I was under the impression that the high zinc in your hair may indicate faulty mineral transport. Andrew Hall Cutler is the one who says that if there is any problem with mercury this will effect mineral transport for many heavy metals. He has these counting rules which I can't remember now.

Even if your mercury is low in the hair analysis, I think this can happen, that you have a mercury problem. I think Cutler says that if other heavy metals are high and mercury is low then you might suspect that mercury is a problem too. You might consider asking if your doctor will check for porphyrins in your urine. Mercury effects porphyrins so this is another test that might help you pin down the exact nature of your problem.

But mercury is the one heavy metal that can effect so many other heavy metals and how they get transported in the body. And even mercury levels will be effected because mercury too does not get tranported properly in the body. This I think explains why some studies about austic children who the hair is high in zinc but these children show signs of low zinc levels (or low blood zinc levels). Cutler's explanation is the only one I have seen that seems to explain how the hair zinc can be so much different than the blood results or the indications of a zinc deficiency.

I have two books by Cutler that I purchased together. I am not sure if they are sold together, but they do have a lot of information about this subject.

Thanks orthomolecular for your input. I have actually come across some of this information as well. I believe one of the books you reference may be this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Hair-Test-Inte...8217474&sr=1-2

From reading some of the online excerpts, I get the impression that Dr. Cutler’s theories include the possibility that as certain heavy metals are chelated out, the hair mercury level can actually rise and then fall later upon continued chelation (I would have to read more to be sure of this though). The biochemical intricacies regarding heavy metal toxicity and chelation seem quite complex to me at this point and I feel like I am at “square one” in the learning process, but having gone through several years and a number of doctors who were trying to fix what turned out to be significant vitamin deficiencies by doping me up on various antidepressants and anxiolytics, I am willing to give chelation a try. The doctor I am now seeing wants to take things slow/steady so as to alleviate any potential side effects (I think that’s a good plan). Also as hair tests are not too expensive, I’m sure I can get more later if needed to check the progress. Thanks again!

There was an AMA article about success of them(a while back) which totally depends on the quality of the laboratory. Good labs... okay, bad labs= useless.

I don't know how to interpret them however. I do know that free floating
heavy metals do show up more in hair than tissue bound metals.

I find your experiences west1 very interesting...and you are bound to be helping others with this new diagnostic path you are taking. And good that you start slow and easy.

Your posts are very informative, and a great asset to this board!

Yes, I have the Hair Test Interpretations book by Cutler and Amalgm Illness by him too.

Are you taking any amino acids? I have to take vitamins, minerals, amino acids, EFAs and enzymes (digestive and systemic). The amino acids are so important if you have any problems with b6. I have a b6 dependency so I am low in serotonin and dopamine and take lots of amino acids. The sulfur containing amino acids are important and can help with chelating heavy metals. I had to increase my zinc levels because I started taking cysteine. Cysteine is great for all sorts of toxins because of its role in gluthionine, but it also chelates things like zinc. The amino acids would really be the natural substitute for any type of psychiatric meds.

I wonder if your doctor has not done a urine and blood test for amino acids. This test can help to indicate some vitamin deficiencies. The most obvious being if your body is not converting tryptophan into serotonin that would likely indicate a b6 deficiency. But I believe that other vitamin deficiencies can be pinpointed with the amino acid tests.

Hi orthomolecular,

My current supplement regimen is included in this post. Regarding additional tests, I would like to have more tests done, but unfortunately many tests tend to be rather expensive and I doubt my insurance would cover them (insurance companies here in the U.S. still tend to frown on medical care that they don’t consider “conventional”). The hair tests were reasonably priced and appeared to provide some good information. My current doctor, although a highly credentialed MD, also doesn’t like to deal with insurance companies (probably for the same reasons). I feel comfortable with this doctor as this doctor hasn’t given me that “blank stare” when I discuss my symptoms. If this doctor recommends additional tests, I will certainly attempt to find ways to pay for them.

Thanks to you, mrsd, and everyone else for your input, and thanks to DocJohn and all who support NeuroTalk. This is a great place to share information!

I can tell you the B Vitamins are working for me! Depression, GAD, and now PN. Effexor XR, Zyrtec, both current but Effexor down to 9.3 mgs as I'm weaning off. I took Gabapentin for approximately 6 months, became suicidally depressed and stopped taking it when I finally figured out that the Gabapentin was the problem.

Since starting the B vitamins and especially the B-12 I have no more fatigue like I used to have: Most days couldn't get through without a nap. No energy, no ambition, nothing. Some other symptoms that I believe may have been caused by a lack of B-12 are also abating. I've been taking the B Vitamins for 30 or 31 days now.

Other than this I'm just beginning to start on some research of natural supplements, herbs and other things that might be causing some of my problems because of a deficiency.

Good for you! Apparently you are on the fast track!!

rose

Rose, your site is fantastic and is where my initial info came from that pointed me on to more in depth research. I have you to thank for my success and change in mental and physical condition!

That makes me very happy!

rose

As a follow-up to a previous post in this thread, I have found some interesting Medline studies that indicate/confirm increased toxic metal absorption/toxicity when nutritional minerals are deficient/depleted. As mentioned before, this would appear to be a very good explanation for the previous hair test results. Interesting quotes from the referenced abstracts are displayed below. By the way, I have now increased the dosage of the EDTA chelator to 1 teaspoon/day (still a rather low dose) per my doctor’s instructions:


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...um&query_hl=19 (The full text version of this study also references certain vitamins which, when depleted, also lead to increased toxic metal absorption/toxicity.):

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...sum&query_hl=3

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...sum&query_hl=3

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...sum&query_hl=1

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...sum&query_hl=2 (This is an animal study, but probably applicable to humans as well.):

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...sum&query_hl=1

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...sum&query_hl=1