Heavy metal is in my veins. But like really
Maybe a final diagnosis.
Most of my 13 autoimmune (or autoimmune-adjacent) diseases were diagnosed by my current doctor—a brilliant and open-minded man who is unfortunately not covered by my insurance. He has continued to pursue answers until my body works somewhat normally, in key ways. For example, I can live with my feet overheating at night, but my body taking hours to wake up every day was something I really wanted to overcome. Over the last year or so, he’s been running through a list of next-most-likely causes of my inability to lose weight and other lingering symptoms. His latest idea revealed four heavy metal toxicities.
Before I came to him about four years ago, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, PCOS, insulin resistance, chronic migraines, and Ehlers Danlos syndrome. He figured out that I also have Raynaud’s, Erythromelalgia, slight hypothyroidism, histamine intolerance, MCAD, high cortisol, and a few others I can’t even recall offhand because the list has grown so much.
In June, he recommended we test the levels of heavy metals in my body—something he has brought up for about a year as a future test worth doing if my core problems weren’t resolved. I always try to keep an open mind, because so many of these diagnoses surprised me and it’s impossible to know what my body is doing. With each diagnosis, I’ve always felt that it had to be the last. But every time, I’m left with big lingering problems.
When I took the test, I had to ingest a large amount of C-Dmsa, a chelating agent. Within an hour, I felt light-headed, I was sweating, extremely nauseous, and just not feeling right. That was my first sign he may be onto something, although my research also showed that chelating agents can cause all kinds of negative and positive symptoms in people with and without heavy metal toxicities.
When the test results came in after my hiking trip to the Eastern Sierras, he opened them for the first time in front of me, and immediately laughed. The results showed heavy metal levels in urine before and after chelation. All heavy metals were in a normal range before chelation, although my barium levels were towards the higher end, while nickel and antimony were mid-acceptable range. He showed me the post-chelation results and circled “lead.” It was well outside the normal range. Thallium was even farther outside the normal range. Antimony and barium were also slightly outside the acceptable range.
My doctor is always supportive and willing to bounce ideas back and forth, and I think he has been quite surprised how many diseases my body has accumulated. He also knows I have a good sense of humor about it, which is why I think he laughed—like, “LOL AND another one.”
I know why my barium levels were so high. Years ago, I had to drink chocolate-flavored barium for gastroenterological tests. I remember the taste fondly—I don’t know how the medical staff made it taste so good. But the lead, thallium, and antimony? I have no idea where that came from. I’ve been testing random items in my apartment, my water, and seeing what else I can test. However, my fibromyalgia and weight gain kicked in when I was about 10 years old, which I assume is the most likely time of exposure. I may never know where they came from.
I have also been wondering what this could solve. Heavy metal toxicities can cause a lot of issues, including most of my own. After one round of chelation, I needed far less coffee than I have needed to feel awake in years and I’m feeling awake in minutes after waking up, rather than hours. Plus, I have lost about 14 lbs in two months.
Notably, lead toxicity alone can cause abdominal pain, joint and muscle pain, difficulties with memory, headaches, and reproductive issues. I have been struggling with all of these issues for a long time. When I was 10 years old and this all kicked in, my memory didn’t work like it used to. Beforehand, I was able to memorize many things very easily. But when the weight gain and constant low immunity (caused by low serotonin from fibromyalgia) began, I also could no longer concentrate or memorize easily. I have since re-learned how to learn and most people would never know I struggle with this. I had attributed this problem simply to “fibro fog.” It’s possible that my fibromyalgia itself was caused by the heavy metal toxicity. There is also a correlation between high lead levels and endometriosis, PCOS, insulin resistance, histamine intolerance, MCAD/S, high cortisol… you get the idea. I am not confident that chelation will solve all my problems, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it resolves a chunk of them.
One other interesting bit—during my first round of chelation, I was fairly nauseous and kept tasting metal. When my endometriosis began when I was 13 years old, nausea was almost always accompanied by that taste. Since the time I was 14, it was a rarity. So it is notable that this returned during chelation. I’m not entirely sure what to make of it, but it is interesting nonetheless.
I have only finished two rounds of chelation (and the initial test, which involved some chelation), and I have four more rounds to go. We’ll see how the rest plays out and how my body responds.
One final note—although I’m very open to home treatments and researching for myself, I would not recommend pursuing any of this outside of a doctor’s purview. Chelation can be extremely dangerous for a variety of reasons, and there is no reason to add risk to it by pursuing chelation outside of a doctor’s direction.