Toxic Heavy Metals Urine Test - Micro Trace Minerals

[Cosmos]

Yes I dried it with a paper towel, but there is a possibility that is was still wet. I couldn't find a reference if the local water has copper in it. It could also come from the pipes I guess. At least the warm water goes through a copper pipe in the house.

My drinking water is also from the tap water (filtered through).

In work there isn't much - none copper used.

Perhaps you can write to the lab asking for feedback. Would trace amounts of water in a glass bowl change the readings?

If the levels are reflecting your true load and you can't nail a copper exposure, it could be a metabolic imbalance like pyroluria. Although you don't seem to fit the profile of pyroluria (i.e. no zinc deficiency), we have a thread on that in the forum and there is a questionnaire on the Mood Cure book that you can check out to see if you can relate to it.

Do you take a supplement that could contain copper? Sometimes copper is added to a supplement and they just list it in small letters in the ingredient list.

I'll contact the lab and ask. I'll have to check the supplement angle. But generally I pretty much didn't take any supplements for about 1-2 weeks before the test. And none at all for a couple of days before the test.

Thanks for the info and I'll look into that as well.

 

[Bodan]

I just received my test results from this lab Lilou linked above. I have very high lead levels. Also high with Barium and Cesium. Not too surprised working for the semiconductor industry for over 30 years working with solder.

Looks like I have work to reduce these metals but I am not sure which is the best way to go about it. Is DMSA better or EDTA? Loading up on garlic looks like an option as well.

Hi Nicolas, since your test show normal levels of Mercury I'm wondering have you ever had any amalgams?

thx

 

[Bodan]

I've done 4 rounds of DMSA already, two days each, and weirdly enough I actually feel really good when I'm on it. The day after I stop it I end up depressed, brain-fogged and fatigued though but it goes away quickly.

Usually people feel nasty after DMSA too unless your metals levels are ok. What kind of DMSA did you use, because some will sell you diluted DMSA. Also what dosage did you do?

 

[Ant22]

I've done 4 rounds of DMSA already, two days each, and weirdly enough I actually feel really good when I'm on it. The day after I stop it I end up depressed, brain-fogged and fatigued though but it goes away quickly.

Usually people feel nasty after DMSA too unless your metals levels are ok. What kind of DMSA did you use, because some will sell you diluted DMSA. Also what dosage did you do?

Thanks for your reply Bodan. I took 20mg of DMSA per kilogram of body weight, which should have been 860mg in my case but I rounded it up to 1000mg. I found that dosage being recommended by a couple of different sources. I did this for the first three rounds and the third one was so mild I literally forgot I was on DMSA. During my fourth round I upped the dosage to approximately 30mg per kilogram of body weight which added up to 1300mg. I was a bit more tired with a kind of a "yucky" feeling and lower mood than during the previous rounds but it wasn't something I couldn't handle. The dosage may seem low but I'm a rather small person :)

I took DMSA every 4 hours and during the last two rounds I also got up at night to take it to make sure there was continuity.

As for the kind of DMSA I take, I buy Dimercaptosuccinic Acid capsules from a French distributor called Super Smart. When you say "some will sell you diluted DMSA", do you mean when purchased in loose powder form? If it says 100mg per capsule then I think that's what I should get?

It's definitely doing something because I feel better after each round. But I guess it's about time I got proper tests done to make sure I'm taking the right supplements and chelators.

 

[Altair]

Thanks for your reply Bodan. I took 20mg of DMSA per kilogram of body weight, which should have been 860mg in my case but I rounded it up to 1000mg. I found that dosage being recommended by a couple of different sources. I did this for the first three rounds and the third one was so mild I literally forgot I was on DMSA. During my fourth round I upped the dosage to approximately 30mg per kilogram of body weight which added up to 1300mg. I was a bit more tired with a kind of a "yucky" feeling and lower mood than during the previous rounds but it wasn't something I couldn't handle. The dosage may seem low but I'm a rather small person :)

I took DMSA every 4 hours and during the last two rounds I also got up at night to take it to make sure there was continuity.

As for the kind of DMSA I take, I buy Dimercaptosuccinic Acid capsules from a French distributor called Super Smart. When you say "some will sell you diluted DMSA", do you mean when purchased in loose powder form? If it says 100mg per capsule then I think that's what I should get?

It's definitely doing something because I feel better after each round. But I guess it's about time I got proper tests done to make sure I'm taking the right supplements and chelators.

What additional supplements do you take when doing DMSA? They are very important! This is what I usually take when on DMSA:

* Vitamin B Complex
* Vitamin C
* Magnesium
* Zinc
* Taurine
* Good quality chlorella
* Fermented Cod Liver oil
* Milk thistle to protect the liver
* Coenzyme Q10
* Reduced glutathione and/or coffee enemas (to induce body own production of gluthatione)
* FIR Sauna treatment

I've been using DMSA from Super Smart as well. The product seems to be ok.

30mg per kilogram of body weight seems to be too high. Start with 10mg and go up, SLOWLY.

