen documentaries where law enforcement has encountered camps in Mexico where MJ was grown, and many jugs of pesticide were found in the camps. Those who supply this way only to make money don't care what they use to keep the bugs off the plants...they don't care what happens to the people who buy the stuff.
Local supply by licensed growers for medicinal MJ (hydroponic) are less risky.

The next question I guess would be:
Are you being exposed daily to something with arsenic? Or is this the excretion of a previous dose? To give you an example, a playground in my area poisoned a woman who played softball near a arsenic treated play climbing set. The whole park was closed. Lately parks have abandoned this type of wood, and use other materials to contruct climbing equipment.

You might investigate a quality hair lab test. This can show timing of a poisoning. But if all your hair is short, it might have been cut off by now. I think they can do the test off pubic hair however.

If you do not show Beau's lines on your fingers, then the levels are not critically high. Beau's lines are horizontal across the nails that reveal when the arsenic was ingested. The nail stops growing for a while, then restarts, and the line forms.

Mrs. D & Pabb

I don't use MJ, or smoke anything, I only drink bottled water and there isn't much else I'm around that it could possibly be, but you can never be too sure, eh?

There is something really weird tho, a couple of months ago, maybe closer to 5 or 6, I had Beau's Lines on ONLY my toes and fingernails on the left side of my body. I don't understand why they weren't on the right? They weren't AWFUL, but you could tell my nails had quit growing and there was the white line through the nail.

Tho, that was months ago, wouldn't the arsenic, *if that was the culprit* be out of the body by now?

Thanks Guys So Much!

It takes time to excrete the arsenic.

And if you are still exposed somehow, it would still be coming out.

Interpretation of tests can vary from doctor to doctor.
A specialist might give you more information than a doctor who
is not experienced with heavy metal toxins.

This is a highly specialized problem, and we are limited here about answering it. But many of us have experience with doctors who look at test results and say "normal" when they are not.

So I would get a specialist's opinion on this issue.

Much of the data on the net comes from India, where arsenic is found in well water. Page 7 of this paper discusses nerve effects including EMG results:
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=...24Pe-u8fE4fJ1g

Don't forget to tell your doctor about your Beau's lines. That is a significant detail that may help your diagnosis.

I would not assume bottled water is safe. Perrier had a contamination in the past! (contained benzene).
It is fairly well known in US that many "bottled waters" are just pulled from the tap, and may or may not be filtered further.

I do drink "spring water" which I know isn't worth the bottle it's in! It could be the source, I've explained the the doctor about the lines and he pulled on my nails and tried to bend them and that was it. I asked as to why it was only on one side and he didn't really respond, he was talking about something else and got sidetracked.

This is an uphill battle and to think this could very well not be the cause, I may be overreacting which is very easy to do when you're searching for a cause of uncontrollable pain. I get carried away thinking this could possibly be the answer and it may not.

I know that according to the test references my amount of arsenic for the day is just slightly elevated, and the rest are under the reference numbers but as it's arsenic it's worry some. I expected Mercury as it's fairly common and even lead, but not this!

Thank you so SO much for all of your help, you're the light at the end of the tunnel :)

Also, there are papers on PubMed, that describe that younger people and children do not show obvious signs of arsenic poisoning or intake. Skin reactions are absent for them, because they excrete the arsenic faster than older people.

Given that you are young, your body may be handling this better than say if you were 40 or 50.

Arsenic is a fairly common contaminant in our environment and occurs naturally in foods and water. (foods may be contaminated by arsenical pesticides). It is just that arsenic does not get the media attention that mercury (fish) and lead (from paint, and car exhaust) does. I think one is more likely to get arsenic issues than lead (unless you eat old paint, or use leaded paint).

There is another issue too. A urine test only shows what is coming out.
But it does not show what is in your blood. When my son had his tests for lead (for ADHD) it was a blood test that was used.
Some heavy metals are stored in the body. Mercury is stored in fat and bone, and so is lead. So I think other tests should be done as well.

http://www.labtestsonline.org/unders...lead/test.html

http://www.labtestsonline.org/unders...cury/test.html
urine tests do not show all types of mercury.

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/arseni...valuation.html
This paper says urinary tests for arsenic are more useful than blood work.