 

[Ant22]

Thanks for your reply Bodan. I took 20mg of DMSA per kilogram of body weight, which should have been 860mg in my case but I rounded it up to 1000mg. I found that dosage being recommended by a couple of different sources. I did this for the first three rounds and the third one was so mild I literally forgot I was on DMSA. During my fourth round I upped the dosage to approximately 30mg per kilogram of body weight which added up to 1300mg. I was a bit more tired with a kind of a "yucky" feeling and lower mood than during the previous rounds but it wasn't something I couldn't handle. The dosage may seem low but I'm a rather small person :)

I took DMSA every 4 hours and during the last two rounds I also got up at night to take it to make sure there was continuity.

As for the kind of DMSA I take, I buy Dimercaptosuccinic Acid capsules from a French distributor called Super Smart. When you say "some will sell you diluted DMSA", do you mean when purchased in loose powder form? If it says 100mg per capsule then I think that's what I should get?

It's definitely doing something because I feel better after each round. But I guess it's about time I got proper tests done to make sure I'm taking the right supplements and chelators.

What additional supplements do you take when doing DMSA? They are very important! This is what I usually take when on DMSA:

* Vitamin B Complex
* Vitamin C
* Magnesium
* Zinc
* Taurine
* Good quality chlorella
* Fermented Cod Liver oil
* Milk thistle to protect the liver
* Coenzyme Q10
* Reduced glutathione and/or coffee enemas (to induce body own production of gluthatione)
* FIR Sauna treatment

I've been using DMSA from Super Smart as well. The product seems to be ok.

30mg per kilogram of body weight seems to be too high. Start with 10mg and go up, SLOWLY.

Thanks for your reply Altair! I don’t take any minerals or supplements while I’m on DMSA as I figured that instead of removing the bad stuff DMSA would end up removing what I just put in. But the next day after I’ve finished a round I resume taking my usual batch. It consists of almost all supplements you listed (and a couple of others on top of that) apart from glutathione, taurine and Q10. After I read your post I spent the morning snooping around the internet and reading up about them and I’ve just ordered them for next day delivery. They’ll be with me tomorrow. If glutathione works well I'll see if I can still order some from FOTCM as there is a thread for it on here.
Instead of fermented cod liver oil I take krill oil. And I cannot take chlorella: I tried it for a bit but it gives me really severe nausea with vomiting a couple of hours after I take it. Reactions similar to mine have been reported in the iodine thread too so I guess I’ll give chlorella a pass.

The list you wrote is really super useful because my main health issue is recurring tiredness and the supplements from your list that I have not been taking actually help with exactly that. Maybe that’s my missing link!

I do coffee enemas but FIR sauna treatments are a wee bit on the expensive side where I live, do you think if I just bought a fir sauna blanket it would be good enough?

Like I said before, even 30mg of DMSA per kilogram of body weight seems to be fine for me. I don’t even notice I’m on DMSA on lower doses. A day or two after each round I’m usually tired and my mood is pretty low (I get these symptoms regardless of how I feel whilst I’m on DMSA) but right after that I start to feel really well. And by well I mean awake :D

I’ve actually started wondering whether it wouldn’t be a better idea to lower the dosage and just do a round every fortnight. I only do 2-day rounds because I read that DMSA should be taken every 4 hours, including throughout the night, and I can’t function too well at work if I get two consecutive nights of interrupted sleep.

I want to do the urine test ASAP and given the mild side effects I get on DMSA I'll be pretty surprised if mercury turns out to be really high. I suspect more issues with lead because it took me a month to recover after a 2-day round of EDTA

 

[Altair]

Thanks for your reply Altair! I don’t take any minerals or supplements while I’m on DMSA as I figured that instead of removing the bad stuff DMSA would end up removing what I just put in. But the next day after I’ve finished a round I resume taking my usual batch.

Yes, you can leave out minerals when on DMSA and take them during "remineralization phase" but other supplements you can (and probably should) take during DMSA intake.

Instead of fermented cod liver oil I take krill oil. A

Krill oil is probably even better "omega-3-wise".

I do coffee enemas but FIR sauna treatments are a wee bit on the expensive side where I live, do you think if I just bought a fir sauna blanket it would be good enough?

Yes, I use fir sauna blanket for the same reason. Be sure the coffee is organic and not solvable (solvable ones can be cross-contaminated with gluten). Recently I started to add a tablespoon of organic turmeric while cooking the solution.

Actually I forgot to mention melatonin. It's a powerful antioxidant as well, so I take it before going to bed during DMSA intake for some brain protection.

 

[Joe]

So it looks like DMSA itself does help with lead too. Good, EDTA scares me BIG time.

Yeah, I think you can stick with the DMSA for the chelation test. If you have high lead, it will show on the test. But rather than doing any more treatments right now, maybe just plan for doing the test and using DMSA to chelate. Then you'll know what, if anything, you have to focus on. I think when people asked about the discount (which wasn't that much anyway) the Micro Trace Minterals people said they only did group discounts.

 

[Ant22]

So it looks like DMSA itself does help with lead too. Good, EDTA scares me BIG time.

Yeah, I think you can stick with the DMSA for the chelation test. If you have high lead, it will show on the test. But rather than doing any more treatments right now, maybe just plan for doing the test and using DMSA to chelate. Then you'll know what, if anything, you have to focus on. I think when people asked about the discount (which wasn't that much anyway) the Micro Trace Minterals people said they only did group discounts.

Thank you Joe, I've emailed them already and I'll get the test done ASAP.

I tried to find a laboratory here in the UK but tests for mercury itself tend to cost more than half the price of the test done by Micro Trace. So it looks like whatever they charge is already a good deal really.

 

[mk1154]

I'm on my 3rd round of DMSA right now. After the 2nd round me lead and mercury returned to healthy levels, but my aluminium levels went through the roof. They actually went UP. I did nothing to expose myself to aluminum that I know of. Has anyone else experienced this? My doctor said sometimes this happens as more gets released, so she has me doing another round right now.

 

[Ant22]

Yes, you can leave out minerals when on DMSA and take them during "remineralization phase" but other supplements you can (and probably should) take during DMSA intake.

Great, I'll do that then. Thank you for all the additional advice in your post Altair.

Actually I forgot to mention melatonin. It's a powerful antioxidant as well, so I take it before going to bed during DMSA intake for some brain protection.

I just searched for it and it looks like melatonin is available only with doctor's prescription in the UK. Based on my previous experience, approaching my doctor would most likely be an unsuccessful endeavor.
That said Super Smart is based in France so I just ordered it from them I'm hoping it doesn't get returned back to them at the border though

I used to be able to say that my only sleeping problem was my alarm clock at 6.30am but over the last couple of months my sleep pattern has been a bit interrupted and I find it difficult to fall asleep sometimes. Hopefully melatonin will solve this problem for me.

I'm a little concerned I may become dependent on it though so I guess I'll only take it during DMSA rounds and see how it goes.

 

[Bodan]

As for the kind of DMSA I take, I buy Dimercaptosuccinic Acid capsules from a French distributor called Super Smart. When you say "some will sell you diluted DMSA", do you mean when purchased in loose powder form? If it says 100mg per capsule then I think that's what I should get?

I don't have any experience with DMSA from Super Smart but I've seen pure DMSA capsules few years ago and it smelled really bad. After talking to others who used pure DMSA they confirmed that the real pure DMSA has a terrible smell and after taking it the urine smells as bad too, sorry to be so graphic. Nowadays it's hard to get the real thing, I'm in Canada and up until few years ago you could buy the pure one here, not anymore though.

So, you are either a really tough cookie :) if you are tolerating such high doses or your body is dealing with it very well or this DMSA is weak.

 

[Ant22]

As for the kind of DMSA I take, I buy Dimercaptosuccinic Acid capsules from a French distributor called Super Smart. When you say "some will sell you diluted DMSA", do you mean when purchased in loose powder form? If it says 100mg per capsule then I think that's what I should get?

I don't have any experience with DMSA from Super Smart but I've seen pure DMSA capsules few years ago and it smelled really bad. After talking to others who used pure DMSA they confirmed that the real pure DMSA has a terrible smell and after taking it the urine smells as bad too, sorry to be so graphic. Nowadays it's hard to get the real thing, I'm in Canada and up until few years ago you could buy the pure one here, not anymore though.

So, you are either a really tough cookie :) if you are tolerating such high doses or your body is dealing with it very well or this DMSA is weak.

Hi Bodan, Altair said he's ordering his DMSA from the same supplier as me and he confirmed they are quite good. I think I'll stick with them. Based on your description my DMSA can't be weak at all because the smell is in fact very intense.

Maybe you could order it from Europe if you can't get the right quality in Canada? Just a thought.

I'm in the process of sorting out the urine test and I'm really curious to see what my results will be! I sense mercury may not be my main issue.

 

[Seppo Ilmarinen]

I got my results from this test. I used both DMSA (11mg/kg) and EDTA (13mg/kg), collected urine for 6hrs. First thing i noticed is the amount of arsenic, which looks quite scary: 449.384mcg/g!

After looking a bit i found that the area where i grew up has highest levels of arsenic in drinking water in Finland. Finnish national institute of health says: "Normal levels of arsenic in well water is under 0,1 µg/l. Highest levels of individual well water arsenic levels in Finland have been over 100 µg/l. There's been measurements as high as 980,1 µg/l." So maybe here is the culprit.

Bismuth (0.498), nickel (4.048) and lead (9.386) were also high. Aluminium and few other toxic metals were below detection levels. Here's attached my results.

 

[Cosmos]

I got my results from this test. I used both DMSA (11mg/kg) and EDTA (13mg/kg), collected urine for 6hrs. First thing i noticed is the amount of arsenic, which looks quite scary: 449.384mcg/g!

After looking a bit i found that the area where i grew up has highest levels of arsenic in drinking water in Finland. Finnish national institute of health says: "Normal levels of arsenic in well water is under 0,1 µg/l. Highest levels of individual well water arsenic levels in Finland have been over 100 µg/l. There's been measurements as high as 980,1 µg/l." So maybe here is the culprit.

Sounds like a possible culprit. Are you still living in area that has a lot of arsenic?